Muppets move against Corbyn

Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, June 25th, 2016 - 209 comments
Categories: International, uk politics - Tags: ,

Looks like some UK Labour Party MPs have no idea about the reasons the Brexit vote succeeded. They have attacked Jeremy Corbyn for the result even though Labour voters voted to remain in almost exactly the same proportion that SNP voters to remain.

And with the tories in turmoil and the prospects of a Labour victory at the next election considerably increased what do a group of Labour MPs do?  Ignite a leadership challenge against Jeremy Corbyn that has been simmering ever since he was elected.

From George Eaton at the New Statesman:

The long-threatened coup attempt against Jeremy Corbyn has begun. I reported several weeks ago that Brexit would be “the trigger” for a leadership challenge and Corbyn’s opponents have immediately taken action. Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey have submitted a motion of no confidence in the Labour leader for discussion at Monday’s PLP meeting. If accepted, it will be followed by a secret ballot of MPs on Tuesday. A spokesman for Corbyn told me it was “time for the party to unite and focus on the real issues that affect peope from today’s decision and hold the government to account on their exit negotiations.”

Any confidence motion would be purely symbolic. But Corbyn’s opponents are also “absolutely convinced” that they have the backing of the 51 MPs/MEPs needed to endorse a leadership challenger and trigger a contest. Letters are expected to be delivered to general secretary Ian McNicol from this weekend. The prospect of a new Conservative prime minister and an early general election has pushed MPs towards action. “We have to get rid of him now,” a former shadow cabinet minister told me. “If we go into an election with him as leader we’ll be reduced to 150 seats.”

The latest polls suggest that the Conservatives are barely ahead of Labour.  With the SNP’s solid grip of the Scottish electorate things are neck and neck.  The former shadow cabinet minister’s comments appear to be based more on prejudice than on current performance.

What the protagonists refuse to understand is that the anti intellectual anti expert brexit vote is fuelled by these careerist bubble games that politicians engage in far too often.  Blaming Corbyn for the loss is crazy especially when it is clear that the Government kept Labour out of the campaign as much as possible.

People will be looking for leadership from Labour.  Descending into a leadership stoush at this stage will only increase disillusionment with politics in general and Labour in particular.

As said by John McConnell in the Guardian:

These are uncertain and dangerous times for all of us. Labour must be at the forefront of putting forward an alternative to the present economic mess, which makes unity more important now than ever. At a time of such economic uncertainty, with the Tory party split clean down the middle, Labour members and voters will not forgive us if we descend into infighting and introspection only a year after Jeremy Corbyn won his landslide victory as our leader.

Update:  the general secretaries of twelve trade unions have released this statement:

The prime minister’s resignation has triggered a Tory leadership crisis. At the very time we need politicians to come together for the common good, the Tory party is plunging into a period of argument and infighting.

In the absence of a government that puts the people first Labour must unite as a source of national stability and unity. It should focus on speaking up for jobs and workers’ rights under threat, and on challenging any attempt to use the referendum result to introduce a more right-wing Tory government by the back door.

The last thing Labour needs is a manufactured leadership row of its own in the midst of this crisis and we call upon all Labour MPs not to engage in any such indulgence.

209 comments on “Muppets move against Corbyn ”

  1. dukeofurl 1

    Getting into the detail of your link.
    “Downing Street believed key Conservatives such as Cameron, rather than Labour, should be the dominant message carriers.”

    Im sure the solid remain vote throughout Scotland was because the message had the SNP and Labour and most Conservatives on board.

    The other thing was the right wing press wasnt ‘on side’

    ““Downing Street told us: ‘We won with a risk message in the Scottish referendum in 2014 and 2015, and we could do the same in 2016.’ They were sure the economic risk message would bring the voters back to the status quo.Those messages are fine if they are going to be echoed every day in the rightwing press…

  2. Cricklewood 2

    I think this is behind it, couldn’t find a link to a more recent data set but watching Al Jazeera last night and expert of some description had said that the figures had largely stayed the same up until the vote.

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/30/labour-voters-in-the-dark-about-partys-stance-on-brexit-research-says

  3. Colonial Viper 3

    UK Labour and NZ Labour have the same careerist DNA.

    When the Scots succeed Labour will never take power in the UK again.

    • tinfoilhat 3.1

      I tend to agree CV, which is why I believe the next tory PM while making all the right noises about the UK and union between Scotland, Wales and NI will be secretly delighted if the SNP leads Scotland out of the union.

      • dukeofurl 3.1.1

        Scotland independence will probably be further away than before. remember the vote only had a few areas for independence in Scotland. Nothing like the mixed result in different areas for Brexit.
        Its well to remember how Quebec got its independence- it didnt, the 2nd vote was even closer, turnout even higher.

        • Lanthanide 3.1.1.1

          Er, one of the key promises England made to Scotland about Scotland remaining in the union was due to EU membership and EU development aid going to Scotland.

          With that very much now in jeopardy, another vote for independence in Scotland has a much higher chance of going through.

          • Colonial Viper 3.1.1.1.1

            dukeofurl seems to very quickly and conveniently forget the promises made by the English to the Scots.

            The Scots have not forgotten however.

            • dukeofurl 3.1.1.1.1.1

              Even the SNP doesnt keep all its promises. Once they were for abolishing the monarchy but now cant curtsey enough.

              • Colonial Viper

                My point stands.

                • dukeofurl

                  of course it does. but without any reasons for it.

                  The Scotland economy is unsustainable without fossil fuels. The current low prices would bring ruin ( Independence day was supposed to be march 24 2016) and the EU is a hard taskmaster if you cant keep with deficit to GDP ratio.

                  You do know Salmonds background ?
                  “Mr Salmond joined the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) as an economist and in 1982 was appointed to the post of Oil Economist, which he held until 1987 when he left RBS and was elected to Westminster as MP for Buchan and Banff. ”
                  No wonder they are sitting on fence over the abominable fracking.

                  • Draco T Bastard

                    The Scotland economy is unsustainable without fossil fuels.

                    What a load of bollocks. Every economy is sustainable without fossil fuels. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that fossil fuels are what’s making our economies unsustainable.

                    • dukeofurl

                      It was more under existing circumstances where the governments revenue is boosted by fossil fuel taxes and royalties
                      “Petroleum Revenue Tax (PRT) is a direct tax collected in the United Kingdom… its in addition to company tax”

                    • Draco T Bastard

                      It was more under existing circumstances where the governments revenue is boosted by fossil fuel taxes and royalties

                      Which is a fundamental misunderstanding of economics but I can’t really blame you for that. The world has been badly mis-taught how economics works in the real world, about actual resources. Instead we’ve been taught about money and how it all comes from the private sector which is only right because we incorrectly allow the private banks to create money without limit.

                      If we corrected the money flow to start at the government and end at the government then the government wouldn’t need revenue. The private sector would be dependent entirely upon government spending and most of that would be the UBI.

                      Most importantly, the economy would not be dependent upon any one industry and if the country had enough resources to feed and house people then it would be sustainable.

              • Bill Drees

                Bollox.
                The SNP does not courtesy to any knobs. You are a bigoted troll.
                Fuck off dukeofurl

    • dukeofurl 3.2

      They could under another Blair, remember “the party” had 418 seats when only 330 were needed for a majority. Only 56 of those 418 came from Scotland.

    • Stuart Munro 3.3

      Nothing secedes like secession.

    • Whateva Next 3.4

      there may not be a UK again

      • Colonial Viper 3.4.1

        its a rewinding in time, the final winding up of British imperial expansionism

        • whateva next? 3.4.1.1

          …….seems to happen to all empires in the end, including the ones which invaded Britain. C’est la vie

  4. Cricklewood 4

    A regional rather than national breakdown would be interesting. I suspect a comparison between lab voters in London v lab voters in Northern England would reveal quite different figures.

    • swordfish 4.1

      If you look at it on a city-by-city basis, there’s a reasonable possibility that – even in many Brexit-leaning cities – most Labour voters still chose Remain. That seems to be especially true in the Big Centres of the Midlands and the North – Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield (cities that either stuck with Remain or were fairly evenly divided, some tending mildly towards Brexit).

      There are some obvious exceptions, however. I think it’s a fair guess that a majority of Labour voters (though not necessarily a large majority – 60/40 at the extreme, I’d say) in some of the declining ‘Rust Belt’ urban sprawls and satellite cities in the hinterland of these Large Centres – as well as in a range of Eastern coast Port cities with their decimated fishing industries – chose Brexit. But overall, I’d say they were the exception – the stats suggest that the majority of Labour voters outside Greater London went Remain, albeit considerably less emphatically than in the Big Smoke.

  5. BM 5

    Why would Labour voters want to stay in the EU.?

    • miravox 5.1

      Why would Labour voters want to stay in the EU.?

      Maybe this….?

      http://imgur.com/1TCxMOV

      and not forgetting that the impact on household finances will mostly affect the poorest sections of society.

      • Ad 5.1.1

        Nice clip!

      • BM 5.1.2

        The Brexit side believes that leaving the EU will lead to cheaper food prices.

        That’s got to help out poor people.

        I’d also expect to see the UK property market start to deflate which will lead to cheaper living, once again helping the poor.

        • Ad 5.1.2.1

          The Cabbages are revolting!

          • BM 5.1.2.1.1

            Have you tried cutting the cabbage into slices, covering them with a balsamic vinegar and then grilling them for a few minutes quite tasty.

          • dukeofurl 5.1.2.1.2

            Food prices rising to the higher levels on the Continent was one of the worries back when Britain joined EU.
            They were used to lower prices from commonwealth. We would charge them market rates now !

        • miravox 5.1.2.2

          The brexiters believe a lot of things that specialists in the relevant fields don’t. Including economists

          https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2016/jun/24/global-markets-ftse-pound-uk-leave-eu-brexit-live-updates?page=with:block-576db104e4b0be24d34f5fea#block-576db104e4b0be24d34f5fea

          E.g:

          The record 8%-ish slump in the pound on Friday has raised fears that UK inflation could spike (as imports will cost more).

          That would be bad news for poorer citizens, says the IPPR think tank tonight.

          Using Treasury modelling of currency shocks, IPPR finds that a 2.3 percent increase in CPI will increase costs for the poorest households by 3.3 per cent, compared to a 1.6 per cent increase for the richest 10 percent of families.

          • BM 5.1.2.2.1

            Change is good as it leads to other opportunities.

            The most important factor here is that England controls it’s own destiny, the faceless bureaucrats in Brussels can go fuck themselves.

            • miravox 5.1.2.2.1.1

              That would include the faceless Nigel Farage MEP?

            • locus 5.1.2.2.1.2

              The UK begged 3 times over 11 years to be let in to the EEC. The reasons they needed to be part of the European community back then are even more pertinent now.

              There are hundreds of millions of Europeans who are proud to be part of the EU, and pleased to have an EU parliament that makes great laws for the whole of Europe, and is fundamentally more transparent and open to scrutiny than many of the factional propoganda driven national governments.

              Sadly for 16 million british voters, plus the overwhelming majority of scots, northern irish, gibraltarians and Lononers who voted to remain, they will lose much of the goodwill and 43 years worth of negotiated EU benefits due to short-sighted narrow-minded , utterly self serving conmen who ran the leave campaign

              • Peter

                As someone who came from the north of England I believe they voted to leave because.
                1 Zero hours contracts.
                2 Minimum wage.
                3 A future on and of the dole.
                4 A retirement fund made out of thin air.
                5 No chance of owning your own home.
                6 Can’t get your children into your local school.
                7 Can’t get to see your local doctor.
                8 Local hospital full aged parents can’t get treatment.
                They had nothing to loose.

                • Hanswurst

                  Couldn’t they just have voted to leave David Cameron, then?

                  • Colonial Viper

                    What, and get the same with Labour?

                  • OneTrack

                    Many of those issues were a consequence of being in the EU and Cameron, who was only the Prime Minister of a vassal state, couldn’t do much about it.

                    • Hanswurst

                      Absolute nonsense. European countries are largely autonomous. The problem is that some Britons associated those issues with Europe because immigrants.

                • KJT

                  I consider it was likely more a vote of no confidence in the anti-democratic and arrogant, UK and EU establishment than most of the often cited reasons.

                  Polls show that more than 50% of the citizens of other EU countries would vote to leave, given the choice.

          • dukeofurl 5.1.2.2.2

            There used to be expert consensus too that there would be benefits from UK joining Euro too.
            They statistical models for a lot of these things which in the economic area can lead to much wishful thinking

          • Draco T Bastard 5.1.2.2.3

            The other side of that coin is that British products and services will be in more demand thus producing more jobs and increasing wages.

            • miravox 5.1.2.2.3.1

              there is that. The New Economics Foundation believes this won#t happen before poor households are hurt
              http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/entry/brexit-the-immediate-risks

              First the important depreciation of the British Pound, which is currently underway, means that UK households will suffer – particularly the poorest ones.

              A strong currency depreciation renders imported goods more expensive – relative to domestic goods and domestic wages. In theory people can switch their consumption away from imported goods (e.g. imported foodstuff) towards domestically produced ones. But this assumes that an economy is able to substitute imported goods with domestic production quickly and easily.

              This is currently not the case for the British economy, which has a record-high trade deficit (particularly in manufacturing trade) and is running to the limits of its potential production. The consequence is simple: there will be inflation and people will have to spend more on the items they consume – losing purchasing power and cutting down on their expenditures in the process.

              My main concern with Brexit is that the laws and regulations that the Brexiters hate so much are also the ones that are have held the worst excesses of worker exploitation at bay and are socially and environmentally progressive. There will be no mood in a Tory-UKip world to keep these. My expectation is that a Corbyn-led Labour government would obviously be more sympathetic to these, however I don’t believe there is a lot of leeway to avoid poor households being worse of for quite some time.

              • KJT

                Depreciated currency = more demand for locally made goods, more demand for local workers, more competition between employers for workers. = higher wages = less poverty!

                • miravox

                  Except that after 30 years of neo-liberalism you’re asking the justifiably angry working classes to wait longer (maybe a lot longer if the Tories hold on) to get some benefit from the decision they made 2 days ago.

                  Condemning these people to greater poverty in the short-term will be the result of exiting if the economic reports from the NEF and IPPR are correct, and I’ve not seen anything to suggest they’re not. This is highly likely to be the reason the exiters seem reluctant to invoke Clause 50, I reckon.

                  Asking for trouble. They’re already finding out they’ve been lied to
                  – there won’t be 350mil per wk for for the NHS
                  – Immigration will still continue unabated
                  – Turkey won’t be joining the EU any time soon

                  Votes were based on these lies. If you think the working classes are angry now, just wait to see what will happen if they’re asked to take a little more for the good of the cause.

      • infused 5.1.3

        57% of fuck all is stil fuck all. Congrats. UK use to be one of the biggest trading powers in the world.

        And you AD, you numpty, think this trade is going to suddenly stop.

        • Ad 5.1.3.1

          The markets will take a few months to digest this.
          But so far it’s fully as expected; tanking.

          Society will love the democratic thrill of it all, but will find they can’t eat their voting paper.

        • miravox 5.1.3.2

          UK use to be one of the biggest trading powers in the world.

          Do you think imperialism is still an option?

  6. tinfoilhat 6

    Labour have every right to think they might win the next UK election, however, politics in the modern world is more of a personal popularity contest than it used to be, is Corbyn likely to win that part of the contest against the new Tory leader ?

  7. Ad 7

    Hey you Labour MP’s:

    Keep Calm and Carry On

  8. save nz 8

    Leadership stability is key for Labour, and no infighting +10000

  9. Pat 9

    “People will be looking for leadership from Labour. Descending into a leadership stoush at this stage will only increase disillusionment with politics in general and Labour in particular.”

    Although people SHOULD be looking for leadership from Labour(or at least some sensible alternative) I fear the disillusion with mainstream politics has now pushed beyond that…..failed by the existing, people are seeking remedy from the extreme….and its worth remembering you don’t need a majority to bring the game to an end.

    • Colonial Viper 9.1

      Labour still can’t be arsed listening to the voices of the people. They still know better than the unwashed masses, apparently.

      • Richardrawshark 9.1.1

        No CV they just can’t forget Blair, He ruined Labour, and anyone remotely looking neo lib in Labour or pro the remain camp (Corbyn) need to move aside now the public have spoken so Labour rightly are pushing for his replacement.

        This was never a labour VS Tory vote, it was free, democratic, we had representatives from both camps being from both parties.

        The clean up starts , MP’s are questioning there beleifs, if they wish to serve the democratic wishes of the people they read so wrong for so long, I would say a lot of MP’s are having a very thoughtful moment, and that’s happening in both the Tories and the Left.

  10. Paul 10

    We have the same neoliberal muppets here.
    Shearer and Goff come to mind.

  11. ianmac 11

    Talking of Leadership:
    Mr Key says nothing much will change for New Zealand.
    Rod Oram says there are very serious changes and challenges ahead. Who is correct?

    Brexit could trigger a crash of the World Economy and we would be helpless.
    The divorce could take years and business traders cannot wait or be in limbo.
    Our trade in red meat is with Europe rather than UK so with UK going alone their farming sector will tighten up on the rejection of NZ meat.
    And Rod thinks Johnson is UK’s Donald Trump.
    Kim Hill with Rod:
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/201805879/rod-oram

  12. Tory 12

    Why move against Corbyn? Quite simply because he is linked to Cammerons failure. Let’s be clear, BREXIT is great for semi retired professionals such as me but disastrous for the blue collar worker. Scotland may vote for independence but again who wins given currently the UK pays in billions of pounds per year to the help the Scottish economy? The winners are me and losers are working class. Strange times we live in…..

    • mickysavage 12.1

      He is only linked to Cameron’s failure by the right who are trying to spread the blame around.

    • mickysavage 12.2

      He is only linked to Cameron’s failure by the right who are trying to spread the blame around.

    • Richardrawshark 12.3

      Corbyn was in the remain camp. His position now is untenable, with Cameron resigning his options now are nil.

      • RedLogix 12.3.1

        So the 48% of British who voted to stay should resign also?

        • Anne 12.3.1.1

          Close on 70% of Labour voters appear to have voted to “remain”, and a bunch of brain-addled, entitled Blairite “muppets” (Brit. Labour should publiciy name each and every one of them) balls-up Labour’s chance of winning a fresh election either later this year or early next year.

          Following the angst and anguish of the past 24 hrs, I believe Corbyn’s political philosophy and policies would be ripe for acceptance by the majority of Brits. But no… a bunch of self serving, careerist Blairites want to use the outcome to dump Corbyn cos, cos… he wasn’t their choice. Jesus wept!

          Edit: I see you have said much the same @ 15.1 Redlogix but I’ll leave this here to ‘labour’ the point.

          • KJT 12.3.1.1.1

            Britains ABC’s.

            Unfortunately the “left” in both countries have the same contempt for Democracy as the “right”.

      • dukeofurl 12.3.2

        Only 10 labour Mps were for Brexit!

        Does that mean one of them becomes party leader ?

        • Richardrawshark 12.3.2.1

          Does the UK Labour party require you to be an MP to lead the party?

          Don’t round on me because I threw in one possible reason they want him gone, Not my fault they didn’t think about the reason too much. Either that or he’s a dick and they want him gone, who knows? the in house politics of UK Labour?.

      • Tooting Popular Front 12.3.3

        Corbyn was lukewarm on Europe and has been a Eurosceptic most of his political life. The labour supporters in Britain voted lukewarm for Europe – it seems reasonable to suppose that Corbyn is right in line with his supporters, he listens to them, they vote how they feel.

    • Pat 12.4

      and there you have the reason…..the wealthy prosper at the expense of the rest, regardless of the choice….and when this fails to change that, what next?

    • KJT 12.5

      After they took tens of billions of pounds out of Scotland, especially in oil exports, to pretend that Thatcherism was working.

  13. Foreign waka 13

    The vote was decided on the fact that Brussels is interfering into UK’s politics – as it does in all other EU countries and the anger about this is h u g e – plus the issue of immigration set to increase by millions (64 mil on the move worldwide).
    Essentially, decisions are being made on the back of those who finance with their ever decreasing incomes an every increasing bureaucracy and talk fest. So those who are affected most said with this vote – enough. The mistake by all those who thought that Britain will stay was that they did not recognize, as you do in an ivory tower, that there are now more than 50% that are not getting their fair share and in fact have to pay more and more at the expense of their future survival. Perceived or otherwise. Britain has set the tone, it would not be such a surprise if the EU union falls apart within the next 3 years.

  14. Jenny 14

    It wasn’t the government that kept Labour out of the picture during this campaign. It was the Labour Party itself, who made themselves invisible during this campaign, allowing the UK Idependence Party and the far right to fill the vacuum.

    http://thestandard.org.nz/snakes-and-ladders/#comment-1194014

    Instead of UKIP party Nigel Farage,standing before the television cameras, it should have been Jeremy Corbyn.

    If Labour had taken a concerted anti-free trade, anti-TTIP, and anti-corporate-global-rule, platform and recognised the yearning for freedom from the corporate domination by the EU elites, that the NO vote tapped into.
    And if Labour had also tied this into anti-war and support for migrants and refugees, and explained why, they could have won this debate and isolated the Right wing and the Xenophobic racists in UKIP.

    After all it is the EU that is now erecting borders against refugees, and it is EU bombers that have joined the Assad the US and Russian airforces in carpet bombing Syrian cities, with the French airforce flattening the Syian City of Al-Raqqah the so called capital of ISIS.

    It is not ISIS terror, the refugees are fleeing, it is the terror from the air supported and carried out by the West the EU and the US, and for good measure in an act of one-up-man-ship to demonstrate that they too can bomb other countries and get away with it the Russian Federation.

    http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2016/06/refugee-crisis-160620083009119.html

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op%C3%A9ration_Chammal

    http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/russian-bombing-of-syria

    Add to all this, the massive aerial assault by the West’s darling Assad against his own people, and you can see why an anti-war, pro refugee, anti EU anti austerity platform could have captured the Brexit campaign and isolated the Torries and the UKIP.

    https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=assad+and+the+queen&espv=2&biw=1024&bih=482&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjS-4r08cHNAhXGpJQKHbKAAHMQsAQIGQ

    • ropata 14.1

      You are so right. Why do scumbags like Nigel bloody Farage and tory clown Boris Johnson get to be the voice of disaffected the UK working class?

    • Sanctary 14.2

      What bullshit. This referendum was Cameron s idea, not Corbyns. The remain campaign was a fear mongering disaster from a bunch of tin earred neoliberals. Are you seriously suggesting Corbyn should have been part of a campaign where neolib economics was the main plank? The minute Corbyn got up on a stage and common cause with Tony Blair in defense oF neoliberal economic orthdoxy his credibility as a genuine change option would have vanished. Your idiotic idea that Corbyn have been balls deep in defending something his heartland bote doesn’t like would have delivered the Midlands to UKIP, just like Labour’s defence of orthodoxy delivered Scotland to the SNP. Corbyn did enough to keep a foot both camps, while letting Cameron twist in the wind. Only the arrogant establishment Blairites think he should ha e committed suicide by siding with the Tory establishment. It is obvious there is around 40-50 disaffected Blairite MPs the media can run to for a reliable anti-Corbyn beat up. They will defect the moment a Corbyn led Labour wins power in order to defend the neoliberal establishment, mark my words.

  15. Draco T Bastard 15

    But Corbyn’s opponents are also “absolutely convinced” that they have the backing of the 51 MPs/MEPs needed to endorse a leadership challenger and trigger a contest.

    Wonder if they’ll do the decent thing and resign their positions after Corbyn gets voted back in by the membership.

    • RedLogix 15.1

      My thinking too. This is one treachery too far. Not just disloyal to Corbyn, not just to the UK Labour Party, nor even to the people who elected them, but utterly incompatible with any sense of the idea of public duty. It’s a naked, self-interested, ugly power-grab.

      Their actions at this critical moment are crazy-making. It’s Labour’s most valuable opportunity to demonstrate that is worthy of being in government, and these muppets would sooner sabotage it than accept the possibility of Corbyn being Prime Minister.

  16. infused 16

    lol you have no idea. UK Labour is in as much ‘crisis’ as shown by the idiotic way they reacted after the vote. No more silver spoon once they retire now.

  17. Lanthanide 17

    Here’s Corbyn saying he only supports EU at a “7 out of 10” level: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36506163

    He also refused to share the stage with any other pro-EU politician, such as David Cameron.

    It *does* present a confused message to the Labour party voters.

    • RedLogix 17.1

      The point is that the EU desperately needed reform.

      You don’t reform things by taking a cricket bat to them.

      • Infused 17.1.1

        Why would it reform? It dosent have to. Thats the whole point

      • jcuknz 17.1.2

        That was what I thought too Redlogic, though as an ex-pom, 62yrs now in NZ I don’t have much interest in those left behind.
        I just hope they remember that nz fed them in the past and could do so now even though they represent just 2% of our export trade I heard somewhere.

        • Mrs Brillo 17.1.2.1

          If the UK comes back schmoozing the Old Commonwealth, talking about kith and kin, and asking us to be their best trading buddies again, I hope they arrive on their knees.

          And I hope our negotiators have the ovaries to really screw down some punitive deals with the Poms.

          Some of us have long memories, and remember the lies they told us in the 1970s before dumping New Zealand trade and leaving us to scratch for a living.

          Let them discover how a small island nation fares in rough waters. They had it coming.

          • Ad 17.1.2.1.1

            Yup.
            Same for all those old colonies.
            Australia. South Africa. India. Pakistan. Canada. British Guyana. Zimbabwe.

            And of course, dem Yankees. Ain’t no point having a ‘special relationship’ when they no longer give any access to Europe.

            Having just determined to decolonize themselves, they will feel what it was like to be the supplicant.

            Perhaps the English can humbly request a larger diplomatic presence in Dublin?

          • Grumpy 17.1.2.1.2

            I am having fun in Europe reminding people of that!

      • Draco T Bastard 17.1.3

        Sometimes the only way to get the needed reform is to break the system.

        • Paul 17.1.3.1

          Agreed

        • RedLogix 17.1.3.2

          That may well be true DtB, just so long as you don’t mind living with a mess for a while.

          • weka 17.1.3.2.1

            Some people are already living with a mess, that’s the point.

            • RedLogix 17.1.3.2.1.1

              Righto … so a bigger mess will help.

              I’m an evolutionary rather than revolutionary kind of guy. And the way evolution works is that successful adaptations only have to be a little bit better than their alternatives.

              Problem is that for thirty years the left has rarely managed to be that ‘little bit better’. The right is united by the power of money and its class instincts, the left eat’s it’s own.

              • weka

                The thing I keep thinking in the past day is that if Remain had won, nothing would have changed for the people that voted Leave out of desperation. There is no incremental adaptation in the right direction in the UK. I don’t think any ensuing mess is good, but I don’t think that the status quo is good either. At least this way something might be forced to change. It’s sad that it’s gotten to that but I can’t see how anything would have changed if Remain had won. Worse, the people that do well out of neoliberalism, even those of us who work to end it, would be ok. We’re not really willing to put the things on the line that would effect real change.

                • Draco T Bastard

                  There is no incremental adaptation in the right direction in the UK.

                  Or anywhere else for that matter.

                  I don’t think any ensuing mess is good, but I don’t think that the status quo is good either.

                  And the status quo won’t bring about the required changes.

                  It’s sad that it’s gotten to that but I can’t see how anything would have changed if Remain had won.

                  Bingo.

              • Colonial Viper

                I’m an evolutionary rather than revolutionary kind of guy. And the way evolution works is that successful adaptations only have to be a little bit better than their alternatives.

                But sometimes you have to make both a qualitative and quantitative leap. Going from 4 legs to 2, for instance. Or going from not flying to flying.

                The BREXIT vote is about ordinary people raising their voices and putting evolutionary pressure on the elites, left and right, to improve their currently senile, avaracious, morally bankrupt leadership.

                If the power elite do not listen, the volume will be turned up further.

                • weka

                  Very well put CV.

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  The move from four legs to two took millennia. So did flight.

                  The lure of populism is just as much a tool of the elite as moral bankruptcy and avarice. They’ve been around for millennia too.

                  • weka

                    Nevertheless the pressure is still there in a way that it wasn’t before.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      The pressure to do what, as expressed by whom? As Bill has noted, both “sides” in the “debate” based their arguments on fear.

                      This is probably the most intelligent comment so far: …we now live in a post-factual democracy…

                    • weka

                      You seem to be thinking that the pressure is something intentional coming from specific people. It’s not. It’s a natural consequence of the mess we were already in. At the moment the debate is being polarised, and that is stopping the dynamics from being explored. There are far more than two sides here. It’s not about right or wrong or good or bad, it’s about what is happening.

                      IMO the downsides of Brexit (esp the racism) were happening anyway and set to get a lot worse. Because of globalisation and neoliberalism and the ways in which those things were inextricable. At this point in time I just don’t think it’s possible for the benefits of the EU to exist without shitting on a whole bunch of people. And in the past day I see a whole lot of privileged people upset because they’re going to lose some privileges that in the face of climate change and possible extreme oppression just don’t seem worth it to me.

                      I don’t think open borders are inherently a good thing, so your link doesn’t speak to me.

                    • weka

                      Btw, as for post-factual democracy, can you see if you can find some reliable figures for turnout by age? We were looking before to see if the claim that young people voted overwhelmingly to stay was true or if it was high because lots of young people who would have voted leave didn’t vote (I would guess it’s a mix of reasons).

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      Now you seem to be arguing that, far from being new, all the pressures were already there.

                      I think it’s a mistake to assume that because racists and those whose lives have been ruined by right wing lies took the same side on this issue, that they have now formed some manner of constituency.

                      No doubt Farage or some other dirtbag will make the effort, though.

                    • I liked the link OAB – very good.

                      I really think that any honest and good intention from the exit side will be hoovered up by the bigots and brownshits and used, along with their narrowminded tightly held beliefs of superiority, to isolate that island and demonise others, especially immigrants and refugees.

                    • weka

                      Yes, there were pressures already there, and now there are additional ones. One of them is the fact that the comfortably off are now getting bloody uncomfortable. Might be time for them to do the right thing.

                      “I think it’s a mistake to assume that because racists and those whose lives have been ruined by right wing lies took the same side on this issue, that they have now formed some manner of constituency.”

                      I definitely don’t see them as having formed some kind of constituency, I don’t even seem them as being on the same side (that’s a coincidence as much as anything). I agree that Farage is a huge problem and will do a lot of damage.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      If reports are accurate, the turnout was higher among the elderly, lower among the “working class”.

                      Turnout also seems to have been lower in communities that voted to remain.

                      Goodness knows what to make of that. As Andrew Geddis put it: “the interweb’s voluminous reckons…”

                    • weka

                      “I really think that any honest and good intention from the exit side will be hoovered up by the bigots and brownshits and used, along with their narrowminded tightly held beliefs of superiority, to isolate that island and demonise others, especially immigrants and refugees.”

                      I’ve seen a few harrowing tweets from Brits telling stories like how they’ve just seen a Polish woman on a bus with her kid being told by a Anglo woman that she has to get out now. Horrible stuff and there will be worse. What I want to know is what the tweeters did when they saw this.

                      Because the racists didn’t just appear overnight and being part of the EU wasn’t stopping them from being racist. So time to change what we are doing. A slide into fascism or entrenched bigotry isn’t inevitable. If 48% said remain, are they now going to stand up and do the right things? I suspect many won’t, but I hope enough do.

                    • weka

                      @OAB, complex as fuck is how I’d put it. At the moment the internet seems to be full of people panicking.

                    • Draco T Bastard

                      This is probably the most intelligent comment so far: …we now live in a post-factual democracy…

                      Nope. It’s pretty much a load of bollocks.

                      The ‘experts’ that it’s saying that we should listen to are the ones that advocate for the policies that caused the problem in the first place. Listening to them won’t get you any facts, just more ideology.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      Draco, it’s possible that you know more about this than the people who are actually affected by it.

                      “A prevailing culture of anti-intellectualism…” DIscuss 🙄

                    • @ weka

                      “Because the racists didn’t just appear overnight and being part of the EU wasn’t stopping them from being racist.”

                      true but they are emboldened now and the hardcore will drag the edges and the centre of balance will/is moving. And sadly calls of, “I didn’t mean THAT” and so on will be too little too late.

                      I agree that there is a massive can of worms there and imo that cleaning that out is the goal and I think the vote has made it harder, if not impossible, to do that.

                    • Draco T Bastard

                      “A prevailing culture of anti-intellectualism…”

                      Is too fucken broad which is why I limited it to only the economists and banksters that caused the GFC that have been so bloody wrong – for 200+ years.

                      I think you’ll find that it’s not a case, yet, of general anti-intellectualism but of anti-economists. The people who have promised that things will be so much better if we all do x, y, z but after doing x, y, z the majority are worse off and they only see a few getting richer. After seeing that for a few decades they’re now pushing back.

                      Unfortunately, there isn’t a plan to go with that push.

                    • weka

                      “I agree that there is a massive can of worms there and imo that cleaning that out is the goal and I think the vote has made it harder, if not impossible, to do that.”

                      And yet under Remain it wasn’t going to happen either. Because IMO too many people were too comfortable and so wouldn’t look at the people being left behind. Taking those people out of their comfort might be the only hope there is.

                      There is a similar dynamic here where privileged young people are blaming the baby boomers for not being able to buy a first home. But they’re not agitating for tenancy rights or rent control. And if the economy is tweaked so that they can buy their first home, they’ll be happy to jump on the investment bandwagon and bugger those below. It’s exactly those people that need to radicalise. And when they see someone being harassed on a bus for being an immigrant they need to take action, not just tweet how unfair post-Brexit. It was already unfair.

                  • Colonial Viper

                    The move from four legs to two took millennia. So did flight.

                    We’ve got maybe 10 or 15 years left to avoid the very worst that climate change and energy depletion is going to bring to our civilisation.

                    If our elites do not change very quickly, Trump, Golden Dawn and AfD are going to be primary school bullies compared to who will take power.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      I’d like to see a change away from arguments based on fear 🙄

                    • weka

                      And the people that are feeling scared?

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      …can be manipulated for votes. Dire predictions of unspecified bullies spring to mind.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      If you don’t understand the mood of the electorate, you lose.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      If you say so 😆

                    • weka

                      “…can be manipulated for votes. Dire predictions of unspecified bullies spring to mind.”

                      Yes, and others can be manipulated likewise with different tactics. So?

                      You avoided my question. If you want a move away from arguments based on fear, how will you talk to people who are scared?

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      If you want a move away from arguments based on fear, how will you talk to people who are scared?

                      Arguments based on fear don’t help people who are scared. Pointing that out to them might be one way…

                    • weka

                      Telling people who are scared that they shouldn’t base their arguments on how they are feeling because it won’t work? Doesn’t sound like a useful strategy to me (and patronising). For instance, if you were to tell me that the fear I feel around climate change shouldn’t be part of my arguments for change, I would definitely have to disagree, and if at that point you insisted that I was wrong, we’re not going to get anywhere are we.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      Sure Weka, if that’s how you’d approach it, I guess you’d get nowhere.

                      There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging the fear (especially given that most of us share it) and equally nothing wrong with acknowledging how useless it is as a decision-making tool.

                    • weka

                      So how would you approach it?

                      I don’t know what you mean by using it as a decision making tool. Because “I’m seriously scared of climate change so I’m going to act now” seems as good as anything else that is happening. If you mean that relying on it alone leads to poor judgement, I’d agree with that.

                      Here’s what CV said,

                      We’ve got maybe 10 or 15 years left to avoid the very worst that climate change and energy depletion is going to bring to our civilisation.

                      If our elites do not change very quickly, Trump, Golden Dawn and AfD are going to be primary school bullies compared to who will take power

                      Myself I think time based predictions are hugely problematic, but let’s say that the general sentiment is correct (we have a time within which to act and then it becomes increasingly too late, and that time is now).

                      Then, the fear mongering. Which is that people in power are going to be much much worse if we don’t do x, y, z and this will be really bad for us. Myself, I don’t think that’s a useful way to frame things, but the fear on CV’s part seems a legitimate motivator to me. I don’t agree with what he does after that point, but if he really believes that then what’s the problem? By all means address the claim, but writing it off because it involves fear is a problem, because many people are scared. Telling them they’re wrong somehow to be basing their politics on that, I just don’t think it works. But I am interested to hear how you would approach such a thing.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      I just said how I’d approach it. Start by acknowledging it (the fear), then move on to practical concerns, including the potential for people to exploit that fear.

                      As an illustration, I’d offer a comparison between the strategies employed by Sanders and Trump, and the relative success – in that Sanders has probably achieved something, and Trump’s tanty trainwreck, not so much.

                • Poission

                  The BREXIT vote is about ordinary people raising their voices and putting evolutionary pressure on the elites, left and right, to improve their currently senile, avaracious, morally bankrupt leadership.

                  Two predictions come to pass from the Dilbert Future.

                  Prediction 32 (page 127)
                  In the future, the balance of employment power will change.
                  We’ll witness the revenge of the downsized.

                  Prediction 26 (page 102)
                  In the future, voters will be so baffled that they’ll want smart people
                  with bad hair to tell them what to do.

    • weka 17.2

      “It *does* present a confused message to the Labour party voters.”

      A confusing message about what? The video in your link is very clear.

  18. Adrian 18

    So the richest 15 people in Britain just lost 8 billion pounds, no wonder Bumbling Boris looked so pale and shaken in his ” victory ” speech last night. I’ve rarely seen a polly look so deflated.
    Somebody must have passed him a note that a contract had been let or that they had pictures of him at the other end of the pig that his mate Cameron was cock-choking.
    Etonian Pig Fuckers, great name for a band.

    • Colonial Viper 18.1

      The 0.1% who shifted assets out of the pound beforehand have just made a shit load of money. The real players make a tonne of money out of volatility.

      • Richardrawshark 18.1.1

        🙂 even if it was a pittance.

      • Grumpy 18.1.2

        The currency is recovering. The fluctuations are about the same as we see frequently with the $NZ. The biggest market falls are on the European and American exchanges. Britain has done relatively well so far.

        • Colonial Viper 18.1.2.1

          The repercussions of the BREXIT are going to take several months to play out in the financial markets. The reaction of the last 24 hours suggests that market fundamentals are broken and that fact has now been exposed.

          As one commentator has said – negative interest rates are coming to every country in the western world because first world economies are now on chemo.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 18.1.2.1.1

            The Ken Ring approach: total economic collapse by 2013 2014 2015 2016

  19. Incognito 19

    At the first whiff of power the infighting starts, again. Luckily, that’s where the similarities between UK and NZ Labour Parties stop except perhaps for the fact that they both have thriving ABC factions?

    • Paul 19.1

      The neo-liberal factions in both parties are the problem.

    • Anne 19.2

      😀

      I think the NZ Labour Party’s ABC faction has been pretty much disbanded. Thanks Andrew Little.

      If the UK Labour membership vote overwhelmingly to retain Jeremy Corbyn – and at some point surely there will have to be membership vote – then they should demand the leaders of the current coup resign their parliamentary seats forthwith. They might not fully succeed, but I beleive it would shut the ‘muppets’ up once and for all.

  20. Tory 20

    So you have just replaced Neo liberal politics with politics based on nationalism, racism and extremism. The fragmentation of UK politics will see political extremism (left and right) gain appeal. The politics of centralism have a huge challenge; interesting to see that the disaffected voted so strongly for change and change has succeeded in so far that they have jumped out of the frypan and into the fire,.

    • Grumpy 20.1

      I don’t think the old groupings of left and right work anymore. When Conservatives like Boris attract heavy support from the Midlands working class, then that is a serious realignment n British politics. We can see it in the US as well with Only 40% of Bernie supporters willing to vote for Clinton. The message of the right and traditional left are merging.

    • Stuart Munro 20.2

      The nation state is the unit of political accountability – nationalism is necessary to control elite character flaws.

  21. Paul 21

    ‘So you have just replaced Neo liberal politics with politics based on nationalism, racism and extremism. ‘

    I have done nothing!
    The UK, meanwhile, ……..

    • Pat 21.1

      except the politics haven’t changed….yet. The elites probably have one last chance to discard neoliberalism….if they fail to seize that opportunity THEN you may see your politics of nationalism, racism and extremism take control…..I won’t hold my breath however they will learn the lesson.

      • Redelusion 21.1.1

        Is not the leave vote one against the social democratic model of the EU

        • Pat 21.1.1.1

          no …the leave vote is a vote against the status quo….unfortunately the status quo will likely remain EU or no.

    • Redelusion 21.2

      vote is for conservatism, small government and capitalism

  22. Grumpy 22

    Being currently in Germany, I just can’t help myself and have engaged with many locals who confuse me for English. The a germany honestly just cannot comprehend why Britain should vote to leave. They have no concept of sovereignty, that part of their psyche seems to have been well extinguished from the a german make up.
    Interestingly, the English I have spoken to in the last day all cite concern for the Brussels bureaucracy and although they are almost entirely remain believe that if the EU mandarins had given Cameron just a bit more than they did in the recent negotiations, that Britain would have voted “stay”.
    News coverage seems to focus on the perceived “working class” and “uneducated” leave voters. That sound to me like the old traditional Labour voters who seem to have followed Boris. I can’t see how Corbyn could have countered that.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 22.1

      We should add that to the list of things you can’t see, or are you keeping a tally?

    • Colonial Viper 22.2

      Thanks for the report Grumpy

      • Grumpy 22.2.1

        You’re welcome. Will spend tonight in the hotel bar, should be interesting. My own company, a large Danish Industrial group moved all its production to Poland making its Danish workforce unemployed. At the same time Denmark opened its borders to large numbers of migrant who compete for the low paid jobs available. Huge welfare payments paid for by the few who work mean ridiculously high taxes.
        Globalization = EU = profits for the owners = low wages or welfare.
        Until now the Europeans could see no way to break the cycle. Brexit has shown the way and that’s what the lite is scared of.

        • Colonial Viper 22.2.1.1

          My own company, a large Danish Industrial group moved all its production to Poland making its Danish workforce unemployed. At the same time Denmark opened its borders to large numbers of migrant who compete for the low paid jobs available. Huge welfare payments paid for by the few who work mean ridiculously high taxes.

          Geeezus. Then you get all these wonderful better off, well educated Labour Party MPs and supporters voting “REMAIN”. They really are out of touch with the ordinary working man.

          • Grumpy 22.2.1.1.1

            I have watched this economic suicide from the inside for 25years. How could the elite not know what was to happen in UK and is about to happen throughout Europe? There is a reason EU went after the Balkan and Warsaw Pact states, cheap labour and globalization. The corporations make mega bucks and leave an increasingly impoverished domestic workforce.

          • Grumpy 22.2.1.1.2

            But these wonderful better off Labour MPs will die in a ditch for LGBT and migrant rights. Probably attend every Boycott and Divestment protest against Israel too. Nothing like a distraction.

            • Paul 22.2.1.1.2.1

              Easier than fighting for workers’ rights and upsetting international capital.

              • Colonial Viper

                and look womens’ low wages should be equally shit as mens’ low wages

  23. fisiani 23

    The Muppets cannot get rid of Corbyn. The muppets do not choose the leader. Same as NZ Labour. Thus in both countries you end up with an unelectable leader despised by their colleagues but loved by the elitist members who do not reflect the voters.

    • Sanctary 23.1

      You need a job in a Hallmark factory, they are always on the lookout for mindless slogans.

    • ropata 23.2

      WTF are you smoking Fisiani?

      Corbyn was elected by popular acclaim of the party membership not the “elite” inner circle of MPs. The muppets are the Labour MPs who were proven to be woefully out of touch with their own constituency by voting Remain (alongside their true leader David Cameron) and endlessly plotting against Corbyn

      • Redelusion 23.2.1

        No the muppets are corbyn and his labour activist who have lost touch with thier heart land voters in the north who overwhelmingly voted leave Corbym with Cameron both gone burgers

        • One Anonymous Bloke 23.2.1.1

          Please don’t read any analysis of the turnout before commenting again. It will only confuse you.

          • Colonial Viper 23.2.1.1.1

            Outside of London, all the poorer/post-industrial areas of England voted for BREXIT. Midlands, Yorkshire, the North East. Wales too.

            Poorer, lower social class, lower qualified people – the working class kind who used to be core Labour support – were the least likely to vote for REMAIN.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 23.2.1.1.1.1

              Baby steps. The word to direct your attention to is turnout, and the argument it refutes is Reddelusion’s. Not sure what your point is.

              • Redelusion

                Ok OAB only the rich in the north voted,if that makes you feel better

                • ropata

                  I don’t think you can draw any anti-Corbyn conclusions from the Brexit result. It’s more complex than that and highlights divisions all across the UK; on class lines, urban v. rural, English v. Northern, young v. old, …

                  Corbyn’s “support” for Remain was lukewarm at best and there was no way he would appear doing anything to look supportive of pigrooter Cameron

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  Not really: the demographics make for quite uncomfortable reading when you consider the divisions they represent.

      • Whateva Next 23.2.2

        Agree, it is the Right wing tactic of “divide and rule” working well for them once more, but oh, WHEN will people stop falling for it????

      • fisiani 23.2.3

        The elite are the few thousand people who are members of Labour UK or the 6,000, n0w 4,000 (after the Chinese sounding names fiasco) Labour NZ members who are so out of touch with the hopes and aspirations of the voters. Voters want
        a job – more are employed than ever.
        a pay rise- most well ahead of inflation
        a home – 140 a day being built
        a hospital -more doctors and nurses than ever
        a decent school – NCEA pass rates rising
        free health care for kids, tick
        increase benefits and pensions Tick
        the long list of improvements goes on and on.

  24. Sanctary 24

    Every Scot I know (all under 25) voted to stay both in the UK and in the EU. They (sample size five) will all now vote for independence. Scotland will leave the UK within the next two years and with a huge mandate to do so.

    • Paul 24.1

      Agreed

    • Grumpy 24.2

      Scotland is not a viable state. It stays afloat through EU and UK handouts. Won’t happen. Northern Ireland, on the other hand might leave and join with Eire. Again huge EU handouts.
      Interestingly, UK pay an unbelievable amount to the EU for administration, which is many times higher than the EU pays out to UK.
      With the UK dropping out and no decrease in a EU bureaucracy, the countries left will need to pay more, read Germany and France, who do not get along and France has a growing exit movement it does not want to fuel.

      • Colonial Viper 24.2.1

        Scotland is not a viable state. It stays afloat through EU and UK handouts.

        It’s only digital currency. It has the population, industry and natural resources required to be an independent country.

        Mind you, Scotland will not be a financially viable state if it chooses to join the Euro instead of having its own sovereign currency.

  25. Draco T Bastard 25

    New Statesman: I want my country back

    Finally, someone gave them the opportunity to vote for change, for any change at all. When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like David Cameron’s face.

    This was not just a vote against Europe, but a vote against Westminster and the entirety of mainstream politics.

    Pretty much says it all really. But that’s about the only thing I agree with in that article. The rest of it is just more scaremongering.

  26. KJT 26

    https://opendemocracy.net/uk/enrico-tortolano/eu-and-other-neoliberal-nightmares

    Pretty much says it all.

    ‘Voting to leave the EU is a no-brainer for the Left. The European Union is remote, racist, imperialist, anti-worker and anti-democratic: It is run by, of, and for the super-rich and their corporations. A future outside austerity and other economic blunders rests on winning the struggle to exit the EU, removing us from its neoliberal politics and institutions. Corporate bureaucrats in Brussels working as agents of the big banks and transnationals’ now exert control over every aspect of our lives. Neoliberal policies and practices dominate the European Commission, European Parliament, European Central Bank, European Court of Justice and a compliant media legitimises the whole conquest. This has left the EU constitution as the only one in the world that enshrines neoliberal economics into its text. Therefore the EU is not – and never can be – either socialist or a democracy.

    Against the left’s strategic case for exit is relentless blither and blather from the elitist liberal commentariat: the EU is a social-democratic haven that protects us from the nasty Tories is their litany and verse. This is an absurd fantasy: by design the EU is a corporatist, pro-capitalist establishment. Therefore, it strains credulity that the bulk of the Parliamentary Labour Party and a rump of the trade union movement believe in the myth of Social Europe”.

    After the anti democratic destruction of Greece, leaving is the only rational decision.

    Note the only votes for staying, from the “left” come from privileged and well off, “Chardonnay socialists”.

  27. KJT 27

    https://opendemocracy.net/uk/enrico-tortolano/eu-and-other-neoliberal-nightmares

    Pretty much says it all.

    ‘Voting to leave the EU is a no-brainer for the Left. The European Union is remote, racist, imperialist, anti-worker and anti-democratic: It is run by, of, and for the super-rich and their corporations. A future outside austerity and other economic blunders rests on winning the struggle to exit the EU, removing us from its neoliberal politics and institutions. Corporate bureaucrats in Brussels working as agents of the big banks and transnationals’ now exert control over every aspect of our lives. Neoliberal policies and practices dominate the European Commission, European Parliament, European Central Bank, European Court of Justice and a compliant media legitimises the whole conquest. This has left the EU constitution as the only one in the world that enshrines neoliberal economics into its text. Therefore the EU is not – and never can be – either socialist or a democracy.

    Against the left’s strategic case for exit is relentless blither and blather from the elitist liberal commentariat: the EU is a social-democratic haven that protects us from the nasty Tories is their litany and verse. This is an absurd fantasy: by design the EU is a corporatist, pro-capitalist establishment. Therefore, it strains credulity that the bulk of the Parliamentary Labour Party and a rump of the trade union movement believe in the myth of Social Europe”.

    After the anti democratic destruction of Greece, leaving is the only rational decision.

    The EU has been an anti-democratic, Neo-liberal project, from the beginning.

    Note the only votes for staying, from the “left” come from privileged and well off, “Chardonnay socialists”.

    • Draco T Bastard 27.1

      +1

    • miravox 27.2

      Pretty much says it all?

      Every one of those criticisms could be leveled at any variety of government the UK has had since Thatcher!

      Just as national govts are left or right, so is the elected EU parliament. Without doubt, the neo-libs are in charge in the EU at the moment. Saying vote leaving is a good idea because the EU is right wing is like saying you’re swapping one neo-liberal corporatist project for another one, but at least it’s our neo-liberal corporatist project (as an aside I’m pretty sure the social democrats, unlike Labour in the UK made gains in the last EU elections). Working class people subject to the brutality of the neo-liberal era will continue to be subject to that brutality under a UK Tory or so-called third way labour government with or without the EU. Hey, if NZ can do over its own people without the EU, I’m sure our PM’s text buddy Cameron is just as capable of doing the same without the EU!

      A couple of points in the article
      – I’ve no time for what the troika did to Greece. I didn’t see the UK arguing against that. It could have.
      – Student loans are a national, not EU issue. UK has them, Germany doesn’t
      – People in the UK that I know, who are on the left and supported remaining and are not in any form ‘chardonnay socialists.’ Some of their friends and family voted to exit. Of course I know others who are chardonnay socialists (but don’t live in the UK). It’s a mixed bag.

      The trouble with leaving, imo, is important environmental, worker and social protections come from the EU and not the UK government. I base that opinion partly on living within the same EU project as the UK, but without the Tory government.

      I expect the first thing the UK govt will do on leaving will be reduce working conditions, allow fracking, ignore climate change targets and water-down human rights legislation.

    • locus 27.3

      KJT – Neoliberalism is not the basis of the EU. The EU is not all the emotive labels stuck on it by this one-eyed article, nor by the acolytes of UKIP and the Tory right.

      Yes, neoliberalism is a fundamental reason for the increasing divisions in society, but the ideological drivers for neoliberalism don’t come from the EU.

      The EU institutions and government are open to constant scrutiny from all member states, produce good laws and help to create a multinational forum for debate, discussion and stability. Not something I would say about most national governments.

      I’m heartily sick of all the ill-informed smearing and propoganda that is fabricated about the EU. In my view it’s mostly whipped up by racists, extreme nationalists and others with a political grudge wanting to get easy publicity.

      There are the hundreds of millions of people who are very pleased to be citizens of a united European Community. I am one.

      I am gutted by the Brexit vote, the reasons for it, the way the politicians lied and manipulated people during their campaigns, and the massive damage that leaving the EU will inflict on many millions of British people.

      Leaving the EU will take not take just a couple of years for UK governments to negotiate and mitigate – the fallout will take decades to repair.

      The UK would have a huge amount to do to make up for losing 43 years of partnership and membership of the EU, and right now their political leaders are probably thinking about this in a much more serious way than they did during over the last emotionally charged few weeks. It would be a monumental error to invoke article 50.

      Right now I think the first job for the UK government is not to rush for exit, but to try to understand the vote. The regions (and age-groups) that most clearly believe their way of life was being threatened or disadvantaged by being in the EU need to be a priority. IMO disentangling from the EU won’t do anything tangible to reduce the frustrations felt in post industrial and poorer areas of the UK where the majority of the brexit vote originated.

      Will this happen? I sincerely hope so, but it’s difficult to have any confidence in the politicians who lied and manipulated the truth during the referendum campaign. Moreover, it is unlikely that these same politicians have any real desire to listen to, understand and care about the problems of the people who delivered them Brexit.

      I believe that neo-liberal ideology is the root cause of many of the UK’s social and economic disparities, and that without a massive change, this discredited ideological system will continue to deepen the divisions in UK society…… irrespective of EU membership.

      While addressing the needs of the Brexiters, the UK government also has a formidable job to reduce the anger, sense of loss and fears of many millions who wanted to remain in the EU. A good start would be to allay the sense of betrayal that the majority of Scots, Northern Irish, Gibraltarians and the under-30s feel. For them, Brexit was driven by propoganda and lies, and will deny them their rights as citiizens within the wider European community.

      I’m not British or European so I should not have an emotional investment in the UK’s decision, but I do. I have many friends and family who are devastated.

      From the perspective of an outsider I can see that the Brexit decision has immediately led to a loss of international and European respect for the UK, and will result in diminished political and economic influence on the World stage. And while this may not matter to many Brexiters, it matters to many other millions that call the UK and the EU their home.

      I sincerely hope for the sake of the UK and the EU, their leaders now take a long hard look at what led to the Brexit vote, and deal with the root causes, rather than clinging to the fallacy that this is about reclaiming sovereignty and blaming all their ills on the EU.

  28. swordfish 28

    Dang ! Dang ! Dang !

    I’ve posted 3 comments tonight – 1 here and 2 on CV’s post (one of them quite a detailed overview of the geography of the EU vote in the Midlands and the North on a City-by-City basis). All of them have disappeared out into the ether – or maybe into spam ?

    Still, they say life’s a veil of tears …

    [RL: I’ve gone back into Trash and restored them.]

  29. ropata 29

    That’s an old, old phrase…

    http://www.biblestudytools.com/rhe/psalms/84.html

    Blessed is the man whose help is from thee: in his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps,

    in the vale of tears, in the place which be hath set. “

  30. mosa 30

    I hope Jeremy Corbyn stands his ground and sees off this attack on his leadership because those that are forcing it are gutless cowards and undemocratic and in the wrong party.
    If he is replaced by a Lab neo lib then the party will split and would have lost the chance to roll back the current system that has a chocker hold on the middle class and working poor.
    And those that want too change their vote not too leave is a good example of why some people should not participate in democracy.

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • At a glance – Does CO2 always correlate with temperature?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    4 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 hours ago
  • Relentlessly negative
    Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 hours ago
  • Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    Bryce Edwards writes –  It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 hours ago
  • Promiscuous Empathy: Chris Trotter Replies To His Critics.
    Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played. “Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
    7 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    8 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    8 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    9 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    10 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    13 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    13 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    13 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    13 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    15 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    16 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    18 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    2 days ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    6 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
    11 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
    13 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
    14 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    6 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
    6 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

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-03-19T10:36:54+00:00