recently I read how air NZ was hoping to be carbon neutral, I was thinking why should they?
As air NZ flys in tourists that many other industries profit by catering for. So why should air NZ carry the full carbon debt on bring these people here, other than good PR Eg motels/hotels benefit once these tourists are here yet would not share the carbon burden. Perhaps we need to think in a more broad vision on who pays what regarding carbon
It's not a competition for heaven's sake! Good on Air NZ if it can do this and the idea that we should all be peering over the fence to make sure we're not doing more than our neighbours is not exactly a mature response is it!
The carbon neutral would cover the airline only ( mainly the planes) not what the passengers do when they get here.
However you have to think of it as a form of public transport – a bus in the sky, with far higher fossil fuel efficency than cars used for personal transport.
when the passengers get here those within the tourist industry don’t have any liability on the cost to deliver them, only their direct carbon cost. So for me with tourism as an example the tourist trade in total should be a net carbon absorber. And by “taxing” only the direct carbon costs to each player then leads to distortions. Eg the surf board hire has no carbon costs yet to deliver the surfer has a large carbon cost. That direct costs would not take into account .
The 7 TV1 Show gave her a supportive hearing. So did Lisa Owens with no alternative view. Wonder why? Is it because it might provoke interest in their programs? The Gun Lobby must have been delighted in an apparent publicity coup. Lisa's guest, a Gun Shop manageress did say that of course there are other options for the poor little mite. Must have hurt to say that!
How lazy was RNZ on that Checkpoint story last night? I couldn't believe my ears! Was everyone off with the flu and the rest of the office scratching around for some content before the gun lobby rode to the rescue with a pre-packaged offering that just required Lisa Owen to stick to the script?
I Listened to that whole piece on Checkpoint last night and it was frankly bloody bizarre. Carefully curated with the exact opposite of your typical gun nut (young girl, Maori women, white female Olympian) The whole thing sounded like a 20 minute advertorial scripted by the gun lobby and delivered verbatim by a credulous RNZ.
A 13 year old girl (hit Jacinda's image where it hurts, let's front with a kid!) with a wah wah wwah followed by the carefully choreographed interview from gun lobby group where the front person is the secretary Nicole McKee (cos she is brown and a woman – the chairman and vice-chairman both being white men wouldn't be as good a look) with Lisa Owen serving up soft serves for swatting then an "independent" view from someone who was introduced as an Olympic shooter (but let's not mention she is a gun shop manager and daughter of the owner of gun city).
This story, IMHO, is part of looks like a worrying emerging trend of RNZ allowing itself and it’s authority to be used as a credulous shill for lobbyists – Guyon Espiner's "investigation" of Pharmac seemed to rely almost entirely on human interest content funneled to him from big pharma companies who hate Pharmac – in return for easy content.
I'm sure any minute now Duncan Garner will come out and attack her by accusing her of being melodramatic like he did to Greta Thunberg. Waiting .. Tick Tock
I hope you get this and have a long hard think about what you have done to poor little girls and boys with hopes and dreams that have been crushed by you.
Oh, the horror! Our children's hopes and dreams of fun with military-style semi-automatics have been crushed by Jacinda Ardern! Won't somebody please, please think of the children!?
Some children dream of curing cancer, flying to the moon, fighting fires, winning races, being dancers, or rock/sport stars, or artists, even (God help them) teachers – dare to dream.
And some (apparently) dream of firing an AR-15 rifle! Where does that dream come from?
Yeah, that sounded utterly contrived and fake to me – I'd like to know more about this lass and her dad. Any actual journalists out there who might, you know, ask a few more questions?
According to his very public Facebook page, the father (Matt Turner as named by several of the media reports eg The Herald article) appears to be very active in opposing gun restrictions and related policies both of the current govt as a whole and the individual parties (Greens/Labour/NZF) plus NZ Police – and supportive of ACT policies. Obviously very involved in the gun scene in NZ and the gun lobby, and has apparently filed various OIAs on these subjects including to Minister Nash. Haven't yet checked FYI.org.nz. Some FB entries also seem to indicate a possible/probable intolerance towards Muslims – including JA's wearing scarfs etc. Dad seems to be from the UK originally, now resident in Te Aroha with family etc.
I won't provide a link to his FB page, but easily found as are other links via Google using his name plus other definers such as 'nz' and 'guns' etc.
Now realise that the FB link is not as straightforward as his name and I found it via another Google link. So the FB key is mattanddelicia. damn it here is the link https://www.facebook.com/mattanddelicia
If your hopes and dreams involve owning an AR-15, then yeah, sorry love, your hopes and dreams deserve to be tossed into history's dustbin for the greater good. Ask Dad for a pony instead?
"So the men in white coats will have to take him away. And as they come for him Trump will try to destroy everything around him, because a world that rejects his self, that throws him from office, literally cannot exist. All this, according to the psychiatry textbooks, is inevitable. What a joy it will be to watch. And it's starting now."
That Trump is a delusional narcissist has been evident since day one, what is really confounds is the near total support by those within the Republican Party ….or are they themselves similarly afflicted but more capable of masking it?
The problem then is to turn attention to the people who vote for Trump and his ilk and try and save ourselves from their skewed minds. Are people fit enough mentally and analytically to take part in a democracy? Certainly sitting around on bums and whining about what pollies do is not sufficient for a modern democracy of educated people. Either educate people to the teenage years when they can read, write and do sums and then subsidise businesses to take them on and give them work skills so they can get started in life; or teach them how politics and civil society work and how to manage themselves, and give them a 'list' place in their community forums so they are involved right from the start in making the good society.
Getting rid of Trump is only cutting out a malignancy. It will have metastasised throughout the body of the polity. Healthier thinking and happier, simpler, thoughtful living may tame the dastardly disease. We can't cure it but if we can work together, collaborate and be sincere with each other, as much as is politic, then we will be able to keep the 7 deadly sins to a manageable level.
The GOP are self-serving opportunists to their core. They'll support a rabid dog just so long as it's toilet-trained and promises not to bite them. They woefully misjudged just how out-of-control Mad King Donald would prove to be, and they're at a bit of a loss in figuring out how to handle him. I mean, there comes a point when even your most feeble excuses are howled down in a torrent of open contempt. People are waking up to what a venal, morally-bankrupt pack of brigands they are, and they know it. It's why they're so desperate to cheat. It's the only way they'll win.
Agree theres the typical self serving forces at play but even so I would expect that to cover a spectrum and that even the most self serving must question the risk he poses to their gravy train even if they can ignore the risk to their country….in other words isnt there a point at which it becomes too dangerously bizarre and Trump had crossed that point even before he was sworn in.
“I’m definitely not surprised on a day-to-day basis to see bullying’s become a major headline New Zealand,” says Caroline Krieger, an employment law partner with Morrison Kent.
She believes bullying accusations have become somewhat of a “trend” in employment law….
..The introduction of new legislation, and the #MeToo movement, are also contributing to a growing number of bullying claims, she says.
Have wondered about that even in the Labour Party bullying claims.
Talking of bullying… this quote from the BBC news:
'It is bullying'…
… He accused the paper of misleading readers when it published the private letter, by strategically omitting paragraphs, sentences and specific words "to mask the lies they had perpetrated for over a year".
"Put simply, it is bullying, which scares and silences people. We all know this isn't acceptable, at any level," he said.
"We won't and can't believe in a world where there is no accountability for this.
It is Prince Harry talking about the bullying and harassment of his wife, They are suing the Mail on Sunday.
Sounds familiar? It is. This is exactly what National are doing to government MPs. Selecting words, paragraphs of speeches in the House and stringing them together to form a misleading impression. The outcome – if it is allowed to continue in the form adopted by National – is these MPs will be bullied into virtual silence and will be afraid to speak up when it is desirable.
I was watching the video interview with CIA whistle blower John Kiriakou where he gave a personal anecdote of when he was working in Saudi Arabia and every morning he would give a friendly greeting to a Saudi military person of some kind and the Saudi would completely ignore him. Eventually John asked him why he was so unfriendly and the Saudi replied words to the effect that he and all Americans were nothing more than hired military help. John explained that the Saudis use foreign troops for nearly all their fighting and that the Saudis themselves are militarily inept which losing three brigades (10,000-12,000 soldiers) inside Saudi Arabia might suggest
Excellent military analysis of the recent events here, suggesting that Saudi and the US have more or less already lost the war against Yemen:
"The third-biggest arms spender in the world is incapable of defeating the poorest Arab country in the world. It is, moreover, incapable of protecting its national interest and borders from this impoverished Arab country. The Houthis are showing to the world what a poor but organized and motivated armed force can do using asymmetrical methods to bring one of the best-equipped militaries in the world to its knees. This conflict will be studied all over the world as an example of how a new means of warfare is possible when technological and cyber capabilities are democratized and available to those who know how to use them appropriately, as the Houthis have shown with their use of drones and electronic warfare."
It is interesting – and Al Jazeera essentially confirms it. The effect of serial defeats on Saudi could create a major shift in the local balance of power; part of their status descends from possession of the two holy mosques and the presumption of the mandate of heaven that goes with them. Conspicuous defeat is really not good for such presumptions, and may see a realignment of traditional supporters.
There is a question to be answered over the sponsorship of recent drone strikes – if it were not Iran, who was it? One need not look particularly far to find a state that would cheerfully destabilize any US ally, and may have some historical grievance with the house of Saud.
"Saudi Arabia and its oil policy are thought to have contributed to the downfall of Soviet Communism in the late 1980s and early 1990. Saudi helped to finance not just the Afghan Mujahideen but non-Muslims anti-communists. It also seriously harmed the Soviet Communist cause by stabilizing oil prices "throughout the 1980s, just when the Russians were desperate to sell energy in order to keep up with huge hikes in American military spending."
I would have thought either the utter failure of air defence/radar expensively bought from the US or the notorious laziness of the Sauds (taking a break in the weekend by turning off the radar) might have something to do with it
The old Russians did it trope is losing its pulling power
I've never been reliant on an army of mercenaries but I've seen the malaise of being rich enough to have someone else do everything in other ways. 30 year old individuals from wealthy families that don't know how to cook an egg, vacuum a floor or catch a bus.
My friend, you've been suckered by a fake news pro-Kremlin propaganda site. The website you quote – Strategic Culture Foundation – is a Russian black propaganda site of a kind that litters the internet.
The clue is it's rather odd enthusiams for Russian weapons and the acceptance of the DPR and LNR as legitimate – only Russia recognises them, the rest of the world having designated them terrorists.
Nowhere can one learn that the site is registered and managed in Russia. This is only disclosed by checking the site data.
If there actually exists a Strategic Culture Foundation it is impossible to discover. The site gives no information on owners, editors, visiting address. There isn’t even an e-mail address for contacting the site or the foundation. At least we now know the Russians make excellent weapons that are far better than the useless stuff the Americans and Europeans make!
None of which mitigates that the Saudis appear to have suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Houthis. But that is about as much credence I'd give anything that site says.
The purpose behind the Saudi's purchase of vast quantities military hardware from the US has nothing to do with defense (or attack). It will most likely never be used. The purpose is to recycle the Saudi's oil revenue surpluses through the US economy. That is the quid pro quo for having the US's support in the region. And from the Saudis' perspective it's a vastly preferable arrangement to having the US engineer regime change and control the oil revenues directly. The US doesn't need the physical oil – it is now the world's largest producer – but it wants to tap into revenue streams everywhere.
I not convinced by the video of the 'captured soldiers'. The SA military is very well equipped and am surprised that very few were wearing fatigues and the weaponry does not appear to be US in origin. I would be very surprised if the US was supplying AK47's to SA, they usually save that for their proxies like ISIS, Al Queda and the Taliban.
I think there is an element of propaganda about this but in saying that, I wish the Houthi all the best.
Just weeks after Simon Bridges faced backlash over a trip to China and a meeting with the country’s spy boss, National MP Jian Yang has returned to Beijing for a major military parade. Laura Walters reports.
Controversial National Party MP Jian Yang is in Beijing for the People's Republic of China's 70th anniversary celebrations.
More specifically, he’s part of a group of distinguished guests attending the parade of the People’s Liberation Army from a special vantage point, at the invitation of the Chinese Government."
Re Jian Yang's citizenship, of which I find confusing, along with his place as a National list MP.
I know to hold a place in the NZ Parliament, an MP must be a NZ citizen, including holding dual citizenship.
However, as far as China is concerned, dual citizenship is forbidden. In other words, Chinese citizenship must be forfeited, should a Chinese national gain citizenship of another state. Google dual NZ/Chinese citizenship.
Yet Yang as "a distinguished (NZ or Chinese?) guest" is invited to attend a military parade celebrating 70 years of CCP rule! Considered a distinguished guest for what …? A loyal member of the CCP reporting back to Beijing perhaps, while his party National turns a blind eye to his activities, so as to drum up support and massive (split) donations from Chinese nationals living in NZ?
Having admitted his NZ citizenship application was misrepresented at the request of Beijing at the time Yang applied, where does that leave him as an MP? Isn't falsifying a NZ Citizenship application considered illegal?
Is Jian Yang a NZ citizen or not? Or is he a citizen of China? He cannot be both!
Wales? What is the thinking there? https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-49893521 Brexit will make the UK stronger as a union of nations, Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns will tell the Conservative Party conference later.
They are being offered 55 million pounds 'over 15 years for the Mid Wales Growth Deal,' for development in Powys and Ceredigon. (Powys in some Welsh historical stories is portrayed as the area that England was able to win over, leading to the downfall of the Principality.) There are claims that this will attract 200 mill. pds and generate jobs of course, the figure being 4,000. Pie-in-the-sky political promises, it sounds, (in short PSPP).
'But the Welsh Government said the money was "derisory".'…
A spokesperson for Economy Minister Ken Skates said: "Whilst we welcome any new investment, this funding in no way offsets the disastrous Tory cuts mid Wales has had to endure during this last decade of austerity.
"The figure of £55m will likely be viewed as derisory by the people of mid Wales when set against recent Welsh Government investment in mid Wales, such as the £95m Newtown bypass, which attracted no UK government funding whatsoever."
The WTO said on Tuesday that it now expects global merchandise trade to increase by 1.2 percent this year, compared with its April estimate of 2.6 percent. The growth rate stood at 3 percent in 2018. For 2020, it has been forecast to grow at 2.7 percent, down from a previous estimate of 3 percent.
As to Munros predictable Russia blaming in the Saud debacle
I would have thought either the utter failure of air defence/radar expensively bought from the US or the notorious laziness of the Sauds (taking a break in the weekend by turning off the radar) might have something to do with it
The old Russians did it trope is losing its pulling power
Dying to know who is in the ME for humanitarian reasons .
Russia’s presence in the ME goes way back.Their input to the JCPOA deal was invaluable
Their support of Iran against US sanctions is perfectly valid, and their influence will only increase as the US continues to show its ineffectiveness and unreliability https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/25/moscow-and-beijing-have-tehrans-back/
It used to be the Poms – enduring influence on public health stats like infant mortality. Since neoliberalism what little value existed in US interventions has essentially evaporated, so they're pretty rubbish. But zatchistkais not contemporary US occupation policy in the way it is for Russia, they're still really old school.
I have just hit on a word that we could put at the centre of our lives and our feelings towards other NZ citizens which would revolutionise the way that we regard our country, and relate to those fellow citizens, and all have a better life. Gratitude.
That would stop us being so greedy that we go OTT. And stop us wanting to hold all our advantages to ourselves because we don't want to share, we feel too deserving to share, we haven't got all we want yet so none to share. We would pay our reasonable taxes and moan about the excessive ones that unfairly cut into our lives. It would stop us in our tracks as we became obsessive about having and holding. It would enable us to study what we have, and decide what we could give away, contribute to others.
As Fred sang 'You don't know how lucky you are mate'. That had a satirical ring and probably it was aimed at some political propaganda. But taking a step back and surveying the situation, it is true. When so much has been taken away from so many, and somehow we still have our lives, homes, something worthwhile to do that isn't bad four health, health care etc., we should remember to feel gratitude. How do you know something is good if you don't recognise it; it is necessary to learn to discriminate, to decide what is good, not so good, bad. We will find a lot of good that we had overlooked.
And I found a good Tedx talk from Christchurch – Dr Lucy Hone, The three secrets of resilient people. I have put it on How to Get There as I like to group future thinking things that would improve our situation. https://thestandard.org.nz/how-to-get-there-29-9-19/#comment-1658637
I feel gratitude at Robert G for setting up the post and to the mods and backup? folks for backing this project. I feel gratitude to Lynn for setting up the blog and to Blip for setting an example of putting a set of points together (about John Key) which I thought was brilliant (and a lot of work). So I support How to Get There which will be handy for people to use this tool that others have set up.
Our motto for the present in NZ is to Use It, or Lose It. Don't ignore what is good around you, feel gratitude that people have set their minds to provide helpful things which enable us to have resilience and kindness in our lives. Accept the gift that they have given, feel gratitude that it is there, and make their toil worthwhile by taking advantage of their enterprise.
Father of 13 year old who wants to shoot things with a semi-automatic rifle. There is an event that involves being proficient with three diffferent types of guns used in quick succession. It sounds like a defence forces exercise, and they may be more proficient than some of our soldiers!
""For a week now she's been like 'I can't do anything, I can't do anything, no one really listens anyway', and I said 'well, write a letter and I'll make sure it gets to the right place."
How true about the not listening. People like this don't pay any attention to the rest of the world, they don't listen, they are too focussed on their own interests. They sound like UK residents who can afford to come here to live and have access to expensive weapons and are used to having everything they want. Boo hoo
Crunch time for Netanyahu as talks with rival politicians break down
29 Sept 2019 [The] Prime minister had potentially up to six weeks to form coalition but negotiations with the opposition stalled just days in
Benjamin Netanyahu could inform Israel’s president that he is unable to form a government as early as this week after unity talks with rival politicians broke down at the weekend, his Likud party said.
Israel has entered a period of political paralysis after an inconclusive election on 17 September. Neither Likud nor the opposition Blue and White party, led by ex-military general Benny Gantz, won a clear lead.
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
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 ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
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 ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
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 ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
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 ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
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, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
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 ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
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 ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Stewart, Professor of Public Policy, ADFA Canberra, UNSW Sydney For years, First Nations people have been telling governments they want to be listened to. In particular, they want more ownership of the programs and services that are supposed to help them. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Why do trees have bark? Julien, age 6, Melbourne. This is a great question, Julien. We are so familiar with bark on trees, that most of us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Nasser, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, University of Technology Sydney PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is an important ligament in the knee. It runs from the thigh bone (femur) to the shin bone (tibia) and helps stabilise ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne I covered the May 2 United Kingdom local government elections for The Poll Bludger. The Blackpool South parliamentary byelection was also held, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna Grant-Smith, Professor of Management, University of the Sunshine Coast The federal government has announced a “Commonwealth Prac Payment” to support selected groups of students doing mandatory work placements. Those who are studying to be a teacher, nurse, midwife or social ...
We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+. If you love a dark comedy: Bodkin (Netflix, May 9)An English podcaster, an Irish podcaster and American podcaster walk into a pub and…make a TV show? ...
By Eleisha Foon, RNZ Pacific senior journalist A Pacific regionalism academic has called out New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS and says the security deal “raises serious questions for the Pacific region”. Auckland University of Technology academic Dr Marco de Jong ...
How worried should we be about the cloud? This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. I currently have a few thousand unread emails languishing in my inbox, mostly old marketing newsletters and piles of unread science journal press releases. I have a similar number ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nuurrianti Jalli, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies College of Arts and Sciences Department of Languages, Literature, and Communication Studies, Northern State University Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Southeast Asian governments not only have to deal with the virus but also with the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Murakami Wood, Professor of Critical Surveillance and Securities Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa The skyline of Riyadh, the capital and largest city of the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia.(Shutterstock) There is a long history of planned city building by both governments ...
The LIVE Recording of A View from Afar podcast will begin today at 12:45pm May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment of ...
The Boil Up’s Lucinda Bennett considers the oyster – from freshness to pearls to the joy of shucking your own. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. In Carmen Maria Machado’s short story ‘Eight Bites’, a woman begins her last supper before bariatric surgery with “a cavalcade ...
Asia Pacific Report A group of 65 Auckland University academics have written an open letter to vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater criticising the institution’s stance over students protesting in solidarity with Palestine. They have called on her administration to “support” the students who were denied permission to establish an “overnight encampment” by ...
The Student Volunteer Army is on the march, generating approximately 1.6 million hours of volunteering from roughly 35,000 secondary school students in just five years. For Rebekah Brown, the pathway to volunteering started with her singing coach. With a passion for the arts, the suggestion to volunteer at Acting Antics, ...
Keeping up with online communication can be exhausting, so Fran Barclay enlisted the help of Meta’s new ‘intelligent assistant’ to respond to all her messages. Could her mates tell the difference? For centuries, technology has ruled the ways in which we communicate. From the dawn of written language, to the ...
Jamie Arbuckle, a councillor who has become an member of parliament, says he has settled into having two roles so comfortably he's going to keep both pay cheques. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong Fifty years ago, Australian feminist Anne Summers denounced “the ideology of sexism” governing over so many women’s lives. Unfortunately, sexism is as lethal today as it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez, Senior Researcher in Architecture, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images The COVID-19 pandemic and the hybrid work patterns it fostered have changed the way we think about office space, and central business districts in general. While fears ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dale Boccabella, Associate Professor of Taxation Law, UNSW Sydney There’s a good reason your local volunteer-run netball club doesn’t pay tax. In Australia, various nonprofit organisations are exempt from paying income tax, including those that do charitable work, such as churches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marina Deller, Casual Academic, Creative Writing and English Literature, Flinders University NetflixComedy is opening up spaces for silences to be broken and trauma stories to be told. In 2018, Hannah Gadsby started a revolution with Nanette, asking audiences to rethink ...
The workplace can be a minefield of bad comms and passive aggression. Kinksters can help you navigate it. A friend and colleague recently gave me a compliment I loved. They told me I’d always been good at emotional communication and making people feel comfortable. “But I feel like it’s really ...
Even if some students are now just texting on their laptops. Stewart Sowman-Lund writes in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Councils from Horowhenua, Kāpiti, Wairarapa, the Hutt Valley, Porirua and Wellington City will meet this Friday to work together on a plan for a Greater Wellington region water deal. ...
Renowned musician, advocate, and proud born and raised daughter of Tauranga, Ria Hall, is announcing her candidacy for Mayor of Tauranga and Pāpāmoa Ward for the upcoming election on July 20th. ...
The new Aotearoa histories curriculum is rich with potential. There’s still work to be done, but the education minister’s criticisms about ‘balance’ miss the mark, argues primary school teacher Jessie Moss. In 2015, Ōtorohanga College students presented to parliament a petition signed by more than 10,000 people calling for a ...
For too long our so-called national bird has maintained its stranglehold on the economy of regional New Zealand. Thanks to the fast track legislation, we will have our revenge. Theories abound on what ails New Zealand’s economy. National leader Chris Luxon has posited that we’re negative, wet, whiny, and inward-looking; ...
Late one afternoon in March 1860 a man in a thin green velveteen jacket and a wide-awake hat arrived on foot at a sheep station named Glenmark, about 65 kilometres north of Christchurch. The man was in his mid-fifties but he looked older. Several people who met him that day ...
If building one of Auckland’s possible waterfront stadiums was funded privately, it would need to hold a sold-out Ed Sherran concert every weekday for 25 years. That’s Rob Hamlin’s finding – he’s a senior marketing lecturer at the University of Otago. “It’s not going to happen; forget about it,” he ...
Comment: The debate over the future relationship between news and social media is bringing us closer to a long-overdue reckoning. Social media isn’t trying to kill journalism, because social media has never really cared about journalism. Social media is resolutely in the attention business. News propels some attention — perhaps ...
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For the past 12 years, Georgia-Rose Brown has balanced on the brink of making an Olympic Games – but always landed gracefully on the wrong side. Reaching the Olympics is a dream the gymnast has harboured since she was a six-year-old; a dream that would dwindle every four years, yet ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A new Commonwealth Prac Payment will provide students with $319.50 a week when they are on clinical and professional placements. The payment will be means tested and start from July 1 next year, which ...
Asia Pacific Report About 500 people honoured Palestinian journalists in the heart of the New Zealand city of Auckland today for their brave coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza, now in its seventh month with almost 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children. Marking the annual May 3 World Press ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
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recently I read how air NZ was hoping to be carbon neutral, I was thinking why should they?
As air NZ flys in tourists that many other industries profit by catering for. So why should air NZ carry the full carbon debt on bring these people here, other than good PR Eg motels/hotels benefit once these tourists are here yet would not share the carbon burden. Perhaps we need to think in a more broad vision on who pays what regarding carbon
It's not a competition for heaven's sake! Good on Air NZ if it can do this and the idea that we should all be peering over the fence to make sure we're not doing more than our neighbours is not exactly a mature response is it!
The carbon neutral would cover the airline only ( mainly the planes) not what the passengers do when they get here.
However you have to think of it as a form of public transport – a bus in the sky, with far higher fossil fuel efficency than cars used for personal transport.
when the passengers get here those within the tourist industry don’t have any liability on the cost to deliver them, only their direct carbon cost. So for me with tourism as an example the tourist trade in total should be a net carbon absorber. And by “taxing” only the direct carbon costs to each player then leads to distortions. Eg the surf board hire has no carbon costs yet to deliver the surfer has a large carbon cost. That direct costs would not take into account .
I'd imagine it'll be their passengers carrying the cost hotroddy.
Oh the absurdity… the government ripping machine guns away from kids. Ewwww… who knew NZ had child soldiers.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/10/gun-loving-13yo-girl-writes-angry-letter-to-jacinda-ardern-about-semi-automatic-ban.html
The 7 TV1 Show gave her a supportive hearing. So did Lisa Owens with no alternative view. Wonder why? Is it because it might provoke interest in their programs? The Gun Lobby must have been delighted in an apparent publicity coup. Lisa's guest, a Gun Shop manageress did say that of course there are other options for the poor little mite. Must have hurt to say that!
How lazy was RNZ on that Checkpoint story last night? I couldn't believe my ears! Was everyone off with the flu and the rest of the office scratching around for some content before the gun lobby rode to the rescue with a pre-packaged offering that just required Lisa Owen to stick to the script?
I Listened to that whole piece on Checkpoint last night and it was frankly bloody bizarre. Carefully curated with the exact opposite of your typical gun nut (young girl, Maori women, white female Olympian) The whole thing sounded like a 20 minute advertorial scripted by the gun lobby and delivered verbatim by a credulous RNZ.
A 13 year old girl (hit Jacinda's image where it hurts, let's front with a kid!) with a wah wah wwah followed by the carefully choreographed interview from gun lobby group where the front person is the secretary Nicole McKee (cos she is brown and a woman – the chairman and vice-chairman both being white men wouldn't be as good a look) with Lisa Owen serving up soft serves for swatting then an "independent" view from someone who was introduced as an Olympic shooter (but let's not mention she is a gun shop manager and daughter of the owner of gun city).
This story, IMHO, is part of looks like a worrying emerging trend of RNZ allowing itself and it’s authority to be used as a credulous shill for lobbyists – Guyon Espiner's "investigation" of Pharmac seemed to rely almost entirely on human interest content funneled to him from big pharma companies who hate Pharmac – in return for easy content.
I'm sure any minute now Duncan Garner will come out and attack her by accusing her of being melodramatic like he did to Greta Thunberg. Waiting .. Tick Tock
lol inorite.
A rightwing FB friend of mine got completely apeshit about a 16yo "being used" for political gain. Nothing so far about this 13yo though lol.
In the linked article, the kid's dad says:
I hope you get this and have a long hard think about what you have done to poor little girls and boys with hopes and dreams that have been crushed by you.
Oh, the horror! Our children's hopes and dreams of fun with military-style semi-automatics have been crushed by Jacinda Ardern! Won't somebody please, please think of the children!?
Some one should tell the stupid cunt to buy her a bolt action or a fucking shot gun if it's that fucking important to him . Fuck people are stupid .
+++ bwag
Plenty of .22 rifles can be still used for their "sport"- a pretence as its a glorified hobby.
And the larger calibre, modified to take only a small magazine can still be privately owned.
Some even can convert AR15 to .22
http://nzgunsandhunting.co.nz/Rimfire
Some hopes and dreams need to be crushed.
Some children dream of curing cancer, flying to the moon, fighting fires, winning races, being dancers, or rock/sport stars, or artists, even (God help them) teachers – dare to dream.
And some (apparently) dream of firing an AR-15 rifle! Where does that dream come from?
Yeah, that sounded utterly contrived and fake to me – I'd like to know more about this lass and her dad. Any actual journalists out there who might, you know, ask a few more questions?
According to his very public Facebook page, the father (Matt Turner as named by several of the media reports eg The Herald article) appears to be very active in opposing gun restrictions and related policies both of the current govt as a whole and the individual parties (Greens/Labour/NZF) plus NZ Police – and supportive of ACT policies. Obviously very involved in the gun scene in NZ and the gun lobby, and has apparently filed various OIAs on these subjects including to Minister Nash. Haven't yet checked FYI.org.nz. Some FB entries also seem to indicate a possible/probable intolerance towards Muslims – including JA's wearing scarfs etc. Dad seems to be from the UK originally, now resident in Te Aroha with family etc.
I won't provide a link to his FB page, but easily found as are other links via Google using his name plus other definers such as 'nz' and 'guns' etc.
Now realise that the FB link is not as straightforward as his name and I found it via another Google link. So the FB key is mattanddelicia. damn it here is the link https://www.facebook.com/mattanddelicia
If your hopes and dreams involve owning an AR-15, then yeah, sorry love, your hopes and dreams deserve to be tossed into history's dustbin for the greater good. Ask Dad for a pony instead?
Our own Joe Bennett is revelling in it:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/opinion/116224978/the-wave-is-rolling-and-it-wont-be-stopped
"So the men in white coats will have to take him away. And as they come for him Trump will try to destroy everything around him, because a world that rejects his self, that throws him from office, literally cannot exist. All this, according to the psychiatry textbooks, is inevitable. What a joy it will be to watch. And it's starting now."
That Trump is a delusional narcissist has been evident since day one, what is really confounds is the near total support by those within the Republican Party ….or are they themselves similarly afflicted but more capable of masking it?
The problem then is to turn attention to the people who vote for Trump and his ilk and try and save ourselves from their skewed minds. Are people fit enough mentally and analytically to take part in a democracy? Certainly sitting around on bums and whining about what pollies do is not sufficient for a modern democracy of educated people. Either educate people to the teenage years when they can read, write and do sums and then subsidise businesses to take them on and give them work skills so they can get started in life; or teach them how politics and civil society work and how to manage themselves, and give them a 'list' place in their community forums so they are involved right from the start in making the good society.
Getting rid of Trump is only cutting out a malignancy. It will have metastasised throughout the body of the polity. Healthier thinking and happier, simpler, thoughtful living may tame the dastardly disease. We can't cure it but if we can work together, collaborate and be sincere with each other, as much as is politic, then we will be able to keep the 7 deadly sins to a manageable level.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins
The GOP are self-serving opportunists to their core. They'll support a rabid dog just so long as it's toilet-trained and promises not to bite them. They woefully misjudged just how out-of-control Mad King Donald would prove to be, and they're at a bit of a loss in figuring out how to handle him. I mean, there comes a point when even your most feeble excuses are howled down in a torrent of open contempt. People are waking up to what a venal, morally-bankrupt pack of brigands they are, and they know it. It's why they're so desperate to cheat. It's the only way they'll win.
Agree theres the typical self serving forces at play but even so I would expect that to cover a spectrum and that even the most self serving must question the risk he poses to their gravy train even if they can ignore the risk to their country….in other words isnt there a point at which it becomes too dangerously bizarre and Trump had crossed that point even before he was sworn in.
We should have more of Joe Bennetts columns, does he still write regularly?
Have wondered about that even in the Labour Party bullying claims.
Alex Ashton:
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@podcast-card/2019/10/02/838028/outside-the-boys-club-bullying-in-the-force
Talking of bullying… this quote from the BBC news:
It is Prince Harry talking about the bullying and harassment of his wife, They are suing the Mail on Sunday.
Sounds familiar? It is. This is exactly what National are doing to government MPs. Selecting words, paragraphs of speeches in the House and stringing them together to form a misleading impression. The outcome – if it is allowed to continue in the form adopted by National – is these MPs will be bullied into virtual silence and will be afraid to speak up when it is desirable.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49901047
Worthy of a read because it shows just how damaging bullying and harassment can be and the lasting effect on the victims whoever they may be.
cd someone plse stitch together a vid-clip of bridges saying:
'i will terminate trump'…and other similar delights..?
(maybe he will get it – then..)
that these clowns are dying in a ditch over their ‘right’ to edit/make up false news-clips – as an attack tool..
only shows that they have totally lost the plot..
they got nuthin..!
I was watching the video interview with CIA whistle blower John Kiriakou where he gave a personal anecdote of when he was working in Saudi Arabia and every morning he would give a friendly greeting to a Saudi military person of some kind and the Saudi would completely ignore him. Eventually John asked him why he was so unfriendly and the Saudi replied words to the effect that he and all Americans were nothing more than hired military help. John explained that the Saudis use foreign troops for nearly all their fighting and that the Saudis themselves are militarily inept which losing three brigades (10,000-12,000 soldiers) inside Saudi Arabia might suggest
Excellent military analysis of the recent events here, suggesting that Saudi and the US have more or less already lost the war against Yemen:
"The third-biggest arms spender in the world is incapable of defeating the poorest Arab country in the world. It is, moreover, incapable of protecting its national interest and borders from this impoverished Arab country. The Houthis are showing to the world what a poor but organized and motivated armed force can do using asymmetrical methods to bring one of the best-equipped militaries in the world to its knees. This conflict will be studied all over the world as an example of how a new means of warfare is possible when technological and cyber capabilities are democratized and available to those who know how to use them appropriately, as the Houthis have shown with their use of drones and electronic warfare."
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/09/30/three-saudi-brigades-annihilated-in-devastating-houthi-offensive-in-saudi-arabia/
Raytheon's doing just fine thankyouverymuch.
It is interesting – and Al Jazeera essentially confirms it. The effect of serial defeats on Saudi could create a major shift in the local balance of power; part of their status descends from possession of the two holy mosques and the presumption of the mandate of heaven that goes with them. Conspicuous defeat is really not good for such presumptions, and may see a realignment of traditional supporters.
There is a question to be answered over the sponsorship of recent drone strikes – if it were not Iran, who was it? One need not look particularly far to find a state that would cheerfully destabilize any US ally, and may have some historical grievance with the house of Saud.
"Saudi Arabia and its oil policy are thought to have contributed to the downfall of Soviet Communism in the late 1980s and early 1990. Saudi helped to finance not just the Afghan Mujahideen but non-Muslims anti-communists. It also seriously harmed the Soviet Communist cause by stabilizing oil prices "throughout the 1980s, just when the Russians were desperate to sell energy in order to keep up with huge hikes in American military spending."
I would have thought either the utter failure of air defence/radar expensively bought from the US or the notorious laziness of the Sauds (taking a break in the weekend by turning off the radar) might have something to do with it
The old Russians did it trope is losing its pulling power
You really don't get it, as usual.
If the drones weren't Iraqi supplied, who do you suppose supplied them to the Houthi? I really don't think you can blame this one on Hillary.
Iraq??
That's a new twist
The drones aren't expensive ,the Houthis have been using them for a long while
They fly beneath the radar
The Sauds may have the fire power but they don't have the fighting smarts a smaller force has to learn
I've never been reliant on an army of mercenaries but I've seen the malaise of being rich enough to have someone else do everything in other ways. 30 year old individuals from wealthy families that don't know how to cook an egg, vacuum a floor or catch a bus.
My friend, you've been suckered by a fake news pro-Kremlin propaganda site. The website you quote – Strategic Culture Foundation – is a Russian black propaganda site of a kind that litters the internet.
The clue is it's rather odd enthusiams for Russian weapons and the acceptance of the DPR and LNR as legitimate – only Russia recognises them, the rest of the world having designated them terrorists.
Nowhere can one learn that the site is registered and managed in Russia. This is only disclosed by checking the site data.
If there actually exists a Strategic Culture Foundation it is impossible to discover. The site gives no information on owners, editors, visiting address. There isn’t even an e-mail address for contacting the site or the foundation. At least we now know the Russians make excellent weapons that are far better than the useless stuff the Americans and Europeans make!
None of which mitigates that the Saudis appear to have suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Houthis. But that is about as much credence I'd give anything that site says.
The purpose behind the Saudi's purchase of vast quantities military hardware from the US has nothing to do with defense (or attack). It will most likely never be used. The purpose is to recycle the Saudi's oil revenue surpluses through the US economy. That is the quid pro quo for having the US's support in the region. And from the Saudis' perspective it's a vastly preferable arrangement to having the US engineer regime change and control the oil revenues directly. The US doesn't need the physical oil – it is now the world's largest producer – but it wants to tap into revenue streams everywhere.
An interesting version of 'follow the money' – thanks AB a different perspective.
And goed with another interesting thought from Bill McKebben? from Joe90s comment in How to Get There
https://thestandard.org.nz/how-to-get-there-29-9-19/#comment-1658159, which posits a thoughtful question about money flows.
I not convinced by the video of the 'captured soldiers'. The SA military is very well equipped and am surprised that very few were wearing fatigues and the weaponry does not appear to be US in origin. I would be very surprised if the US was supplying AK47's to SA, they usually save that for their proxies like ISIS, Al Queda and the Taliban.
I think there is an element of propaganda about this but in saying that, I wish the Houthi all the best.
As much as i despised Helen Clark lest she would of delt to this idiot ruthlessly. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/116215895/shane-jones-issues-warning-to-forestry-companies–political-utu-is-a-dish-best-served-cold
As much as I despise those who despised Helen Clark – I would never stoop to correcting their spelling or grammar.
"Jian Yang in China for CCP military parade
Just weeks after Simon Bridges faced backlash over a trip to China and a meeting with the country’s spy boss, National MP Jian Yang has returned to Beijing for a major military parade. Laura Walters reports.
Controversial National Party MP Jian Yang is in Beijing for the People's Republic of China's 70th anniversary celebrations.
More specifically, he’s part of a group of distinguished guests attending the parade of the People’s Liberation Army from a special vantage point, at the invitation of the Chinese Government."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/10/02/838837/jian-yang-in-china-for-chinese-communist-party-celebrations?fbclid=IwAR0oDkiiiqRrdUIuXTj-T5F_JInm5r-NgwFjjtNymUIa-BGrCui4LI5jf3s
Thanks Robert @ (7) for this information.
Re Jian Yang's citizenship, of which I find confusing, along with his place as a National list MP.
I know to hold a place in the NZ Parliament, an MP must be a NZ citizen, including holding dual citizenship.
However, as far as China is concerned, dual citizenship is forbidden. In other words, Chinese citizenship must be forfeited, should a Chinese national gain citizenship of another state. Google dual NZ/Chinese citizenship.
Yet Yang as "a distinguished (NZ or Chinese?) guest" is invited to attend a military parade celebrating 70 years of CCP rule! Considered a distinguished guest for what …? A loyal member of the CCP reporting back to Beijing perhaps, while his party National turns a blind eye to his activities, so as to drum up support and massive (split) donations from Chinese nationals living in NZ?
Having admitted his NZ citizenship application was misrepresented at the request of Beijing at the time Yang applied, where does that leave him as an MP? Isn't falsifying a NZ Citizenship application considered illegal?
Is Jian Yang a NZ citizen or not? Or is he a citizen of China? He cannot be both!
Edit:
Brexit news :
Wales? What is the thinking there?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-49893521
Brexit will make the UK stronger as a union of nations, Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns will tell the Conservative Party conference later.
They are being offered 55 million pounds 'over 15 years for the Mid Wales Growth Deal,' for development in Powys and Ceredigon. (Powys in some Welsh historical stories is portrayed as the area that England was able to win over, leading to the downfall of the Principality.) There are claims that this will attract 200 mill. pds and generate jobs of course, the figure being 4,000. Pie-in-the-sky political promises, it sounds, (in short PSPP).
'But the Welsh Government said the money was "derisory".'…
A spokesperson for Economy Minister Ken Skates said: "Whilst we welcome any new investment, this funding in no way offsets the disastrous Tory cuts mid Wales has had to endure during this last decade of austerity.
"The figure of £55m will likely be viewed as derisory by the people of mid Wales when set against recent Welsh Government investment in mid Wales, such as the £95m Newtown bypass, which attracted no UK government funding whatsoever."
.
Ireland:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/01/johnsons-final-warning-to-the-eu-accept-my-brexit-deal-or-its-no-deal
PM strikes secret deal with DUP as he draws up ‘final Brexit offer’
Boris Johnson agrees pact with Northern Irish party as details emerge of ‘two borders’ plan
Leaking like sieve.
https://twitter.com/VeraMBergen/status/1179160506243977216
Basically, no-one's going to be able to write a political comedy for a generation – reality's already swiped all the material.
This is informative – 27/9/19 but some may not have read it.
Can a no-deal Brexit still happen?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49612757
Aljazeera view on Ireland border:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/boris-johnson-bring-customs-checkpoints-ireland-191001185608415.html
Will Boris Johnson bring customs checkpoints in Ireland?
UK PM’s comments have been met with concern in the EU and anger in Ireland, which is against a return to a hard border.
https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/wto-slashes-forecast-growth-trade-conflicts-mount-191001103628510.html
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has cut its forecast for growth in global trade this year by more than half, saying further rounds of tariffs and retaliation, a slowing economy and a disorderly Brexit could squeeze it even more.
The WTO said on Tuesday that it now expects global merchandise trade to increase by 1.2 percent this year, compared with its April estimate of 2.6 percent. The growth rate stood at 3 percent in 2018. For 2020, it has been forecast to grow at 2.7 percent, down from a previous estimate of 3 percent.
As to Munros predictable Russia blaming in the Saud debacle
I would have thought either the utter failure of air defence/radar expensively bought from the US or the notorious laziness of the Sauds (taking a break in the weekend by turning off the radar) might have something to do with it
The old Russians did it trope is losing its pulling power
If you spent a little less time on RT you might realize that the Russians are quite active in the middle east, and not for humanitarian reasons.
Dying to know who is in the ME for humanitarian reasons .
Russia’s presence in the ME goes way back.Their input to the JCPOA deal was invaluable
Their support of Iran against US sanctions is perfectly valid, and their influence will only increase as the US continues to show its ineffectiveness and unreliability
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/25/moscow-and-beijing-have-tehrans-back/
MSF?
"their influence will only increase"
Yup – and a profoundly malign influence it is.
Who is good out of all the players then? Or should I say who is the least worst?
It used to be the Poms – enduring influence on public health stats like infant mortality. Since neoliberalism what little value existed in US interventions has essentially evaporated, so they're pretty rubbish. But zatchistka is not contemporary US occupation policy in the way it is for Russia, they're still really old school.
Bierce’s description is apposite as usual. http://dd.pangyre.org/r/russian.html
Well the yanks have set a pretty high bar for barbarism in the region
Where did Assad get all his gas, Francesca? That's right, from the Russians.
Who told you that, Stuart?
The chlorine? https://www.opcw.org/media-centre/news/2019/03/opcw-issues-fact-finding-mission-report-chemical-weapons-use-allegation
Surely if was Ruskie supplied it would have been Novi-chook lol
You can get chlorine anywhere – sarin not so much.
Oh Stuart
You've really hit the depths now. Insane.You haven't even got the right certificted neocon talking points
If you're going to talk insanity, hero-worshipping a genocidal asshole like Putin eclipses anything I have to offer.
I have just hit on a word that we could put at the centre of our lives and our feelings towards other NZ citizens which would revolutionise the way that we regard our country, and relate to those fellow citizens, and all have a better life. Gratitude.
That would stop us being so greedy that we go OTT. And stop us wanting to hold all our advantages to ourselves because we don't want to share, we feel too deserving to share, we haven't got all we want yet so none to share. We would pay our reasonable taxes and moan about the excessive ones that unfairly cut into our lives. It would stop us in our tracks as we became obsessive about having and holding. It would enable us to study what we have, and decide what we could give away, contribute to others.
As Fred sang 'You don't know how lucky you are mate'. That had a satirical ring and probably it was aimed at some political propaganda. But taking a step back and surveying the situation, it is true. When so much has been taken away from so many, and somehow we still have our lives, homes, something worthwhile to do that isn't bad four health, health care etc., we should remember to feel gratitude. How do you know something is good if you don't recognise it; it is necessary to learn to discriminate, to decide what is good, not so good, bad. We will find a lot of good that we had overlooked.
And I found a good Tedx talk from Christchurch – Dr Lucy Hone, The three secrets of resilient people. I have put it on How to Get There as I like to group future thinking things that would improve our situation. https://thestandard.org.nz/how-to-get-there-29-9-19/#comment-1658637
I feel gratitude at Robert G for setting up the post and to the mods and backup? folks for backing this project. I feel gratitude to Lynn for setting up the blog and to Blip for setting an example of putting a set of points together (about John Key) which I thought was brilliant (and a lot of work). So I support How to Get There which will be handy for people to use this tool that others have set up.
Our motto for the present in NZ is to Use It, or Lose It. Don't ignore what is good around you, feel gratitude that people have set their minds to provide helpful things which enable us to have resilience and kindness in our lives. Accept the gift that they have given, feel gratitude that it is there, and make their toil worthwhile by taking advantage of their enterprise.
Father of 13 year old who wants to shoot things with a semi-automatic rifle. There is an event that involves being proficient with three diffferent types of guns used in quick succession. It sounds like a defence forces exercise, and they may be more proficient than some of our soldiers!
""For a week now she's been like 'I can't do anything, I can't do anything, no one really listens anyway', and I said 'well, write a letter and I'll make sure it gets to the right place."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/400015/pm-jacinda-ardern-responds-to-13-year-old-girl-s-plea-over-ar-15-rifle-ban
How true about the not listening. People like this don't pay any attention to the rest of the world, they don't listen, they are too focussed on their own interests. They sound like UK residents who can afford to come here to live and have access to expensive weapons and are used to having everything they want. Boo hoo
Israel might see a big change if they could get their army out of politics.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/29/crunch-time-for-netanyahu-as-talks-with-rival-politicians-break-down
Crunch time for Netanyahu as talks with rival politicians break down
29 Sept 2019 [The] Prime minister had potentially up to six weeks to form coalition but negotiations with the opposition stalled just days in
Benjamin Netanyahu could inform Israel’s president that he is unable to form a government as early as this week after unity talks with rival politicians broke down at the weekend, his Likud party said.
Israel has entered a period of political paralysis after an inconclusive election on 17 September. Neither Likud nor the opposition Blue and White party, led by ex-military general Benny Gantz, won a clear lead.