Has something happened in the background on this blog? When I visit it on my iPad2, since yesterday afternoon, I have to scroll down quite a way to see Post articles & comments.
The TS banner doesn’t show, nor do posted pics with articles, nor do people’s coloured avatars – just their usernames are showing.
Things look perfectly normal on my smartphone & my win10 laptop. Just the iPad’s affected?
Oh. Ok just turned on JavaScript on the iPad2 & all’s normal.
The probs above only appear when I turn OFF JavaScript (which I have to do if I want to keep posting more than twice; after which it usually refuses to let me type any text in address fields & Comments with JacaScript turned on).
But prior to yesterday, turning off JavaScript didn’t stop the TS banner from appearing, nor pics in articles, nor folks’ avatars from displaying. A bit puzzling…
On the right hand side of this blog there's a link to The Civilian, and a piece of pitch-perfect satire. Very funny and sums up the state of National better than a dozen columns of "serious" commentary.
“Obviously it’s not the same thing,” he conceded. “But there are similarities. A lot of it, for example, is about managing an organisation that is in rapid decline.”
Herd immunity for polio is achieved at 80% of the ‘total population‘ vaccinated.
Herd immunity for measles is reached at 95% of the ‘total population‘ being vaccinated.
Nobody knows what the level for herd immunity for Covid-19 is, (because it has never been achieved). But it definitely is not reached at 90% of the over 12s, which is New Zealand's current target. If we want to get rid of this scourge, to have any chance of reaching herd immunity, total population immunisation, will mean immunising the under 12s.
Will Canada achieve herd immunity by vaccinating children?
The normal calculation is 1-1/R0 (x 100 to express as a percentage), so if R0 for Delta is 6, then herd immunity would 1-1/6 = 5/6 = 83.33%. Since 85% of the population are 12+, as you say that's highly unlikely without adding 5-11s. As at 30 September 2021, Stats NZ thinks that under 5s 304,590 of a total population of 5,126,300 = 5.94%, so the eligible population will be 4,821,710 = 94.06% of the total population.
5/6 of the total population is 4,271,917 people which is 88.6% of the total population. If 5/6 (or 83.33%) is herd immunity, then 90% of 5+ would get us there.
Confounding factors include that people can get Delta more than once and that the vaccine is not fully sterilising (it lessens transmission significantly, but at best around 90%, not nearly 100%).
Meanwhile deliberately undermining choice by sabotaging the vaccine roll out.
Increasingly anti-vaxxers are deliberating making it harder for people who's choice is to be vaccinated, stacking vaccination bookings with false registrations, threatening health workers and nurses, vandalising health clinics, and even "physical attacks".
Under 'Urgency' legislation with bi-partisan support in the House, the scum endangering public health by sabotaging the vaccine roll out, need to be threatened with 5 year prison sentences.
You're saying the govt needs to introduce such legislation urgently into the House? There's not something like that already in progress?
These pricks need to be videoed, tracked down, & locked up immediately by the police, pending assault & whatever other relevant charges are brought against them asap. Never mind waiting for legislation to do something.
God almighty! The poor cops. Gangs n guns everywhere. Expected to patrol internal Covid borders & probably to staff iwi roadblocks up North, now they have to also be mobile enuf to catch & lock up antivaxer thugs n nutters! 😠
Assaults have been reported. Folk can be arrested for assault, n’est-ce pas? Probably also for wilful damage if caught in the act. I’m just saying if you can catch em at it: “Book em Danyl.” Don’t wait till there’s some specific penalty legislated for (which may never get thru the final gate at Parliament).
Why not ban speech by them? Predictive sentencing in advance?
Why not whip up more moral fever to justify anything? Why try for nuance or human understanding when hatred helps feed your righteousness?
And those who care about human rights should shut up. It's just temporary and for our good, right – just like all those laws imposed after the 9/11 "emergency" still on our books, or how forced sterilisation and electro-shock therapy laws enacted on the bladvice of health experts lasted decades.
They would've all told you in professional tones how this was done for the greater good and required overriding any personal autonomy.
When gangs (or BLM protestors) lash out its just a consequence of racism and poverty and being so voiceless – when anyone against vaccines does so, its because they're inherently filthy scum.
You sound just like the law and order brigade now. Hyped up with media fear and self-righteousness – no means is unjustified to pursue the scum threatening every man, woman, and child.
Sounds like Maragaret Thatcher would approve of your tactics. Ah, the strange bedfellows that the Covid-19 has wrought on the wannabe Authoritarian-Left.
They've got a perfect right to say what they want about vaccines.
But they don't have a right to be heard, or to public platforms to promulgate their misinformation, and incite refusal.
Probably the safest indicator that antivax propaganda deserves to be discouraged is its supporters – the anti-government astroturfed extreme right. When Trump weaponised antivax sentiment in the US, and various trolls repeated his nonsense online, they were not acting in the public interest.
Are we into making up imaginary crimes now? Especially ones that involve now criminalising a refusal…which is a basic human right enshrined in multiple treaties and domestic law. "Officer, she incited refusal to vote National and incited refusal to be forced to worship God".
I'm also fully aware of Margaret Thatchers tactics – as you say, demonise those who disagree as enemies of the state. Something very similar has gone on with those unvacvinated and even those who disagree with mandates and passports.
Yesterday: "Health officials say Covid-19 hospitalisations and intensive care (ICU) usage have “very much levelled off” in Auckland, despite earlier modelling painting a much gloomier picture."
Fancy that, a Government adopting a hopelessly exaggerated risk and fear tactics to justify suppression of human rights and discrimination. Sounds a lot like George Bush post-9/11…
Also (and I dislike him immensely) Donald Trump boosted Operation Lightspeed to create a vaccine and has publicly supported vaccination.
The public interest is something you don't have a monopoly on defining. Sounds like you've been drinking too much of the Stuff/Spinoff koolaid.
Last week the Japanese with admirable modesty were attributing the decline in Delta to it seemingly mutating to such a degree that it is becoming less virulent there. Which is generally the way viruses go. Somewhere that I cant find, I have read that the common flu, another corona virus, may be a remnant of a Russian originating pandemic in the 1800s which mutated down to the manageable disease we know today. Sure, it is implicated in 500 deaths but I can not recall anyone I have known dying of it ( and I'm 71 ) that were not otherwise compromised.
My first reaction to hearing that Omnicron had multiple mutations was that maybe this is the light before the dawn. Fingers crossed.
A virus that mutates to become too deadly kills off the host, and cannot replicate and find new hosts and dies off itself.
The most successful parasites evolve to live with their hosts.
The 1918 influenza pandemic swept the world in three successive waves.
The first wave that likely jumped from birds to humans in the American Mid-West, was bad, but not that bad. The second wave which likely incubated in the appalling unsanitary and disease ridden conditions in the trenches of the First World War, was the deadliest and much, much worse.
The third wave of the Spanish flu pandemic was milder, and it is suspected that the annual flu that sweeps the world every year is a descendant of the 1918 virus, able to coexist with the host population with out killing us off in too greater numbers.
It is suspected that the Omicron mutation has similarly looked to have been incubating and circulating in a small host population of severely immune compromised and unwell community, possibly aid sufferers.
Time will tell whether this mutated virus is similar to the Second or third wave of the Spanish flu.
With respect to Jenny’s Chance mutations can either be good or bad, that’s not strictly correct either. Chance mutations can be either beneficial, detrimental or neutral – ie there’s a change but it doesn’t give the altered organism either any advantage or disadvantage in terms of competition or survival.
Survival isn’t a driver of evolution because organisms have evolved whether they have survived long-term in competition for resources, or in response to environmental changes, or not.
Many creatures that have evolved have not displaced others; they’ve simply exploited new niches alongside the original, still-living ancestor species.
As soon as pooklets are big enuf to fly they leave their nursery sleeping nest (they sleep with their dad, not their mum) and build their own individual sleeping nests some distance from each other. They tidy out their nests daily and build a new one in a different location when the old one gets too "tired".
Funny, that's the common name for the various sub-species dotted around the world, but a male would probably be better named as a Purple Swamp Rooster or Purple Swamp Cock. 🤔
Well the easiest way in that dilemma of stranded kiwis elsewhere is to just make them formally stateless. Strip them of their citizenship, send them a 50 NZD gift card for Aldi or something, call the leaders of the countries these stateless people are stranded and tell these leaders that these stateless kiwis are now their problem. These stateless people can then claim refugee status and begin their lifes again.
My solution is simply, lets all go to R+V in Gisborne, and some big markets elese where, go mingle in pubs and on the beach with gusto and have a right Covid Party everywhere. Once we are all infected we don't need MIQ anymore. Everyone can just come in, as the virus is as rampant as every where else.
Or, we can look at MIQ and find it the total failure it actually is, and finally come up with an idea that works so that people who are NZ Citizens can actually return to their country.
Fwiw, our beige suits on all sites have been a complete failure in finding a solution that would allow people to return that is safe and work able and above all human. In the meantime what we have is a lottery that works for no one really. We could televise that misery though, surely would make for some good reality TV for some Kiwis in the vain of Shortland street, bitchy and mean.
Instead of investing in the Americas Cup, sending people to the Olympics and other assorted crap, we should have build some decent Quarantine Facilities, maybe even invest in a Covid health Facilities, but then…hey, ………..we don't need that, and building stuff is hard hard work. Right? Priorities, have a good party, rub shoulders with the billionaires of the world, win a few medals, never mind the guys overseas that would like to come home. Sucks to be them? Right?
We can't build facilities that we need to keep the country safe and allow our citizens to return because we suddenly don't have builders and materials.
Good fucking grief.
As i said, the best the government can do right now is simply wash its hand of those stuck overseas, take away their citizenship, declare them stateless and let them fend for themselves, cause we don't have builders nor materials.
Totally and utterly Pathetic. Labour 2023 – we will build nothing, and then some.
We are fighting a pandemic individual rights have to take a back seat.
You know we have had a housing shortage for 20 yrs.
People know we have one of the safest responses to covid 19.
Now everyone wants to come back to the safe bolt hole but don't understand why it's become a safe bolt hole.
Not to mention where they are going to live.putting more pressure on the building trade.
It was all very well when those people went overseas to chase better careers and money after getting a highly subsidised education.then not pay back the student loan.
Now they want instant access to the country they turned their back on.
"People know we have one of the safest responses to covid 19."
That is the people who recognise reality.
On this thread Tricledrown comments on Japan being famous for wearing face masks to prevent the spread of airborne diseases the implication being that masks have positive effects. Yet some over time have rubbished mask wearing.
Sabine calls MIQ a "total failure." If the 190,000 who've been through it since March last year had simply come into the country and got on with whatever would the situation have been one of "total success"?
Of course we had the stuff about lockdowns not working. We've had experts on NZ blogsites knowing that and telling the world. More expert that those in more than 100 countries worldwide who have tried various forms of lockdown.
Handling the pandemic wasn't a 'paint-by-numbers' exercise. There has been plenty of boring, trite, facile 'paint-by-numbers' criticism of the handling of it though.
We can’t build facilities that we need to keep the country safe and allow our citizens to return because we suddenly don’t have builders and materials.
FFS! This is not a NEW bloody problem. We’ve been nationally short of skilled tradies for at least 2 decades. And the pandemic itself is causing materials shortages across industries becos if lockdowns aren’t shutting down local industries like timber milling some shipping companies can’t be bothered sending vessels here because we’re at the arse end of the world & there are greater profits to be made shipping between closer countries with much higher goods volumes.
Thank you Patricia – I became pretty agitated at the vitriol directed at the two Auckland MPs yesterday whom I happen to know from my days of living in West Auckland. This attitude among some commentors is making The Standard a hard read for me lately – it has been my go to blog for several years now, but I do notice that a lot of past contributors and commentors (particularly women) have fled the coop.
What annoys me wrt to the constant moans from "stranded kiwis" is the fact that just 50 years ago if someone left NZ for overseas if you wanted to return then it wasn't just a matter of hopping on a plane and flying back on a whim – however justified that whim may be. That was just one of the factors you took into account when you left parents and family behind – the fact that you might never see them again.
The early settlers spent up to 6 months at sea in the 1840's traveling here – some never even made it. Many never had the chance to return to their land of birth and their only communication with those they left behind was by intermittent letter. No texts or video calls then. Even in the early 20th C the likelihood of a return trip or seeing your family again was extremely low.
We have family overseas – they miss us – and we miss them. But the reality is that the world has changed in the past 2 years and we have to adapt to it and live with it.
Many never had the chance to return to their land of birth and their only communication with those they left behind was by intermittent letter.
I recall reading somewhere that in Ireland some families would hold a sort of 'living wake' for those about to depart – because it was almost certain they'd never see or hear from them again.
You make a reasonable point, yet travel has become woven into the fabric of modern life and making an appeal that because our ancestors didn't enjoy something means that we should not either – is fairly wobbly logic.
Local and international 'on demand' travel had undoubtedly "become woven into the fabric of modern life" for some, myself included. This pandemic, however, opened my eyes to the many relatively painless opportunities I have to shrink my travel footprint, and I'll be taking these up. Not for everyone, of course, and, if you must (or choose to) travel, don't forget your shots!
This created determined opposition in Britain – but it had far less impact in Ireland. The British Anti-Vaccination League, established in 1853, attacked the state’s infringement on personal liberty and the medical risks involved. The law, they argued, was despotic and un-British as it gave the government power over citizens’ bodies. Parents had a God-given right to protect their child’s welfare, enforced vaccination was against Natural Law. (Interestingly, when the Canadian government tried to enforce compulsory vaccination on French Canadians in Montreal, rioters resisted this despotic "English" practice.) Campaigners claimed that animal matter, "the filth of the cowshed", was being injected into their children, along with other diseases such as syphilis. They alleged a cover-up by the medical profession to hide evidence of deaths from vaccination. https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/anti-smallpox-vaccination-activism-ireland
I still have a look each day, though sometimes I despair at some of the comments and always enjoy reading yours and Anne's contributions, oh and Mickey Savage's posts.
Associate Professor Jennifer Lees-Marshment is from Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland and is an expert in political marketing.
She identifies "four key political marketing and management principles Luxon needs to follow".
#1 National needs to offer a new distinctive product that meets market needs
That will roll off the Nats like water off a duck's back. They usually seem barely capable of even doing the lipstick on a pig routine.
National needs new ideas.
That's been obvious since I was a kid! Trouble is, the Nats remain perpetually unaware of the fact.
#2 political leaders do not have as much management power as CEOs
Different type of social organism, different rules & ethos. Team sports is a closer model to use.
We ensure doctors, lawyers, teachers, plumbers, builders and hairdressers get training, but our politicians are left to learn on the job. This is also true for staff. A Canadian PM’s chief of staff once told me staff watched West Wing to prepare for their job as there was little professional orientation and development.
#3 the politician’s personality and personal life is part of the political product
True. Leader personifies brand.
Political branding research has shown a leader’s brand personality is very important… The new National leader now needs to build a positive brand personality. This means trying to convey leadership and strength, alongside honesty, energy and relatability, while offering something unique to give voters a reason to switch from the Labour leader.
The hard task for both politicians and their advisers is how to apply this to Luxon, especially given his socially conservative views on abortion and euthanasia. You can’t redesign a person the way you can redesign an iPhone or a car: we know a good brand personality when we see it, but less about how to create it.
But don't discount his ability to learn on the job. People morph to fit situations they work in. Character can build accordingly.
#4 The National Party needs re-branding
This one is the key. So far, no sign Luxon gets it. Quite the contrary. He got big on uttering trad shibboleths yesterday as if he tacitly assumed he needed to front like someone with training wheels on. Wrong!!
the reality is all leaders who take over a failing brand are limited by that brand. Simply changing leader won’t improve it. And worse still, this is a management exercise as well as a marketing one. As already noted, party leader power is less than a CEO and their position is dependent on other MPs. Yet the new leader needs to tell those MPs to behave differently; more emphasis must be put on lesser-known politicians to help convey that National has changed.
He does get the team-building side of this and I'm confident he'll show expertise quite rapidly. However even a smoothly-functioning invigorated team cannot sell a dead brand. Is National really dead or just pretending? Only a rebrand will prove the latter.
Some in depth poking around in his 'church' may yield some weirdo ideas but they will be a one shot wonder but enough to warn I would have thought. Already I am a bit tired of seeing his face all over the online media. I saw one yesterday taken half on turned slightly to the left and at first glance I thought it was Muldoon. Don't know if that is good or bad.
Perhaps he could start a fashion for wearing a little headband like some little girls have or as they used to have in the 1970s as hippies.
without Dirty Politics? THAT would be a change… but I think he will keep apart from that, not actively challenge it. If he had said “We won’t be doing that on my watch” but no.. just the usual plaster over the cracks.
the reality is all leaders who take over a failing brand are limited by that brand. Simply changing leader won’t improve it.
Ummm, …
… lateJuly 2017Colmar Brunton … Labour24%
… August 1 2017 Little stands down / Ardern elected Leader
… mid August 2017Colmar Brunton … Labour 37%
… late August 2017Colmar Brunton … Labour 43%
If this episode teaches us anything … it’s that a move to the right leader can indeed transform a Party’s fortunes … but arguably only if there is underlying public discontent with the Govt of the day / a tacit mood for change that can’t be fully expressed because the main Oppo Party seems to be struggling under a less than magnetic leader.
I agree, her analysis insufficiently factored in context. Generalisations fail when context doesn't support them.
Her marketing slant is useful for us, but a lecturer will always hew towards rules & principles, and the binary structure of western democracies means binary brand favouritism embeds in the typical voter psyche.
Therefore the effect of a bright shiny new leader is relative to how bright & shiny the alternative leader looks, and as you imply govt performance can tarnish a PM, so we'll have to wait & see. Despite a few speed wobbles in recent months I still think it's so far so good for Ardern…
There's also the argument that a leader needs to be a point of difference from the other parties. To me, blinglish and Little had the same energy/vibe. Not bad, but considered, methodical, an air of competence.
That type of leadership might work against a firebrand in the process of burning out, rather than trying to copy the firebrand, but not against itself.
Now, Luxon will have a different vibe to Collins, but the question is whether he will provide a credible leadership alternative to Ardern. There's only so long his media honeymoon will last, and only so long he can hide any dodgy opinions he might have re: everything the OT zealots go for in Leviticus (except all the times crayfish, paua, mussels, shrimp etc are prohibited).
And even if he's all good as a human being, he needs to keep caucus in line and light a spark of enthusiasm under tory voters. Maybe trying for something more than incessant negativity.
'Asic’s litigation showbag includes allegations Westpac charged more than 11,000 dead people more than $10m in fees, charged 7,000 people for two insurance policies over the same property, collected $12m in illegal commissions from 8,000 people, failed to properly disclose $7m in fees it charged to 25,000 customers, kept 21,000 accounts open for companies that no longer existed and on-sold debts to collectors at rates higher than it was allowed to charge.'
We don't do those things in our NZ operations…though!
The local branches of these banks found wanting in the Australian banking enquiry are doing some of the things the aussie enquiry has exposed.like selling mortgage protection and life insurance to cover mortgages when only one type should be required.
Came in very useful when I was in a disfunctional workplace. I literally had to take notes from it (and checked them off as other people worked down the list, lol).
But I like that section in particular, having been on both sides of the governance/operational divide. It nicely illustrates both perspectives: bureaucrats shouldn't unthinkingly "follow orders" when those orders are wrong, but nor should they be driving or even overruling policy decisions that are the purview of governance.
And where would they be if they zealously believed all conflicting policies demanded by governance groups, where consistency is as rare as hens' teeth? I believe the current service description is "community treatment team".
Lots of fuzzy grey lines in that divide, sometimes.
Some of our School Board meetings had that flavour. One chap was very fond of saying "the Ministry this and that…." A friend had a habit of muttering "He's been talking to God again" or some similar thing, and I would cough to cover laughter. There is a type of pomposity which went with that and his braces which he would pull while pontificating memories make me smile now.
Katherine interviews Luxton on 9 to Noon today, and it was very illuminating. He kept on interrupting Katherine and was challenged on the Health failures of the Key years. Not as suave as he would like. https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018822779
He's described the Covid traffic light system as "Mickey Mouse" (Hosking radio i-view). Sounds like something Judith would say.
He's all over the place on Covid, lots of rhetoric about opening up, little engagement with the reality of the virus and rapid change (a glance at the world news would help).
That was indeed illuminating ianmac. So much so, I had to stop listening half way through. The tone as well as the content was so John Key it spooked me. 😮
Apart from that, for a man who is supposed to have an “enormous intellect” well, let the listener be the judge.
7 houses, not fair to ask about, nothing to do with me.
Being shifty as f about where he has been to church and what his specific beliefs are. Refusing to answer questions about speaking in tongues and so on. I’m just going to be misrepresented- so this is going to be his approach, defensive.
He comes across as you'd expect from somebody who was gifted a safe seat, done no scrapping in Parliament and then got others (Key) to win the leadership on his behalf.
Ardern lost an electorate battle twice against a tough opponent, before she was even deputy.
Luxon is facing non-cuddles for the first time ever. It shows.
I have never noticed any business person being competent as a politician who is able to change anything. Your thesis sounds like an idiot parrot sprouting what they think is accepted wisdom – rather than someone who has ever bothered to think about the crucial differences between political work and business work.
At best some are like John Key, who managed to operate as PM in NZ for 8 years without ever changing anything in a significant way, except to allow existing problems get worse through inattention – like housing, homelessness, education results in providing a skilled workforce, reducing emigration of skills, pollution of waterways, etc. Basically he left the country in a worse state than before he took power.
The worst are destructive morons like Trump.
Now before you become like every other dumbarse right fuckwit – let me say that is an opinion of someone who has only worked in and/or for a range of private industries from SME locals with only a few employees to multinational corporates with thousands of engineers. I’ve worked in management (a role that I avoid), have MBA, and also as a highly skilled software engineer.
I have also have a lot of experience volunteering and helping out in local politics, a vast background of studying history, a lot odf work history across many companies, and a mind that never stops thinking.
So rather than continuing to wank out your little titbits of inane creamy wisdom – how about trying to justify your stupidity so I can continue to help educate you.
Because my considered opinion is that there are bad and good professional politicians in terms of looking back at their results from decades later. However the best that I have ever seen from a later stage businessman turning to politics is somewhere between barely competent to total disaster – and mostly well below required competency levels.
I could describe why I think that is the case. However I don’t think that you are competent enough in business to understand what I’d have to say about business skills.
sigh
Someday you should consider out exactly why I sometimes very deliberately write comments like this. It may or may not reflect my actual beliefs or personality traits. I usually make it so that it does reflect facets of myself because it reads truer (in this case MBA arrogance). But it is done with a purpose.
It falls out of experience of being online for networked discussions for slightly over 4 decades (I started on university networks in 1978). It has to do with reflecting back my opinion of the the behaviour of whoever I am responding to.
In this case just being bombastically even more extreme in the assertions, while also saying why. Instead of slyly implying stupidity of whomever you’re responding to – explicitly stating it with reasons. Making it a personal attack rather than hoping that the person you are responding to will see it that way.
As you say – (even) more puffed up and arrogant that the person I responded to. My experience is generally people who try to play ego-tripping and put-down games on online forums usually have a strong aversion to the same tactics being targeted at themselves. Especially when they are really really exaggerated.
If you have a look back over the 14 years, you will find a consistent pattern of my targeting people with extreme reflections, usually astonished replies, and changes in behaviour. I prefer using this as a technique because it is far more effective at behavioural change than bans.
If you look at various other forums (but Kiwiblog in particular), you will find a lot of people who don’t spend much time here whinging about lprent and what a complete bastard he is. They also tend to be more civilised and explanatory about their views when they come here.
Reciprocity is known to be extremely effective psychology. It is the basis of tit for tat – not just the trad behaviour but the computer game of the same name that famously won the tournament that led to usage in US foreign policy and was successful in bringing an end to the Cold War.
Anyone interested in verifying this ought to read Axelrod's book about it.
What is your point? Because my point is that theory is all very well, however that cruel reality tends dissipates theory almost every time. As anyone who has been around theoretical science will be able to point out happening over and over again.
After 14 years of moderating on here, it is my opinion that it might be that moderator bullying not be 'evolved' – but it is extremely effective on controlling the behaviour of comment bullies and dribblers. I suspect that it is also the opinion of every moderator who has moderated here after they get exposed to having to moderate.
Most start with the expectation that they can just talk nicely to people with poor behaviour to improve their behaviour. They also usually eventually stop moderating after they realise that they want to start finding a nice metaphorical bit of 4"x2" with which to beat those who just want to crap all over the site.
Interactive moderation is a task that destroys pacifists and creates authoritarians of them. Look at all of the sites that require logins or force auto-moderation and effectively run an authoritarian comment policy with silent moderation. This site is one of the few that has an open comment comment policy and open moderation. It is far harder to pull off, but in my view allows for a more open and robust debate.
Curiously official bullying is also effective on people who like to crap on the grass verges or have their dogs do it for them, people who like firing weapons into the air, people who like to drive drunk, and just about everything else that is in the crimes and summary offences acts, and local body by-laws. Just drop into any criminal court some time and watch it in action.
I can also point to when sysop bullying and moderation wasn't used on this site and when virtually no moderation was used at all – roughly from August 2007 to March 2008. In less than 6 months after startup, the comments section went from being pretty pleasant to unreadable. It then took about 4 years of very hard moderating to bring the comments section back to a readable level.
Come on francesca. I think you've been around long enough to know lprent.
He comes up with these diatribes every once in a while when he thinks someone needs to be brought down a peg or two. "Alan" has been asking for it for a while.
lprent gets in some damn good lines which leave me chuckling with delight. I won't be the only one.
Actually on this subject i.e Iprent's approach to people he thinks need bringing into line.
Yesterday I think I was on the receiving end of this approach from Iprent. I was shocked, because all I had done was asked him a simple question, something like was he referring to gender ideology when he was talking about change taking 30 years or so. It was a geniune question, because sometimes on these threads it can be a little hard to ascertain who is answering who.
I have to say I'prent I did find your response to quite intimidating. Partly because of the power inbalance here. You do a lot of work for this blog and I respect that. If you had had been another commentator I would have called you out more.
So of course you are entitled to use your technique. But actually I found it intimidating and unnecessary. Especially as all I did was ask a simple question. I suspect it is my gender critical views you object to. If I am correct and that is the case, at least argue with my views.
I have had a series of comments over recent months trying to get me to commit an opinion one way or another on the topic you were pushing. Mostly I have been saying I don't understand what is the issue nor see what in the hell it has to do with me nor see what those involved would explicitly like to happen. All of which I haven't seen any clear answers to when I have previously questioned it.
It is very hard to argue with 'views' when the people promulgating those views are pretty inarticulate in saying what their view are, why it should matter to whomever they are talking to, and when they have don't seem to have any idea on a course of action forward – while at the same time they are remarkably insistent at lecturing on what appears to me to be a ill-defined problem.
As I said, to me it feels like people trying for some kind of loyalty test or religious dogma from a person by framing questions as the kind of 'when did you kill your mother?' accusations. You'll find that I am remarkably intolerant towards people trying to put words into my mouth.
I respond to comments addressed at me when they show up on the Replies tab and seldom read comments in context – I'd suggest getting more careful about whom you answer.
Ok, thanks for clarifying I prent. I apprecate that.
I understand why people would not want to be into a roped into a view on this issue.
If you did want to hear where I am coming from with my gender critical views, I would be happy to say, but I am hearing pretty loud and clear that that is not the case and I completely support your right to assert that.
It is more that I'm tired of being having incidents described rather than what the fundamental issue is.
If you ever look at the history of worst of insurgent warfare (I like reading history) back at root causes level, you'll often find this kind of one-way focus where groups talk past each other about the other sides and how bad they are.
Meanwhile both sides just irritate everyone else trying to keep one ear open with their myopic tactical focus about others faults and habits of spreading away from whatever they upset about. Why if the hell would I be concerned about who called whom a TERF first?
In this case the complete lack of strategic points about what in the hell they're really arguing about. All it is engendering in me is a urge to close down all sport on the basis that no-one should be able to profit from whatever their genetic served them like height muscle confirmation or ATP tolerance levels. And to make all toilets unisex and capable of changing babies hygienically.
Totally right LPrent. The idea that someone who is a "businessmen" is better at running the country is obvious nonsense, but it does tend to convince a lot of people who tend to be the biggest victims of such businessmen/leaders when they do get in power. It's like how people think National are better at managing the economy.
He came across likable and easy to listen to on the AM show this am , imho, not slurpy like key, greasy like bridges or deranged like collins, early days but I'd be worried if I was the government and wanted to stay that way.
Key started by getting on the podium with Clark and solving a problem. Luxon announces he’s going to cause problems for an accord which has been almost the only bi-partisan action towards the decades long housing crisis, undercutting his deputy.
A good look saying that no, no she’s been right in the meeting as I fix her flawed work.
Yeah, nothing like being lectured on the housing crisis by someone with 7 houses. Big on more production…I take that to mean …build me more houses to buy.
So why has Labour failed to act ? But then 🙊🙉🙈 may apply to your world view. Perhaps you should apply the same expectations to both National and Labour, but then again that may require you to admit some failings 🤭
"New Zealand saw spectacular house price rises of about 114% (82.5% inflation-adjusted) from 2001 to 2007"
Perhaps you should apply the same expectations to both National and Labour,
Might as well throw in the greens and ACT, too. Fair enough.
National did fuckall about the housing market and downsized the state housing sector. They also have a very high proportion of multi-property owners/investors.
Labour tried kiwibuild, which has had little effect, and some bright line tweaks with similar results. They have expanded the state housing sector, though. They have a high number of mp property investors, but not as high as national.
The Greens want more significant efforts on housing, and have a lower proportion of mp/investors still.
The only outlier seems to be ACT, as several of their new MPs aren't property owners at all, and I don't know what ACT policy is on housing (but I suspect MJSavage wouldn't approve).
and that makes them a nice and polite family who take the dog shit home, compared to many who let their dogs shit everywhere and don't clean up after them.
‘McGregor Tioti Tume, 44, of Mataura, appeared in the Gore District Court this week and was sentenced to 10 and a half months’ home detention, to be served in Whanganui, with six months’ post-release conditions.’
'Tume admitted threatening to kill, impeding breathing or circulation, behaving threateningly and injuring with intent to injure after the incident on April 16.'
'The man's lawyer Sonya Vidal said Tume had been offended after the lifeguard hit him lightly on the head with a rope to gain his attention, because her actions were culturally offensive to Māori.'
'Vidal said Tume had been racially abused in the past.'
Yep that's disgusting. I know the government wants the prison population to reduce, but dangerous people who cannot control their temper need to be locked away to keep the general public safe. He will learn nothing from the home D, other than he can do it again.
For some time there has been a strong case for allowing returning Kiwis into Auckland home isolation (and using freed up places for those from other areas of the country and for some of the infection cases). And then from Dec 15 allow returning Kiwis to home isolation in orange areas (on the grounds they were no more of a risk than travelling Aucklanders double vaxxed – and less given the pre flight negative test and week at home).
The new leadership of National would have attacked on this and hard. But by the time it was made manifest on Tuesday, omicron had made its own global appearance. And so while the eagle may have landed, this prey is no longer to be found.
and the leadership old, current new, and future new could cry until the kingdom comes, Labour has a full majority and can do what it wants.
Atm, however People are stuck, their 'rights' are disregarded, they have to apply to an inhumane lottery, and are essentially stateless.
But lets talk not about what Labour is not doing, or to be fair the little they are doing after much kicking and screaming and some really bad press that will get worse btw, but lets talk what a dude says who is on his first day of the Job.
Funny how it seems that the people with no power seem to bully the people with all the power into doing their bidding. Is labour really that weak?
Nice detailed historical analysis of the unrest in the Solomon Islands, and why Minister Mahuta may be hesitating before sending our troops in to support the Australian and Fiji contingent.
Excellent – thanks for finding this. Lot's of good info I've not seen elsewhere.
I'm hoping – although with Dutton involved it may be a forlorn hope – that the Australian govt is very aware of the swamp of contradictions it's stepped into here. There have been mentions in the media around the apparent paradox of propping up a pro-CCP govt, yet I suspect they judged it better to stabilise the situation on the ground first and then see what can be done.
But yes a remarkable story that still has serious potential to go either very well or very badly.
Interesting read. It is another perspective focused mostly on a religious basis than a political or regional or clan. It also reads like justification for differences rather than causation.
I suspect that Mahuta, the police commissioner, and probably our GHQ will mostly be looking at is if there is any noticeable pathway out of the political morass in the Solomons this time. After all, despite its religious trappings highlighted in the article, the main issue appears to be limited understanding of the local politicians of how to negotiate political compromises and/or being able to lead their own followers to accept them.
My question and probably our authorising people would be what in the hell are we providing time for… Once you start ignoring the obvious propaganda about what people say that their reasons for conflict are, this feels like a continuation on a slightly different basis of the last conflict about the balance between nation and local interests.
Just finished listening to this exceptional discussion on COVID and it's social implications:
Starts with COVID but dives into the problems and failures of our materialist society. Best quote: “You’re going to worship somebody – so what is your higher value and purpose ?”
“You’re going to worship somebody – as they say – so what is the higher value of your society?” [@31:37 mins]
This may sound contrarian, but you don't have to worship anybody – value yes; worship no. The question reads as a non sequitur to me. And I did like this comment (@31 mins):
You can make an argument that 'Freedom' is one of the things that's made society disintegrate over the last 50 years – you know – this, this constant obsession with individual freedom in all areas, whether it's economic or cultural, has has had exactly that kind of acidic impact on things.
The merit of this discussion to me is it's even-handedness. Yes it starts in one place and ends in another, but it's not disrespectful to anyone along the way.
(some scientists claim vaccines will lead to new variants trying to work around the vaccine)
News
The miracle of Africa – the populated continent least impacted
South Africa has enough vaccines, but there is not much take up
WHO present
Says that this new variant occurred because of spread in areas without the vaccine.
South Africa
The one place where there has been multi-variant spread – beta and delta, so it checks the variant type and thus picks such new variants as omicron faster than most (as might places with border controls and testing).
USA, UK and Oz Past
Now providing booster doses because the immunity against delta infection wanes by 6 months.
USA UK Oz Present
Considering booster doses at 2 or 3 months after the second dose, as if an earlier than required booster against delta would stop omicron getting around the vaccine.
USA UK Oz Future Plan?
The boosters did not work to stop omicron, which has has spread so fast herd immunity is realised (ignoring health system crisis and spike in earlier deaths). Freedom in our time. Victory.
One possible outcome is that Omicron becomes the dominant global strain because it is so infectious – but is sufficiently mild that the IFR and long-term health impacts become no worse than seasonal influenza or perhaps even the common cold.
Otherwise yes – your comment speaks to the loss of institutional trust Kingsnorth was as well.
Personally I would rather we had all the anti-viral treatments available for all those infected … just in case.
There is a risk a less deadly strain might kill more by overwhelming the health system with the number of cases – if it gets around before the anti-viral treatment are widely available.
Staff who choose not to be vaccinated will have their employment options worked through with HR, while students who choose not to be vaccinated may be able to choose from a limited range of online study options.
lols "worked through with HR".
It's dependent on the vaccine pass, so anyone who gets a medical exemption will go through that process and it'll come up "valid".
anybody else notice the inconsistincy, new nat leader doesnt want councils sidelined re 3 waters, new nat #2 very happy to sideline councils over housing. hmm.maybe nat #2 is more forward looking, this weaks leader looking for headlines.
She is from Wellington, and grew up with politics – her mother was a member of the press gallery. "It really is a sweet thing, when I walk in the back entrance of Parliament I walk past a photo of my mother in the press gallery line-up and in that photo she's actually pregnant with me … when I walk past it, it really strengthens my resolve for the day because I think about the sacrifices she made as a mum.
"She sacrificed her work as a journalist at Parliament in order to raise me and my sister and brother – and she was an incredible mother, I've got wonderful parents – and it makes me proud to be doing something I know she sees as making a big contribution to the country. That's how I feel about my work. I don't see Parliament as a place that's all about the house of cards type stuff
So she gestated in parliament. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I suspect it could be significant. It has become known that a human foetus gets affected by ambient vibes such as music & argument. A positive take on this for her would be along the lines of being innately acclimatised to the power matrix.
The test of a theory is the extent to which reality matches it, so time will tell. If the theory is correct, she'll be more comfortable in her functional roles within parliament than comparable others.
Luxon: "I love country music and that’s not cool to say and I apologise to New Zealand for saying it." He need not. It's country & western that's uncool. Country music is extremely cool because it's authentic. Not like that corny shit made for plastic people & sung by cardboard cutouts. Maybe he's a Garth Brooks addict?? Too ignorant to know the difference, in other words…
“He’s very green,” says political commentator and former national government staffer Ben Thomas.
Readers will assume that means he's very Green. Sigh.
McGraw is of Italian and Irish descent on his mother's side, and has Irish, English, Scottish, Swiss, Dutch, Czech, and German ancestry on his father's side… He has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
A concerned parent, Robin Redding, said her son, Treshan Bryant, is a student at the school but stayed home on Tuesday. She said he had heard threats that there could be a shooting.
“This couldn’t be just random,” she said.
Redding didn’t provide specifics about what her son had heard, but she expressed concern with school safety in general.
“Kids just, like they’re just mad at each other at this school,” she said.
Bryant said he texted several younger cousins in the morning and they said they didn’t want to go to school, and he got a bad feeling. He asked his mom if he could do his assignments online.
One of my Kiwi nephews & his US wife both teach at a school in Baltimore in the USA. I always immediately look to see where school shootings are when I hear of another one in that goddam gun-mad country. ☹️
It was alarming to hear the new National leader yesterday refuse to give a direct answer to specific questions given to him on the govts hidden unmandated separatist co-governance agenda.
It is tragic the opportunity wasn’t taken to give clarity and to take a strong opposing stance against this implementation of what is simply apartheid policies by stealth.
JuCo struck me as quietly working that seam like it was swamp kauri, and it didn't pay much. Toss a coin whether Winston will have better luck stripmining it.
He might have lost his connection to the zeitgeist. Zooming rather than getting out on the hustings.
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
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The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
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Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
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Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
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National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
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Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
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Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
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Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
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Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
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Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
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The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
Has something happened in the background on this blog? When I visit it on my iPad2, since yesterday afternoon, I have to scroll down quite a way to see Post articles & comments.
The TS banner doesn’t show, nor do posted pics with articles, nor do people’s coloured avatars – just their usernames are showing.
Things look perfectly normal on my smartphone & my win10 laptop. Just the iPad’s affected?
Oh. Ok just turned on JavaScript on the iPad2 & all’s normal.
The probs above only appear when I turn OFF JavaScript (which I have to do if I want to keep posting more than twice; after which it usually refuses to let me type any text in address fields & Comments with JacaScript turned on).
But prior to yesterday, turning off JavaScript didn’t stop the TS banner from appearing, nor pics in articles, nor folks’ avatars from displaying. A bit puzzling…
It caches things like css and javascript locally on your devices. After they expire it needs to reload them.
Also when the optimization plugin gets an update (may have yesterday), it resets the cache tag, and you need an cache update.
The Standard requires javascript for various parts of it's operation.
I have the comment bug on my radar. But haven't had much unused time.
On the right hand side of this blog there's a link to The Civilian, and a piece of pitch-perfect satire. Very funny and sums up the state of National better than a dozen columns of "serious" commentary.
Well done to Ben (and TS for the links).
Brilliant "Need to be a friend of John Key"
Heard of immunity?
Herd immunity for polio is achieved at 80% of the ‘total population‘ vaccinated.
Herd immunity for measles is reached at 95% of the ‘total population‘ being vaccinated.
Nobody knows what the level for herd immunity for Covid-19 is, (because it has never been achieved). But it definitely is not reached at 90% of the over 12s, which is New Zealand's current target. If we want to get rid of this scourge, to have any chance of reaching herd immunity, total population immunisation, will mean immunising the under 12s.
The normal calculation is 1-1/R0 (x 100 to express as a percentage), so if R0 for Delta is 6, then herd immunity would 1-1/6 = 5/6 = 83.33%. Since 85% of the population are 12+, as you say that's highly unlikely without adding 5-11s. As at 30 September 2021, Stats NZ thinks that under 5s 304,590 of a total population of 5,126,300 = 5.94%, so the eligible population will be 4,821,710 = 94.06% of the total population.
5/6 of the total population is 4,271,917 people which is 88.6% of the total population. If 5/6 (or 83.33%) is herd immunity, then 90% of 5+ would get us there.
Confounding factors include that people can get Delta more than once and that the vaccine is not fully sterilising (it lessens transmission significantly, but at best around 90%, not nearly 100%).
How often do you get vaccinated for Polio and Measles and how many times will we have to get vaccinated against Covid of whatever variant?
As for the 'flu. similar..
The anti-vaxxers say it is all about 'choice'
Meanwhile deliberately undermining choice by sabotaging the vaccine roll out.
Increasingly anti-vaxxers are deliberating making it harder for people who's choice is to be vaccinated, stacking vaccination bookings with false registrations, threatening health workers and nurses, vandalising health clinics, and even "physical attacks".
Under 'Urgency' legislation with bi-partisan support in the House, the scum endangering public health by sabotaging the vaccine roll out, need to be threatened with 5 year prison sentences.
Taranaki vaccination events moving indoors after physical and verbal attacks (msn.com)
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/10/auckland-vaccination-centre-vandalised-staff-targeted.html
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/454007/anti-vaxxers-making-fake-vaccination-bookings
You're saying the govt needs to introduce such legislation urgently into the House? There's not something like that already in progress?
These pricks need to be videoed, tracked down, & locked up immediately by the police, pending assault & whatever other relevant charges are brought against them asap. Never mind waiting for legislation to do something.
God almighty! The poor cops. Gangs n guns everywhere. Expected to patrol internal Covid borders & probably to staff iwi roadblocks up North, now they have to also be mobile enuf to catch & lock up antivaxer thugs n nutters! 😠
"Never mind waiting for legislation to do something.".
That sounds awfully like saying "You haven't broken and law but we are going to lock you up anyway". Surely not Gezza?
Assaults have been reported. Folk can be arrested for assault, n’est-ce pas? Probably also for wilful damage if caught in the act. I’m just saying if you can catch em at it: “Book em Danyl.” Don’t wait till there’s some specific penalty legislated for (which may never get thru the final gate at Parliament).
Why stop there?
Why not ban speech by them? Predictive sentencing in advance?
Why not whip up more moral fever to justify anything? Why try for nuance or human understanding when hatred helps feed your righteousness?
And those who care about human rights should shut up. It's just temporary and for our good, right – just like all those laws imposed after the 9/11 "emergency" still on our books, or how forced sterilisation and electro-shock therapy laws enacted on the bladvice of health experts lasted decades.
They would've all told you in professional tones how this was done for the greater good and required overriding any personal autonomy.
When gangs (or BLM protestors) lash out its just a consequence of racism and poverty and being so voiceless – when anyone against vaccines does so, its because they're inherently filthy scum.
You sound just like the law and order brigade now. Hyped up with media fear and self-righteousness – no means is unjustified to pursue the scum threatening every man, woman, and child.
Sounds like Maragaret Thatcher would approve of your tactics. Ah, the strange bedfellows that the Covid-19 has wrought on the wannabe Authoritarian-Left.
"Sounds like Margaret Thatcher would approve of your tactics".
You were going so well until this comment. When did Maggie ever do something like that?
Are you not aware of her activities around the Miners' Strike?
She was no model of democracy, even setting out to label the Labour Opposition enemies of state.
They've got a perfect right to say what they want about vaccines.
But they don't have a right to be heard, or to public platforms to promulgate their misinformation, and incite refusal.
Probably the safest indicator that antivax propaganda deserves to be discouraged is its supporters – the anti-government astroturfed extreme right. When Trump weaponised antivax sentiment in the US, and various trolls repeated his nonsense online, they were not acting in the public interest.
"incite refusal"?
Are we into making up imaginary crimes now? Especially ones that involve now criminalising a refusal…which is a basic human right enshrined in multiple treaties and domestic law. "Officer, she incited refusal to vote National and incited refusal to be forced to worship God".
I'm also fully aware of Margaret Thatchers tactics – as you say, demonise those who disagree as enemies of the state. Something very similar has gone on with those unvacvinated and even those who disagree with mandates and passports.
Yesterday: "Health officials say Covid-19 hospitalisations and intensive care (ICU) usage have “very much levelled off” in Auckland, despite earlier modelling painting a much gloomier picture."
Fancy that, a Government adopting a hopelessly exaggerated risk and fear tactics to justify suppression of human rights and discrimination. Sounds a lot like George Bush post-9/11…
Also (and I dislike him immensely) Donald Trump boosted Operation Lightspeed to create a vaccine and has publicly supported vaccination.
The public interest is something you don't have a monopoly on defining. Sounds like you've been drinking too much of the Stuff/Spinoff koolaid.
Last week the Japanese with admirable modesty were attributing the decline in Delta to it seemingly mutating to such a degree that it is becoming less virulent there. Which is generally the way viruses go. Somewhere that I cant find, I have read that the common flu, another corona virus, may be a remnant of a Russian originating pandemic in the 1800s which mutated down to the manageable disease we know today. Sure, it is implicated in 500 deaths but I can not recall anyone I have known dying of it ( and I'm 71 ) that were not otherwise compromised.
My first reaction to hearing that Omnicron had multiple mutations was that maybe this is the light before the dawn. Fingers crossed.
Just a comment about Japans rates.
Tokyo had 6 the other day, and the whole of Japan has less per day than NZ over the last week or so.
Remarkable!!!
Wearing face masks everywhere and handwashing Japan is famous for wearing face masks to prevent the spread of airborne diseases.
We need more mask wearing in places where there are high concentrations of people.It should become the norm.
Yes and a respect for authority.
Dr John Campbell had a good video on this hypothesising that the reduction in numbers was from:
1)Numerous mutations in the virus
2) Vaccination rate
3) Other control measures
4)/Maybe an antiviral enzyme more prevalent in Japan (very big maybe)
5):The voluntary use/intro of Ivermectin? Just questioned not really asserted
Chance is the main driver of evolution.
Evolution is not a one way arrow.
Chance mutations can either be good or bad.
A virus that mutates to become too deadly kills off the host, and cannot replicate and find new hosts and dies off itself.
The most successful parasites evolve to live with their hosts.
The 1918 influenza pandemic swept the world in three successive waves.
The first wave that likely jumped from birds to humans in the American Mid-West, was bad, but not that bad. The second wave which likely incubated in the appalling unsanitary and disease ridden conditions in the trenches of the First World War, was the deadliest and much, much worse.
The third wave of the Spanish flu pandemic was milder, and it is suspected that the annual flu that sweeps the world every year is a descendant of the 1918 virus, able to coexist with the host population with out killing us off in too greater numbers.
It is suspected that the Omicron mutation has similarly looked to have been incubating and circulating in a small host population of severely immune compromised and unwell community, possibly aid sufferers.
Time will tell whether this mutated virus is similar to the Second or third wave of the Spanish flu.
Fingers crossed.
No
Survival is the only driver of evolution
No. Chance mutation is the driver of evolution.
With respect to Jenny’s Chance mutations can either be good or bad, that’s not strictly correct either. Chance mutations can be either beneficial, detrimental or neutral – ie there’s a change but it doesn’t give the altered organism either any advantage or disadvantage in terms of competition or survival.
Survival isn’t a driver of evolution because organisms have evolved whether they have survived long-term in competition for resources, or in response to environmental changes, or not.
Many creatures that have evolved have not displaced others; they’ve simply exploited new niches alongside the original, still-living ancestor species.
Chance mutations are only part of the story – you also need a driver or selection pressure to confer an advantage to one mutation over another.
The other aspect that gets frequently overlooked is the role of sexual selection.
Some of the basic ideas of Darwinian evolution are simple, but this doesn't mean that simple explanations are always right.
As soon as pooklets are big enuf to fly they leave their nursery sleeping nest (they sleep with their dad, not their mum) and build their own individual sleeping nests some distance from each other. They tidy out their nests daily and build a new one in a different location when the old one gets too "tired".
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x71nu0f
Wondering why that video link didn't display in a playable format. Posted from my laptop.
Trying again from iPad:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x71nu0f
Weird. I posted a similar link from dailymotion just 2 days ago & it displayed here as a click n play video. 🤔 😕
Says we need a password to play it Gezza.
I posted that 2 years ago Patricia. Why I added a password I have no idea. Maybe I was just testing how the password function worked.
Anyway, whatever, I've changed the password. To see the video just enter the password: "pook".
That worked
Industrious little Purple Swamp Hen, isn't he?
Funny, that's the common name for the various sub-species dotted around the world, but a male would probably be better named as a Purple Swamp Rooster or Purple Swamp Cock. 🤔
Conehead goes against science wanting less people in MIQ ,Max Plank virus modeller says with Omricon we need tight border control.
Well the easiest way in that dilemma of stranded kiwis elsewhere is to just make them formally stateless. Strip them of their citizenship, send them a 50 NZD gift card for Aldi or something, call the leaders of the countries these stateless people are stranded and tell these leaders that these stateless kiwis are now their problem. These stateless people can then claim refugee status and begin their lifes again.
My solution is simply, lets all go to R+V in Gisborne, and some big markets elese where, go mingle in pubs and on the beach with gusto and have a right Covid Party everywhere. Once we are all infected we don't need MIQ anymore. Everyone can just come in, as the virus is as rampant as every where else.
Or, we can look at MIQ and find it the total failure it actually is, and finally come up with an idea that works so that people who are NZ Citizens can actually return to their country.
Fwiw, our beige suits on all sites have been a complete failure in finding a solution that would allow people to return that is safe and work able and above all human. In the meantime what we have is a lottery that works for no one really. We could televise that misery though, surely would make for some good reality TV for some Kiwis in the vain of Shortland street, bitchy and mean.
Instead of investing in the Americas Cup, sending people to the Olympics and other assorted crap, we should have build some decent Quarantine Facilities, maybe even invest in a Covid health Facilities, but then…hey, ………..we don't need that, and building stuff is hard hard work. Right? Priorities, have a good party, rub shoulders with the billionaires of the world, win a few medals, never mind the guys overseas that would like to come home. Sucks to be them? Right?
Sabine there is a massive shortage of builders and materials then land.
Easy to come up with ideas but putting them into action is the hard part.
lol, that is the newest idea now?
We can't build facilities that we need to keep the country safe and allow our citizens to return because we suddenly don't have builders and materials.
Good fucking grief.
As i said, the best the government can do right now is simply wash its hand of those stuck overseas, take away their citizenship, declare them stateless and let them fend for themselves, cause we don't have builders nor materials.
Totally and utterly Pathetic. Labour 2023 – we will build nothing, and then some.
No one in WW2 complained about getting stuck.
We are fighting a pandemic individual rights have to take a back seat.
You know we have had a housing shortage for 20 yrs.
People know we have one of the safest responses to covid 19.
Now everyone wants to come back to the safe bolt hole but don't understand why it's become a safe bolt hole.
Not to mention where they are going to live.putting more pressure on the building trade.
It was all very well when those people went overseas to chase better careers and money after getting a highly subsidised education.then not pay back the student loan.
Now they want instant access to the country they turned their back on.
"People know we have one of the safest responses to covid 19."
That is the people who recognise reality.
On this thread Tricledrown comments on Japan being famous for wearing face masks to prevent the spread of airborne diseases the implication being that masks have positive effects. Yet some over time have rubbished mask wearing.
Sabine calls MIQ a "total failure." If the 190,000 who've been through it since March last year had simply come into the country and got on with whatever would the situation have been one of "total success"?
Of course we had the stuff about lockdowns not working. We've had experts on NZ blogsites knowing that and telling the world. More expert that those in more than 100 countries worldwide who have tried various forms of lockdown.
Handling the pandemic wasn't a 'paint-by-numbers' exercise. There has been plenty of boring, trite, facile 'paint-by-numbers' criticism of the handling of it though.
We can’t build facilities that we need to keep the country safe and allow our citizens to return because we suddenly don’t have builders and materials.
FFS! This is not a NEW bloody problem. We’ve been nationally short of skilled tradies for at least 2 decades. And the pandemic itself is causing materials shortages across industries becos if lockdowns aren’t shutting down local industries like timber milling some shipping companies can’t be bothered sending vessels here because we’re at the arse end of the world & there are greater profits to be made shipping between closer countries with much higher goods volumes.
You
cannotshould not argue for ending MIQ and wanting the building of specialised facilities for this.It reminds one of National, they used to want the specialised facilities and now around the time we might have completed them they want to end MIQ …
It is too early to determine if the Omicron is a major risk. Best to wait.
Agreed Gossie
This Government is doing their best to keep us safe. They can not please everyone, and we got your message long ago Sabine.
Thank you Patricia – I became pretty agitated at the vitriol directed at the two Auckland MPs yesterday whom I happen to know from my days of living in West Auckland. This attitude among some commentors is making The Standard a hard read for me lately – it has been my go to blog for several years now, but I do notice that a lot of past contributors and commentors (particularly women) have fled the coop.
Totally agree
What annoys me wrt to the constant moans from "stranded kiwis" is the fact that just 50 years ago if someone left NZ for overseas if you wanted to return then it wasn't just a matter of hopping on a plane and flying back on a whim – however justified that whim may be. That was just one of the factors you took into account when you left parents and family behind – the fact that you might never see them again.
The early settlers spent up to 6 months at sea in the 1840's traveling here – some never even made it. Many never had the chance to return to their land of birth and their only communication with those they left behind was by intermittent letter. No texts or video calls then. Even in the early 20th C the likelihood of a return trip or seeing your family again was extremely low.
We have family overseas – they miss us – and we miss them. But the reality is that the world has changed in the past 2 years and we have to adapt to it and live with it.
Many never had the chance to return to their land of birth and their only communication with those they left behind was by intermittent letter.
I recall reading somewhere that in Ireland some families would hold a sort of 'living wake' for those about to depart – because it was almost certain they'd never see or hear from them again.
You make a reasonable point, yet travel has become woven into the fabric of modern life and making an appeal that because our ancestors didn't enjoy something means that we should not either – is fairly wobbly logic.
Like they didn't have vaccines either.
Local and international 'on demand' travel had undoubtedly "become woven into the fabric of modern life" for some, myself included. This pandemic, however, opened my eyes to the many relatively painless opportunities I have to shrink my travel footprint, and I'll be taking these up. Not for everyone, of course, and, if you must (or choose to) travel, don't forget your shots!
Forging a path to a better normal for conferences and collaboration
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01325-z
Forging a sustainable future for astronomy
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01486-x
Welcome back Jilly Bee.
I still have a look each day, though sometimes I despair at some of the comments and always enjoy reading yours and Anne's contributions, oh and Mickey Savage's posts.
Hell – we agree again. Wonders never cease.
😈
Hes coming………..lol and you cant do a thing to stop him,goodbye all your left woke policies ,hes coming.
Christ?
Do you think he will do austerity? Small Government means the removal of services.
Associate Professor Jennifer Lees-Marshment is from Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland and is an expert in political marketing.
She identifies "four key political marketing and management principles Luxon needs to follow".
#1 National needs to offer a new distinctive product that meets market needs
That will roll off the Nats like water off a duck's back. They usually seem barely capable of even doing the lipstick on a pig routine.
That's been obvious since I was a kid! Trouble is, the Nats remain perpetually unaware of the fact.
#2 political leaders do not have as much management power as CEOs
Different type of social organism, different rules & ethos. Team sports is a closer model to use.
#3 the politician’s personality and personal life is part of the political product
True. Leader personifies brand.
But don't discount his ability to learn on the job. People morph to fit situations they work in. Character can build accordingly.
#4 The National Party needs re-branding
This one is the key. So far, no sign Luxon gets it. Quite the contrary. He got big on uttering trad shibboleths yesterday as if he tacitly assumed he needed to front like someone with training wheels on. Wrong!!
He does get the team-building side of this and I'm confident he'll show expertise quite rapidly. However even a smoothly-functioning invigorated team cannot sell a dead brand. Is National really dead or just pretending? Only a rebrand will prove the latter.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/pro/the-rebrand-challenge-for-nationals-new-chief
What's the bet that the dirty politics brigade are anxiously salivating over fresh opportunities ?
If so, they're delusional. Just a question of how long till they figure out that Luxon is their real enemy! Mr Clean, they'll call him.
Some in depth poking around in his 'church' may yield some weirdo ideas but they will be a one shot wonder but enough to warn I would have thought. Already I am a bit tired of seeing his face all over the online media. I saw one yesterday taken half on turned slightly to the left and at first glance I thought it was Muldoon. Don't know if that is good or bad.
Perhaps he could start a fashion for wearing a little headband like some little girls have or as they used to have in the 1970s as hippies.
He said on the radio this morning that he hasn't been to a church in five years.
Listen carefully, qualified that by saying 'not a conventional church' and the interviewer never picked that up
And that's a good example of how his inexperience will hurt him.
It hardly matters at all if he's been to a church in the past 5 years. No issue there.
It only starts to matter if he's evasive/dishonest about it. That changes the issue.
The Upper Room. Look it up.
Thanks garibaldi, so he will get along with Scottie from Marketing of Hillside brand of Christianity.
without Dirty Politics? THAT would be a change… but I think he will keep apart from that, not actively challenge it. If he had said “We won’t be doing that on my watch” but no.. just the usual plaster over the cracks.
The Dirty politics brigade have destroyed the National Party and good for them hopefully they continue to do so infact they can't help themselves.
Very useful thanks Dennis.
.
Ummm, …
… late July 2017 Colmar Brunton … Labour 24%
… August 1 2017 Little stands down / Ardern elected Leader
… mid August 2017 Colmar Brunton … Labour 37%
… late August 2017 Colmar Brunton … Labour 43%
If this episode teaches us anything … it’s that a move to the right leader can indeed transform a Party’s fortunes … but arguably only if there is underlying public discontent with the Govt of the day / a tacit mood for change that can’t be fully expressed because the main Oppo Party seems to be struggling under a less than magnetic leader.
I agree, her analysis insufficiently factored in context. Generalisations fail when context doesn't support them.
Her marketing slant is useful for us, but a lecturer will always hew towards rules & principles, and the binary structure of western democracies means binary brand favouritism embeds in the typical voter psyche.
Therefore the effect of a bright shiny new leader is relative to how bright & shiny the alternative leader looks, and as you imply govt performance can tarnish a PM, so we'll have to wait & see. Despite a few speed wobbles in recent months I still think it's so far so good for Ardern…
Yep.
There's also the argument that a leader needs to be a point of difference from the other parties. To me, blinglish and Little had the same energy/vibe. Not bad, but considered, methodical, an air of competence.
That type of leadership might work against a firebrand in the process of burning out, rather than trying to copy the firebrand, but not against itself.
Now, Luxon will have a different vibe to Collins, but the question is whether he will provide a credible leadership alternative to Ardern. There's only so long his media honeymoon will last, and only so long he can hide any dodgy opinions he might have re: everything the OT zealots go for in Leviticus (except all the times crayfish, paua, mussels, shrimp etc are prohibited).
And even if he's all good as a human being, he needs to keep caucus in line and light a spark of enthusiasm under tory voters. Maybe trying for something more than incessant negativity.
Just another day for those community stalwarts…
'Asic’s litigation showbag includes allegations Westpac charged more than 11,000 dead people more than $10m in fees, charged 7,000 people for two insurance policies over the same property, collected $12m in illegal commissions from 8,000 people, failed to properly disclose $7m in fees it charged to 25,000 customers, kept 21,000 accounts open for companies that no longer existed and on-sold debts to collectors at rates higher than it was allowed to charge.'
We don't do those things in our NZ operations…though!
Westpac admits it broke law and agrees to pay $113m in penalties | Westpac | The Guardian
Wow!! Just sickening, and no one goes to prison, yet beneficiaries….
The local branches of these banks found wanting in the Australian banking enquiry are doing some of the things the aussie enquiry has exposed.like selling mortgage protection and life insurance to cover mortgages when only one type should be required.
Ouch..
Less than a tenth and he's off.
https://twitter.com/ClintVSmith/status/1465752463743471617
Very revealing.
@ Joe90 (10) … Oh dear, surely Luxon hasn’t began his leadership role telling porkies. Either he is a quick learner, or the trait was there already.
First thought on Luxon: when your underlying ideology is essentially shameful, you try to disguise it as operational competence.
So to paraphrase Sir Humphrey, it might have been "wrong", but it was frightfully well carried out. 🙂
https://youtu.be/cIYfiRyPi3o?t=164
Thanks Was a well written well acted series. Laughed out loud.
We always watched, or recorded and watched. Priceless.
Came in very useful when I was in a disfunctional workplace. I literally had to take notes from it (and checked them off as other people worked down the list, lol).
But I like that section in particular, having been on both sides of the governance/operational divide. It nicely illustrates both perspectives: bureaucrats shouldn't unthinkingly "follow orders" when those orders are wrong, but nor should they be driving or even overruling policy decisions that are the purview of governance.
And where would they be if they zealously believed all conflicting policies demanded by governance groups, where consistency is as rare as hens' teeth? I believe the current service description is "community treatment team".
Lots of fuzzy grey lines in that divide, sometimes.
Some of our School Board meetings had that flavour. One chap was very fond of saying "the Ministry this and that…." A friend had a habit of muttering "He's been talking to God again" or some similar thing, and I would cough to cover laughter. There is a type of pomposity which went with that and his braces which he would pull while pontificating memories make me smile now.
Katherine interviews Luxton on 9 to Noon today, and it was very illuminating. He kept on interrupting Katherine and was challenged on the Health failures of the Key years. Not as suave as he would like.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018822779
He's described the Covid traffic light system as "Mickey Mouse" (Hosking radio i-view). Sounds like something Judith would say.
He's all over the place on Covid, lots of rhetoric about opening up, little engagement with the reality of the virus and rapid change (a glance at the world news would help).
Conehead looks like another Todd Mueller out of his depth.
Couldn't keep up with Ryan questioning.
You cannot take from Luxon that he is the leader.
Give the man a chance….remember he is really busy looking after his 7 houses…
That was indeed illuminating ianmac. So much so, I had to stop listening half way through. The tone as well as the content was so John Key it spooked me. 😮
Apart from that, for a man who is supposed to have an “enormous intellect” well, let the listener be the judge.
The ghost of Sir John the Deceiver indeed!
Also, he said, "Kumbaya" which to me is the big reveal.
I've met people like him before *shudders
Early days, has a lot to learn about interviews. He does come across as slippery #2
Oh I am glad you said that Anne. I thought I was imagining it!!
Luzon: um, no, err, um, no
7 houses, not fair to ask about, nothing to do with me.
Being shifty as f about where he has been to church and what his specific beliefs are. Refusing to answer questions about speaking in tongues and so on. I’m just going to be misrepresented- so this is going to be his approach, defensive.
Key was a chameleon- Luxon feels more like Bridges, cocky, strong, but more a tree than bamboo.
He comes across as you'd expect from somebody who was gifted a safe seat, done no scrapping in Parliament and then got others (Key) to win the leadership on his behalf.
Ardern lost an electorate battle twice against a tough opponent, before she was even deputy.
Luxon is facing non-cuddles for the first time ever. It shows.
BS. Being the CEO of two major businesses involves daily non- cuddles moments.
He is a million times more experienced in that department than anyone in the labour cabinet, particularly the PM.
You are clutching at straws.
Daily non-cuddle moments. Funny.
Being CEO is like being a mafia boss. Any non-cuddling moment tasked to underlings. Cuddle moments (read: PR) are done by the CEO
I have never noticed any business person being competent as a politician who is able to change anything. Your thesis sounds like an idiot parrot sprouting what they think is accepted wisdom – rather than someone who has ever bothered to think about the crucial differences between political work and business work.
At best some are like John Key, who managed to operate as PM in NZ for 8 years without ever changing anything in a significant way, except to allow existing problems get worse through inattention – like housing, homelessness, education results in providing a skilled workforce, reducing emigration of skills, pollution of waterways, etc. Basically he left the country in a worse state than before he took power.
The worst are destructive morons like Trump.
Now before you become like every other dumbarse right fuckwit – let me say that is an opinion of someone who has only worked in and/or for a range of private industries from SME locals with only a few employees to multinational corporates with thousands of engineers. I’ve worked in management (a role that I avoid), have MBA, and also as a highly skilled software engineer.
I have also have a lot of experience volunteering and helping out in local politics, a vast background of studying history, a lot odf work history across many companies, and a mind that never stops thinking.
So rather than continuing to wank out your little titbits of inane creamy wisdom – how about trying to justify your stupidity so I can continue to help educate you.
Because my considered opinion is that there are bad and good professional politicians in terms of looking back at their results from decades later. However the best that I have ever seen from a later stage businessman turning to politics is somewhere between barely competent to total disaster – and mostly well below required competency levels.
I could describe why I think that is the case. However I don’t think that you are competent enough in business to understand what I’d have to say about business skills.
Jesus IPrent
That comes across awfully arrogant and puffed up
You could have just kept the fourth paragraph, and dispensed with the insult
sigh
Someday you should consider out exactly why I sometimes very deliberately write comments like this. It may or may not reflect my actual beliefs or personality traits. I usually make it so that it does reflect facets of myself because it reads truer (in this case MBA arrogance). But it is done with a purpose.
It falls out of experience of being online for networked discussions for slightly over 4 decades (I started on university networks in 1978). It has to do with reflecting back my opinion of the the behaviour of whoever I am responding to.
In this case just being bombastically even more extreme in the assertions, while also saying why. Instead of slyly implying stupidity of whomever you’re responding to – explicitly stating it with reasons. Making it a personal attack rather than hoping that the person you are responding to will see it that way.
As you say – (even) more puffed up and arrogant that the person I responded to. My experience is generally people who try to play ego-tripping and put-down games on online forums usually have a strong aversion to the same tactics being targeted at themselves. Especially when they are really really exaggerated.
If you have a look back over the 14 years, you will find a consistent pattern of my targeting people with extreme reflections, usually astonished replies, and changes in behaviour. I prefer using this as a technique because it is far more effective at behavioural change than bans.
If you look at various other forums (but Kiwiblog in particular), you will find a lot of people who don’t spend much time here whinging about lprent and what a complete bastard he is. They also tend to be more civilised and explanatory about their views when they come here.
Reciprocity is known to be extremely effective psychology. It is the basis of tit for tat – not just the trad behaviour but the computer game of the same name that famously won the tournament that led to usage in US foreign policy and was successful in bringing an end to the Cold War.
Anyone interested in verifying this ought to read Axelrod's book about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat
Bullying also changes behaviour.Not sure it's the most evolved way to go
What is your point? Because my point is that theory is all very well, however that cruel reality tends dissipates theory almost every time. As anyone who has been around theoretical science will be able to point out happening over and over again.
After 14 years of moderating on here, it is my opinion that it might be that moderator bullying not be 'evolved' – but it is extremely effective on controlling the behaviour of comment bullies and dribblers. I suspect that it is also the opinion of every moderator who has moderated here after they get exposed to having to moderate.
Most start with the expectation that they can just talk nicely to people with poor behaviour to improve their behaviour. They also usually eventually stop moderating after they realise that they want to start finding a nice metaphorical bit of 4"x2" with which to beat those who just want to crap all over the site.
Interactive moderation is a task that destroys pacifists and creates authoritarians of them. Look at all of the sites that require logins or force auto-moderation and effectively run an authoritarian comment policy with silent moderation. This site is one of the few that has an open comment comment policy and open moderation. It is far harder to pull off, but in my view allows for a more open and robust debate.
Curiously official bullying is also effective on people who like to crap on the grass verges or have their dogs do it for them, people who like firing weapons into the air, people who like to drive drunk, and just about everything else that is in the crimes and summary offences acts, and local body by-laws. Just drop into any criminal court some time and watch it in action.
I can also point to when sysop bullying and moderation wasn't used on this site and when virtually no moderation was used at all – roughly from August 2007 to March 2008. In less than 6 months after startup, the comments section went from being pretty pleasant to unreadable. It then took about 4 years of very hard moderating to bring the comments section back to a readable level.
Come on francesca. I think you've been around long enough to know lprent.
He comes up with these diatribes every once in a while when he thinks someone needs to be brought down a peg or two. "Alan" has been asking for it for a while.
lprent gets in some damn good lines which leave me chuckling with delight. I won't be the only one.
I prefer(and really rate )his more factual posts.I dislike any kind of bullying, don't think it's ever justified, no matter the political stripe
That's just me , you of course are free to enjoy and chuckle
Fair enough francesca. Each to his own.
I agree Francesca.
Actually on this subject i.e Iprent's approach to people he thinks need bringing into line.
Yesterday I think I was on the receiving end of this approach from Iprent. I was shocked, because all I had done was asked him a simple question, something like was he referring to gender ideology when he was talking about change taking 30 years or so. It was a geniune question, because sometimes on these threads it can be a little hard to ascertain who is answering who.
I have to say I'prent I did find your response to quite intimidating. Partly because of the power inbalance here. You do a lot of work for this blog and I respect that. If you had had been another commentator I would have called you out more.
So of course you are entitled to use your technique. But actually I found it intimidating and unnecessary. Especially as all I did was ask a simple question. I suspect it is my gender critical views you object to. If I am correct and that is the case, at least argue with my views.
I have had a series of comments over recent months trying to get me to commit an opinion one way or another on the topic you were pushing. Mostly I have been saying I don't understand what is the issue nor see what in the hell it has to do with me nor see what those involved would explicitly like to happen. All of which I haven't seen any clear answers to when I have previously questioned it.
It is very hard to argue with 'views' when the people promulgating those views are pretty inarticulate in saying what their view are, why it should matter to whomever they are talking to, and when they have don't seem to have any idea on a course of action forward – while at the same time they are remarkably insistent at lecturing on what appears to me to be a ill-defined problem.
As I said, to me it feels like people trying for some kind of loyalty test or religious dogma from a person by framing questions as the kind of 'when did you kill your mother?' accusations. You'll find that I am remarkably intolerant towards people trying to put words into my mouth.
I respond to comments addressed at me when they show up on the Replies tab and seldom read comments in context – I'd suggest getting more careful about whom you answer.
Ok, thanks for clarifying I prent. I apprecate that.
I understand why people would not want to be into a roped into a view on this issue.
If you did want to hear where I am coming from with my gender critical views, I would be happy to say, but I am hearing pretty loud and clear that that is not the case and I completely support your right to assert that.
Cheers,
It is more that I'm tired of being having incidents described rather than what the fundamental issue is.
If you ever look at the history of worst of insurgent warfare (I like reading history) back at root causes level, you'll often find this kind of one-way focus where groups talk past each other about the other sides and how bad they are.
Meanwhile both sides just irritate everyone else trying to keep one ear open with their myopic tactical focus about others faults and habits of spreading away from whatever they upset about. Why if the hell would I be concerned about who called whom a TERF first?
In this case the complete lack of strategic points about what in the hell they're really arguing about. All it is engendering in me is a urge to close down all sport on the basis that no-one should be able to profit from whatever their genetic served them like height muscle confirmation or ATP tolerance levels. And to make all toilets unisex and capable of changing babies hygienically.
Totally right LPrent. The idea that someone who is a "businessmen" is better at running the country is obvious nonsense, but it does tend to convince a lot of people who tend to be the biggest victims of such businessmen/leaders when they do get in power. It's like how people think National are better at managing the economy.
He came across likable and easy to listen to on the AM show this am , imho, not slurpy like key, greasy like bridges or deranged like collins, early days but I'd be worried if I was the government and wanted to stay that way.
Key started by getting on the podium with Clark and solving a problem. Luxon announces he’s going to cause problems for an accord which has been almost the only bi-partisan action towards the decades long housing crisis, undercutting his deputy.
A good look saying that no, no she’s been right in the meeting as I fix her flawed work.
Yeah, nothing like being lectured on the housing crisis by someone with 7 houses. Big on more production…I take that to mean …build me more houses to buy.
Here are the list of houses/ properties/interests in properties/blocks of land etc owned.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/05/2021-edition-the-full-list-of-how-many-properties-new-zealand-mps-own.html
For what its worth, the interim leader of the National party is doing well, but so do many others on both sides of the isle.
Take a closer look Sabine …..many more houses per MP on the Nats side
No wonder they did less than fuckall about the property market. Almost all of them owned multiple properties.
So why has Labour failed to act ? But then 🙊🙉🙈 may apply to your world view. Perhaps you should apply the same expectations to both National and Labour, but then again that may require you to admit some failings 🤭
"New Zealand saw spectacular house price rises of about 114% (82.5% inflation-adjusted) from 2001 to 2007"
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/nz-house-prices-up-191-annually-to-hit-680000-auckland-up-216-to-11m/OP6OFOCTHHWQFNWBKK4KU76CIU/
https://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Pacific/New-Zealand/Price-History
Might as well throw in the greens and ACT, too. Fair enough.
National did fuckall about the housing market and downsized the state housing sector. They also have a very high proportion of multi-property owners/investors.
Labour tried kiwibuild, which has had little effect, and some bright line tweaks with similar results. They have expanded the state housing sector, though. They have a high number of mp property investors, but not as high as national.
The Greens want more significant efforts on housing, and have a lower proportion of mp/investors still.
The only outlier seems to be ACT, as several of their new MPs aren't property owners at all, and I don't know what ACT policy is on housing (but I suspect MJSavage wouldn't approve).
Adrian @ 16
Deleted.
[RL: Pointless non-witty abuse.]
and that makes them a nice and polite family who take the dog shit home, compared to many who let their dogs shit everywhere and don't clean up after them.
Mod note
Hope the reset national party comes out yelling and screaming about this.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/127148602/prime-minister-unveils-37m-auckland-recovery-fund-free-tickets-to-attractions-and-facilities
gotta spread that covid thinly, evenly everywhere.
That's what Auckland business leaders and some National MPs have been asking for.
Including Michael Barnett the spokes person for retailing Auckland.
Look for another car to bark at.
Have another go.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/swimmer-attacked-lifeguard-held-head-under-water-in-gore-swimming-pool/XF3KTTBOKU2ZWWS5WY3JIQVBYM/
‘McGregor Tioti Tume, 44, of Mataura, appeared in the Gore District Court this week and was sentenced to 10 and a half months’ home detention, to be served in Whanganui, with six months’ post-release conditions.’
'Tume admitted threatening to kill, impeding breathing or circulation, behaving threateningly and injuring with intent to injure after the incident on April 16.'
Its not hard to lower the prison population
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125677622/lifeguard-thought-she-was-going-to-die-during-gore-swimming-pool-attack
'The man's lawyer Sonya Vidal said Tume had been offended after the lifeguard hit him lightly on the head with a rope to gain his attention, because her actions were culturally offensive to Māori.'
'Vidal said Tume had been racially abused in the past.'
Yeah…
Yep that's disgusting. I know the government wants the prison population to reduce, but dangerous people who cannot control their temper need to be locked away to keep the general public safe. He will learn nothing from the home D, other than he can do it again.
I just hope Act and National can come up with decent policies to deal with this because Labour and The Greens won't
Agree PR and Jimmy
PR hopefully the judge gives him a suitable sentence for the gutless coward.
Defence lawyers have a job to do as well.
You may not like what they say in this case its trying to blame shift from an attempted manslaughter.
The judge didn't, the guy got home d. In NZ trying to drown someone gets you home d.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/127099809/unprovoked-attack-leaves-wellington-bar-owners-with-permanent-injuries
In NZ stomping on someones head gets you home d.
I truly fear for NZ
Barry Soper the aggressive right wing journo, his son the violent criminal you barry and Heather can appeal for a stronger sentence.
Not a gang member but the son of a respected journalist.wow ironically avoids going to jail,one law for white Middle class male ..
The place of luck in politics.
For some time there has been a strong case for allowing returning Kiwis into Auckland home isolation (and using freed up places for those from other areas of the country and for some of the infection cases). And then from Dec 15 allow returning Kiwis to home isolation in orange areas (on the grounds they were no more of a risk than travelling Aucklanders double vaxxed – and less given the pre flight negative test and week at home).
The new leadership of National would have attacked on this and hard. But by the time it was made manifest on Tuesday, omicron had made its own global appearance. And so while the eagle may have landed, this prey is no longer to be found.
and the leadership old, current new, and future new could cry until the kingdom comes, Labour has a full majority and can do what it wants.
Atm, however People are stuck, their 'rights' are disregarded, they have to apply to an inhumane lottery, and are essentially stateless.
But lets talk not about what Labour is not doing, or to be fair the little they are doing after much kicking and screaming and some really bad press that will get worse btw, but lets talk what a dude says who is on his first day of the Job.
Funny how it seems that the people with no power seem to bully the people with all the power into doing their bidding. Is labour really that weak?
Nice detailed historical analysis of the unrest in the Solomon Islands, and why Minister Mahuta may be hesitating before sending our troops in to support the Australian and Fiji contingent.
Foreign Intervention Complicates Solomon Islands Unrest – The Diplomat
Excellent – thanks for finding this. Lot's of good info I've not seen elsewhere.
I'm hoping – although with Dutton involved it may be a forlorn hope – that the Australian govt is very aware of the swamp of contradictions it's stepped into here. There have been mentions in the media around the apparent paradox of propping up a pro-CCP govt, yet I suspect they judged it better to stabilise the situation on the ground first and then see what can be done.
But yes a remarkable story that still has serious potential to go either very well or very badly.
Interesting read. It is another perspective focused mostly on a religious basis than a political or regional or clan. It also reads like justification for differences rather than causation.
I suspect that Mahuta, the police commissioner, and probably our GHQ will mostly be looking at is if there is any noticeable pathway out of the political morass in the Solomons this time. After all, despite its religious trappings highlighted in the article, the main issue appears to be limited understanding of the local politicians of how to negotiate political compromises and/or being able to lead their own followers to accept them.
My question and probably our authorising people would be what in the hell are we providing time for… Once you start ignoring the obvious propaganda about what people say that their reasons for conflict are, this feels like a continuation on a slightly different basis of the last conflict about the balance between nation and local interests.
It's just the Solomon's bad luck their zone has Oz rather than Norway.
Just finished listening to this exceptional discussion on COVID and it's social implications:
Starts with COVID but dives into the problems and failures of our materialist society. Best quote: “You’re going to worship somebody – so what is your higher value and purpose ?”
Philosphically opposed to passports and mandates and reality
1 – aged care worker goes to pub gets infected goes to work
2 – nurse …
It seems you watched the wrong video …
When Kingsnorth said he no longer supported mandates and passports I took him at his word and stopped listening – did he change his mind?
If you've stopped listening – then I'm under no obligation to explain anything.
This may sound contrarian, but you don't have to worship anybody – value yes; worship no. The question reads as a non sequitur to me. And I did like this comment (@31 mins):
The merit of this discussion to me is it's even-handedness. Yes it starts in one place and ends in another, but it's not disrespectful to anyone along the way.
That even-handedness is why we could each pick a different "best quote".
Thanks for that
Terrific!!
A story about health politics.
WHO of the past
Do not block travel from China
WHO of the present
Do not block travel from Africa
WHO of the past
(some scientists claim vaccines will lead to new variants trying to work around the vaccine)
News
WHO present
Says that this new variant occurred because of spread in areas without the vaccine.
South Africa
The one place where there has been multi-variant spread – beta and delta, so it checks the variant type and thus picks such new variants as omicron faster than most (as might places with border controls and testing).
USA, UK and Oz Past
Now providing booster doses because the immunity against delta infection wanes by 6 months.
USA UK Oz Present
Considering booster doses at 2 or 3 months after the second dose, as if an earlier than required booster against delta would stop omicron getting around the vaccine.
USA UK Oz Future Plan?
The boosters did not work to stop omicron, which has has spread so fast herd immunity is realised (ignoring health system crisis and spike in earlier deaths). Freedom in our time. Victory.
One possible outcome is that Omicron becomes the dominant global strain because it is so infectious – but is sufficiently mild that the IFR and long-term health impacts become no worse than seasonal influenza or perhaps even the common cold.
Otherwise yes – your comment speaks to the loss of institutional trust Kingsnorth was as well.
Personally I would rather we had all the anti-viral treatments available for all those infected … just in case.
There is a risk a less deadly strain might kill more by overwhelming the health system with the number of cases – if it gets around before the anti-viral treatment are widely available.
University of Otago going fully-vaxxed from next year, regardless of government requirements.
lols "worked through with HR".
It's dependent on the vaccine pass, so anyone who gets a medical exemption will go through that process and it'll come up "valid".
anybody else notice the inconsistincy, new nat leader doesnt want councils sidelined re 3 waters, new nat #2 very happy to sideline councils over housing. hmm.maybe nat #2 is more forward looking, this weaks leader looking for headlines.
So she gestated in parliament. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I suspect it could be significant. It has become known that a human foetus gets affected by ambient vibes such as music & argument. A positive take on this for her would be along the lines of being innately acclimatised to the power matrix.
If you’re postulating that Willis was somehow prepared for politics by osmosis in the womb, Dennis, I reckon you’re pulling our legs.
The test of a theory is the extent to which reality matches it, so time will tell. If the theory is correct, she'll be more comfortable in her functional roles within parliament than comparable others.
Only if you deliberately exclude all other possible factors, which, scientifically, you can’t legitimately do.
Luxon: "I love country music and that’s not cool to say and I apologise to New Zealand for saying it." He need not. It's country & western that's uncool. Country music is extremely cool because it's authentic. Not like that corny shit made for plastic people & sung by cardboard cutouts. Maybe he's a Garth Brooks addict?? Too ignorant to know the difference, in other words…
Readers will assume that means he's very Green. Sigh.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/30/who-is-new-zealands-new-opposition-leader-christopher-luxon
He mentioned-Tim McGraw.
He likes country music,ryobi tools,being a landlord,walking in the rain and the wind in his….hair.
Okay, I'm impressed. Cosmopolitan dude extraordinaire!
One of my Kiwi nephews & his US wife both teach at a school in Baltimore in the USA. I always immediately look to see where school shootings are when I hear of another one in that goddam gun-mad country. ☹️
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/300467177/student-kills-3-people-wounds-8-at-a-us-high-school
After decades of mining a seam of anti-immigrant and Maori sentiment for electoral gain.
Winston Peters has identified a new seam of Right wing sentiment to mine.
From Facebook:
A rich and deep seam it is too.
Makes it very much more likely Winston will be back … is that a good thing?
JuCo struck me as quietly working that seam like it was swamp kauri, and it didn't pay much. Toss a coin whether Winston will have better luck stripmining it.
He might have lost his connection to the zeitgeist. Zooming rather than getting out on the hustings.