"I’ve spent the past three decades, ever since I wrote The End of Nature at the age of 28, deeply committed to realism: no fantasy, no spin". Yeah, as if the end of nature is a realistic proposition. Gaia laughed.
An admirable, tough-minded stance though. I couldn't do it. I prefer a balanced mix of realism & idealism, liberally laced with fantasy for entertainment.
“I have never taken a penny from green energy companies or mutual funds or anyone else with a role in these fights. I’ve never been paid by environmental groups either, not even 350.org, which I founded and which I’ve given all I have to give.”
So Moore’s using a deceit strategy. To remind us that he’s a typical leftist, I presume. Or perhaps he will blame the film-maker: “We producers have a hands-off attitude. I just thought a critical appraisal of the Green movement is a good idea.” No problem with that – it is. Negative feedback is essential to stabilise systems, both in nature and in humanity.
So Michael Moore has discovered that pandering to the prejudices of gullible congenitally disgruntled rabid anti-capitalists with over-active poorly-aimed middle fingers turns out to be quite lucrative? Who'd'a thunk it?
McKibben: "Much has been made over the years about the way that progressives eat their own, about circular firing squads and the like. I think there’s truth to it: there’s a collection of showmen like Moore who enjoy attracting attention to themselves by endlessly picking fights. They’re generally not people who actually try to organize, to build power, to bring people together. That’s the real, and difficult, work — not purity tests or calling people out, but calling them in." https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/bill-mckibben-climate-movement-michael-moore-993073/
Yes, the downside of negative feedback: division. Polemics are effective when an exclusive point of view frames the advocacy. Yet inclusive frames are what we need. You can actually do a critique as a reality check in a constructive spirit. I think Moore, as a life-long partisan, is incapable of comprehending that the common good is enhanced by building bridges. He would rather burn them. Hasn't evolved. Still fighting as if the 1960s never ended.
Just as valid as any other generalisation, huh? Machine-politicians marketing themselves as progressive then, when elected, serving the establishment without making an iota of progress have been a feature of leftist politics all our lives. Or haven't you noticed?
Yeah, self serving bullshit comes from both left & right. Rightists tend to be more honest about selfishness though – they have an ideology exalting it. The left masks it with the label progressive, hoping nobody will notice.
Over the many years that you have been commenting here you’ve made many comments, many of which I haven’t read because they largely or solely consist of links to your preferred sources and heroes and to your own blog site. TBF, not all of your comments are of that low quality. Unfortunately, you do have a habit of sniping at the messenger and providing nothing but links to opinions of others. I would not call that a contribution but rather opinion harvesting and aggregation, which is handy if you like to build an archive of these, for example (on) your blog spot. None of those is conducive to solid and genuine debate, IMHO.
… largely or solely consist of links to your preferred sources and heroes and to your own blog site.
Fair comment, my friend. I'll try to lift my game!
TBF, not all of your comments are of that low quality.
Thank you, Incognito. What a refreshing contrast your spare and restrained, even faint, praise is compared to the abuse dished out to this writer, i.e. moi, on other fora …..
Unfortunately, you do have a habit of sniping at the messenger…
I'll try to rein in my base revanchiste desires. I think snipers are the lowest of the low, right down there with politicians, third-rate novelists—yes I'm referring to YOU, Martin Amis!!!—and dim Hollywood celebrities…
I despise Nick Cohen for the complete lies he told about Corbyn and anti-semitism-he deviously and misleadingly used his platform in the Guardian to try to destroy Corbyn.
I despise Nick Cohen for his one-eyed view on Israel, where the Palestinians don't seem to exist. (The irony that Israel has created a huge concentration camp in Gaza is lost on him).
For these reasons his journalism will, for me, for ever be tainted. How can he ever be seen to be balanced, fair or honest again?
However, he can write; the charlatan article forensically takes apart the idiots that are running the UK. He destroys them with a few choice phrases.
(Note: Scotland is actually run by a very competent politician)
He said the app was already logging users' close contacts, and that information could be accessed at a later date.
"That facility is still to go live, that will be happening during the current week," Professor Kidd said.
"But the important thing is that if people have downloaded the app and they have it running in the background on their phone, it's already gathering details of people you've been in close contact with.
Incredibly, on RNZ National's The Panel on Friday, the normally astute Paula Penfold doled out unearned praise of Tova O'Brien. She must have forgotten about O'Brien's simpering behaviour at an Orwellian outrage organized by the British High Commission last May….
She's still using that womans dead step father to justify her calls to sack Clark, that's what she got a lot of criticism for, personally I just find her untrustworthy and shallow.
Why are those who report our news having their profiles raised ? Shouldn't it be about the strength of their reporting that their profile is foundered on?
I present additional evidence ( No issues regarding the story) BUT why is there a picture and placed in high prominence of of the writer ??
These profiles are intended to build a relationship with the presenters based on familiarity (recognition), credibility, and trust. They are like social influencers who gather loads of followers, usually to generate advertising revenue (clicks and time spend on page & site). Newsreaders have always had an elevated position and profile. Remember ‘Mother of the Nation’, and Paul H. is back on our screens too with a most emotively entitled ‘show’. Hooray for the good old days.
It is a regular opinion column, not news, predicated on our confidence in the writer (whose photograph appears in each one). He just happens to be a genuinely smart guy rather than a shallow self-promoter like the ones we have all heard of.
I can appreciate that BUT with the online article why is Mike O’Donnell's picture about 1/3 of a page ? (is this a standard layout size)
Also would not the editor/sub editor decide to use this picture? If so then Stuff is building up Mike's profile. Should it not be sufficient his story and "* Mike “MOD” O’Donnell is a professional director, writer and strategic advisor. " so we can build up in our consideration of how much credence we place on the article e.g. is it from a union affiliate, Chamber of commerce, tax payers union, competing industry/brand etc.
But then on Alison Mau's opinion, there is only a thumbnail and her position. Could be the difference between contributing and paid employee templates.
If I go out in a company car and get caught dangerous driving on camera and that is shown on telly, I will very likely get fired, due to the risk of reputational damage to my employers brand in the public mind.
Letting the public see on telly the sort of car-crash that Tova O'Brien is every day at 1pm is reputationally pretty much the same thing.
That's what I don't like about this type of reporting, sure report the fact Clark drove his kids to the beach during lockdown, but then it's up to the public to make up their own minds whether they think it's "good" "bad" "indifferent". I don't need her POV, unless she wants to get into the Hosking, Garner talkshow thing?
Michael Reddell: "New Zealand’s foreign trade now is a bit less (share of GDP) than it was in 1980". https://croakingcassandra.com/
So Muldoon told NZ Inc to diversify away from commodities, the Rogernomes & all subsequent neoliberal cheerleaders held to the `yeah, do that' stance ever since, and the kiwi business community yawned & went `nah, can't be bothered'.
A 40 year flatline. NZ consistently out-performed by other small countries. [see his graph – I copied & inserted it but the site then claimed that my message was too long so I had to delete it] So much for foreign trade addiction.
Drug pusher: "Here, have a hit of this. Latest design, will get you even higher."
Drug addict: "Nah, got off a while back & I'm cool cruisin', thanks anyway. Nice of you to offer."
I have found Reddell a bit self contradictory on this point for quite some time. He constantly focuses on this productivity thing including being competitive in exports. On the other hand New Zealand has been running a trade deficit since forever and despite a fairly free and open economy, so its not something which the economy (de-regulated) then fixes for you. Also there is a strong similarity between the metrics for productivity and higher wages, but all his suggestions are riddled with things which will have a negative impact on wages (at least long term). I myself suspect one of the best ways to grow productivity is to support domestic demand and let the international trade side of things largely take care of itself. I don't know enough to demonstrate it but I suspect Reddell is laboring under a paradox of composition in his arguments for a lot of how to address New Zealands productivity.
Also (as he acknowledges) New Zealand has a high level of work force skill, but still suffers from low wages in many sectors and limited investment in capital. So its not like the cause of this problem can really be the responsibility of the New Zealand work force.
One of the Neo-liberal dreams was that we were going to become wealthy, by out exporting "competing" countries. The unspoken idea behind all these trade agreements.
Our balance of trade shows what a crock of shit, that is.
Even the fantasy that countries like China and the USA would sit back, and let us take a net profit from them, was always just wishful thinking.
Successful countries have a thriving domestic sector.
The interview on RNZ was telling. Reddell kept pushing the line that NZ property sector is over regulated and we have to free up more land. Prof Steve Keen says no, the problem is we're awash with easy credit from greedy banks and being killed by debt. So yeah Reddell thinks the market will sort everything out, despite all the evidence of failure and crashes of the last 30 odd years since deregulation.
It must be hard being a journalist. When there is no news there has to be news. You go to a press conference where there is not likely to be anything more than dry bread. If you're lucky bread and butter.
You think and think to try come up with some unique perspective. More unique than all the others who are at the same time trying to come up with some unique perspective.
You go to the conference with questions to fill out enough words for your unique piece.
Bonus points are available if it is unique enough for it to make even in the tiniest way, a headline using 'shock, or bombshell, or explosive, slams or rejects.' Questions are directed to elicit any response likely to gain those points.
Sunday, traditional day of churching. I'll just check The Book to see if there are a couple which've been overlooked …
9 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
10 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife
11 Thou wilt have new news every day
12 If thou does not have new news every day thou shalt make it up.
"…You think and think to try come up with some unique perspective…"
By sticking lipstick on the same pig and pretending it has a different name?
OK, I have got some to ask instead of forever trying to play gotcha.
1/ Does NZ plan to create and retain an ability to manufacture/develop vaccines, given we will be last in the queue for doses when one is developed for COVID-19?
2/ Does the government have a wider strategy of ensuring greater self-reliance across a range of strategic industries, for example medical equipment or light manufacturing capacity?
3/ If not, has the government learnt any lessons from this pandemic at all?
4/ Is our lack of preparedness for a pandemic effectively being paid for now by our most vulnerable workers?
5/ Do we have a long term idea of what NZ will look like when COVID-19 is eliminated/eradicated? For example, could we establish quarantine zones around around airports to allow foreign visitors to come and conduct f2f meetings in approved hotels or facilities without the need to have a 14 day quarantine?
4/ If no to 1, 2 and 5 above, how does that square with the stated desire to get back to BAU as soon as possible – for example, help tourism get restarted ASAP?
Also, go out and find and interview people who have actually lost their jobs, so far not one retail or hospo worker has really been properly interviewed – just heaps of regurgitated whining from business sector lobby groups.
Obviously the best thing would be to 'create and retain an ability to manufacture/develop vaccines, given we will be last in the queue for doses when one is developed for COVID-19.'
Developing a vaccine is a little bit of a complicated business. No doubt overseas corporations with revenue more than our GDP will be investing billions in the race to be first with a vaccine. We have the scientists and maybe one of the 'missing links' will be found here. I wonder how many scientists are available in NZ in the necessary fields and are able to redirect their efforts. And if they do come up with the goods is the manufacturing capacity here? Whoever comes up a vaccines will make more than a few bucks.
Interesting and positive story about local manufacturers investing in hi tech machinery, looking at the positive role that government contracts can play, and indicating parts of the supply chain that could be shored up or improved by some government investment. Good on them.
Then at the bottom of the story EMA (Employers & Manufacturers Assoc) chief executive Brett O'Riley decides that they also need to dump on the people like the taxpayers who are needed to support and invest in some of these projects.
"More supportive policy from the Government, such as flexible labour market, abolishing minimum wage hikes, reinstating 90-day employment trials, "
Good call – along with reducing the executive take of the total payroll – where they are undertaking management roles not entrepreneurial ones..
Interestingly though, I have seen research in the past that suggests most people distinguish pretty sharply between
" executives receiving entrepreneurial rewards for management roles" and the rewards generated ( up to a point) for the actual entrepreneur. The likes of Sam Morgan (trade me) get a bigger pass than the overpaid power company CEO. Though for the record even Sam thought he should have paid more tax.
Apparently, Judith Collins has been involved in spreading fake news again. This time about suicide:
"We're particularly disappointed some politicians such as Judith Collins have recklessly retweeted this rumour," Mental Health Foundation chief executive Shaun Robinson told Newshub.
Hi, Ad. The level of comments at Kiwiblog, the new WO and The Daily Blog have remained the same or, in KB's case, increased over the years. The reason comments have dropped so dramatically here at TS is not Twitter, though a clue might be found in Incognito's response to your comment.
It depends what your time horizon is. And what you’re looking at.
Comments are only one part of the framework, and only a small proportion (<10%) of our readers actually leave comments.
The short answer is that we’ve slightly reduced in our overall readership since the 2017 election – which is pretty much what always happens to ‘government’ blogs. We’ve massively increased in our regular readership compared to 2014 or 2017. The bounce rate is way down and the overseas reads are diminishing – mainly reflecting the slow changes in the google search algorithms. The number of people who read us daily and weekly is up.
It is all a far cry from pre-2014 levels (ie pre-Dirty Politics) because the sustained active level of readers is much higher. But less than the period including and between 2014 and 2017 when there were more authors and more posts because the political temperature was much higher.
You should probably get me to add you to the analytics at the back end.
The Left is acting a bit calmer now that "our" parties are in government and doing a good job. It's not like the days when Key, Collins, Bennett and the gang were lying to the nation on a daily basis and wrecking the lives of their victims.
Now the right wing blogs are losing their shit and spinning desperate narratives about how the socialists are going to steal their children, or something
We tend to have several general modes that run. There are topics that are
societal and specific (say the corona virus ones) and tend to have quite large numbers of longer comments or
more philosophical ones that usually attract a small audience and few very long comments or
humour like posts that
immediate political issues that have twitter like comments.
The latter generate a lot of comments, but most of them could be regarded as of little value to any debate. So you'll get posts that have 400 comments and another post with less than 100 – but with same total numbers of words in each post's comments in total. When I look at them with a lexical analyzer, there is completely different pattern to the complexity of the content.
But the types of issues that the right have been trying to raise over the last two years tend to be somewhat ludicrous. They're almost pathetically petty and inane or they are just made up (like Hooten's Greens-Left leadership thing a few days ago) and not really worth bothering with getting involved in – classic silo messaging preaching to the base (and having little voter political effect).
Comments at TDB are low quality and Bomber's moderation makes it slow to publish, like a day later if at all. They don't really have much discussion there, just a sequence of disconnected screeds from the regulars.
I do read a few things at TDB but the site design is a complete mess. Bomber's intemperate rants are entertaining and well informed.
When writing, I pay more attention to the reader stats than the number of comments. In part because it's always hit and miss which posts will get lots of comments. It's pretty easy to write an inflammatory post to garner more comments if that's what one wants, but I want the people reading the post and thinking about it and that's often in the quality of responses rather than the quantity. I'll take people engaging with the post over lots of shitposting and/or arguments, although when commenting I also love much of the hard debate too.
It was always pretty variable just how many comments we got on posts.
There was and is a correlation between the number of posts and the number of comments we received in total during a day.
There was and is a correlation between a low number of posts in a day and the number of comments in the day's OpenMike.
There was and is a correlation between the number of comments and a political event like an election of a scandal. Conversely there has always been an inverse relationship between the height of a political event and the average number of words per comment. Same for the average lexical analysis score per comment (basically the spluttering did little for the quality of the content).
There is certainly a correlation between an issue not covered in a post and comments on that issue in that day's Open Mike, however that doesn't explain the huge drop off of overall comments in the last couple of years.
I agree that the lack of engaging posts in recent times has contributed to the fall in comments, however the problem is wider than that. If, as Incognito indicates, some TS folk are actively discouraging engagement then that seems to me to be far more likely to explain why commentary on the site is fading away.
It's really simple; keep telling people to go away and eventually they will.
… as Incognito indicates, some TS folk are actively discouraging engagement then that seems to me to be far more likely to explain why commentary on the site is fading away.
Yes.
There is a tendency nowadays for a small group of learned technocrats to indulge in lengthy debates only the qualified can understand. While it may absorb those debating, it is off-putting for everyone else. Rather than introduce another topic of conversation, I suspect many have gone away and found another source of more general stories to discuss.
Don't get me wrong. The 'debaters' I'm referring to contribute enormously to the whole sum of the information we glean from a blog site such as TS, but sometimes they do get carried away.
Also, as Weka has repeatedly pointed out, women have not always been welcomed with open arms here. Unintentional though it may have been, there has been the odd macho tendency to drown out the female voice. Some of us can shrug our shoulders and move on but others have found it hard to overcome.
There is a tendency nowadays for a small group of learned technocrats to indulge in lengthy debates only the qualified can understand.
Yes I've often contemplated that myself. And pondered my own contribution to it.
I'm not going to pretend I fully understand why we've narrowed the commentariat here down so much. But my sense is that the barrier to entry for new participants has become too high. It now takes considerable skill and experience to navigate the undercurrents that swirl in the background here that novices all too often fall afoul of. We just don't make new voices all that welcome, and are too unforgiving of their faux-pas'.
As for whether TS is more or less welcoming for women I cannot speak to directly. Only women themselves can really answer that. But the reason originally given was the unattractive aggro and pissing contests that characterised so many of the threads here for at least the first seven or so years of TS's existence crowded out and silenced the feminine voice. So we set about changing that with what were good intentions. Over time moderation has definitely scrubbed us up a lot; but I'm still seeing women participate at about the same level as they always did.
But in doing so we too often moderated on content not behaviour (see trp’s comment at 14.3 below for a proximate example), and that has an unavoidably chilling effect on open, robust debate. If you look at that marathon 461 comment thread, most of the names on it are long gone.
… the unattractive aggro and pissing contests that characterised so many of the threads here for at least the first seven or so years of TS's existence crowded out and silenced the feminine voice.
I attempted to put it a little more politely but your summing up is accurate. 😛
I think the main culprits have gone now but there is still a tendency among some male commenters to be a bit 'nonchalant' of the experiences and problems many women (but its not entirely confined to women) have to contend with.
We've seen a number of court cases of young women reporting profoundly serious sexual assaults within both the Defence Force and the Police Force in recent times – the outcomes of two of them in just the past fortnight. What those young women had to go through in order to achieve justice was mind boggling and distressing to read. It serves to confirm that the macho culture inside both organisations has still a long way to go before it is deemed acceptable.
This is a topic we could and should discuss in a more in-depth way from time to time – preferably by people who have knowledge and experience of them. In particular, how to change the mindset of authority and the judicial system in general so that the victims – regardless of the nature of the crimes committed against them – can trust they are going to be taken seriously and proper investigations undertaken if they choose to come forward.
Thanks Anne. The ways that women don't want to comment and write here are still very real. Lynn has said that as far as he can tell (via general stats) women readers have increased, so that's a good sign. Still hopeful that at some point more of the dudes will get on board with having women's content being a good thing (politically and for the site) and be willing to support that.
Also appreciate the point about the technical debates putting some off. It's something I'm familiar with with US political discussions here, but do you think it's broader than that? Any thoughts on what might make a difference? eg more Lefties on the Standard, or How to Get There type posts?
To be clear, TS in the past five years has lost at least 5 solid feminist authors, some of whom contributed a great deal, because of the cultural issues here around gender (front and back end). Even the current regular female author doesn't write feminist posts atm. This is an obvious *decrease in women's involvement in TS.
This is an obvious *decrease in women’s involvement in TS.
I’d agree that there has been a decrease in women authors. And specifically because of ‘cultural issues’ (nice phrase).
However, if you look at analytics you’ll find that as a percentage of users and authors there has been a significiant shift in gender participation in the site.
In 2014 from when google analytics started reporting on gender, we had between a quarter and a third of the sessions being female – generally closer to a quarter. These days it has tended to be higher – usually above a third and recently more like 50:50.
Of course this depends on where the gender data comes from (they have dropped from having about 45% of the data gendered to having 25% since 2014). But I’ve been happier that it has been steadily getting more balanced.
It is also the same trend that I get when I’m looking in the comments and based on what I know about commenters.
Yes, I agree. And it's not just technocrat discussions. I read some posts if the topic interests me.
There's a core of males who comment frequently here, often with long comments. Some of them I just scroll through – same old sense of being an authority on some topics, with or without supporting references.
There always seems to be more guys putting lengthy comments out there than women. Don't know where their motivation or sense of having important things to say comes from. But it gets boring. I'm now very selective about whose comments I read ie whether I think it's going to be informative, something a bit new, etc.
And it's not just technocrat discussions. I read some posts if the topic interests me.
My usual fast scroll through through tends to be on topics that I cannot be bothered with. Either I can't see their application to the current world (I refer to them as 'pin-dancing' comments for the theological reference), or they are well worn subjects reprising material that I read through on usenet.
I read heavily on topics that I don’t know enough about. But often what I’m looking for is supporting links as much as the argument.
Some of them I just scroll through – same old sense of being an authority on some topics, with or without supporting references.
I'm definitely one for long comments when I have time – usually on topics that I'm digging into at the time.
I find that leaving links is a particularly effective way of leaving a notes trail for myself. Coupled with the search system I can usually find the damn things later on when they become relevant again.
It is a single button 'Open Mike' on the moderation side, and anon because I didn't code the handle in. As much as anything else because the handle is currently free-form things like "MS".
I had to code it to not only move the comment, but also all of the replies down the hierarchy, and to handle replies that were in the process of being written. By the time I got that level of complexity working I wasn't up to doing the finesse elements.
Yeah, fair enough, Lynn. It's a good tool, when used intelligently. However, I note that the moderator in question remains anonymous and has failed to front up either here on this thread nor on the back channel request for clarification. I assume they now realise that moving the original comment was an error 😉
I quite like it being anonymous. It depersonalises it and the automatic note makes it clear that it's a general, somewhat superficial moderation that doesn't need a lot of work or engagement. A mod can add a note if there's something more that needs to be said, and the commenter whose comment was moved can ask if they want clarification.
If you go on CV's Twitter feed he it still singing the same old song.
For me, any reason for religion vanished when the great Charles Darwin published his findings.
FYI: They dont teach evolution in Israel but do in Iran.
And this whole BS about religion being needed because it give people ‘meaning’. Heaps of people get meaning from other places. The hundreds and thousands of medical workers who are stopping COVID from cutting great swathes through our population, their lives have meaning.
And yes, I would close down all the Catholic schools and have athiest schools in their place. And they will teach LGB rights and evolution.
CV isn't the best example to support your argument…
Religion isn't just about abstract philosophy or supernatural beliefs, not all of us live in our heads. Religion also provides community, culture, identity, and a moral code. As well as hope and meaning.
“PIPPIN: I didn't think it would end this way.
GANDALF: End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it.
PIPPIN: What? Gandalf? See what?
GANDALF: White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.
The virus is wiping out care homes in Sweden (which they're blaming on the foreign workers looking after the elderly), and of course their death rate per million etc. I'd rather be here.
Farrar, that slimeball, has just compared those violent right wing loons who stormed the Michigan state parliament to anti-fascism protestors.
Call me old fashioned but I don’t regard armed people who storm a parliament as “very good people”. They should be treated the same way as if armed antifa activists stormed a state capitol.
I read in an American paper that anti-vaxxers are prominent in the protests. Kind of ironic putting everyone at risk of the virus being spread and they might be there protesting about a vaccine for Covid-19 being produced.
The carrying of guns draw comments of course, like who are they going to shoot?
One Former Republican Governor of Pennsylvania has interesting views:
Tell you what… I'd vote for that man if he was still in politics. Shows there are always good people on both sides of the political spectrum who can sort the wheat from the chaff. The US is the poorer for not having enough of them.
I think David Farrar is being very honest about this armed crowd & treating them the same way as Anti-fa activists. You seem to think they are right wingers therefore bad, but Antifa & its appalling violence is OK cause they are left wing & anti-fascist.
Farrar denounces both groups which is the right thing to do, but your comments indicate you’re happy with violence if it’s your preferred political group.
Ah. This would be the mythical "concrete milkshake" incident.
His fa-adjcaent compadres broke someone's back with a baton in the same protests. By definition, antifa is a response to the fa.
Seems to me antifa use proportionate and reasonable force against aggressors. I tend not to blame defenders too much when they stick to reasonable force.
Farrar, that slimeball, has just compared those violent right wing loons who stormed the Michigan state parliament to anti-fascism protestors.
Does seem a bit unfair. After all, the gun-toting alt-right wingnuts don't seem to have actually smashed anything while they were there, which would be very unusual for Antifa wingnuts.
"Warren Buffett, the legendary American investor, has sold his firm’s entire holdings in the four major US airlines, warning that the “world has changed” for the aviation industry because of the coronavirus crisis."
True, but unusually slow off the mark for old Warren. I told readers here that it was time to disinvest in airlines & tourism back when the news broke of the epidemic in Wuhan about five months ago. As soon as the rate of spread got reported. And I'm no economic prognosticator, just someone quick to spot a trend & intuit the apparent trajectory.
Dennis you financial whizz & predictor of future events ! No doubt you also warned people of the threats due to SARS & MERS & told people to disinvest in tourism & airlines back then, but neither had any effect on those industries. I guess if you make enough premonitions then eventually one will come right.
I don’t think Warren Buffet was slow off the mark. when he sells he has to unload a massive amount of shares so large buyers have to be lined up before a sale can be put through.
It happened at the very start of April, so at about the time it was becoming obvious the shit was going to hit the fan in the airline industry. And about the last point there was going to be a buyer for that amount of airline stock.
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Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
The protest outside the White House correspondents’ dinner hotel. Image: Anatolu video screenshot APR More than two dozen Palestinian journalists had called for a boycott of the dinner, writing an open letter urging their American colleagues not to attend. “You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and ...
“Our exporters should, therefore, be deeply concerned that the Fast-track Approvals Bill was not assessed for consistency with any of our free trade commitments prior to being introduced to the House,” says Gary Taylor, Chief Executive of the Environmental ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
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Rolling Stone has a response from Bill McKibben to the Michael Moore polemic: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/bill-mckibben-climate-movement-michael-moore-993073/
"I’ve spent the past three decades, ever since I wrote The End of Nature at the age of 28, deeply committed to realism: no fantasy, no spin". Yeah, as if the end of nature is a realistic proposition. Gaia laughed.
An admirable, tough-minded stance though. I couldn't do it. I prefer a balanced mix of realism & idealism, liberally laced with fantasy for entertainment.
“I have never taken a penny from green energy companies or mutual funds or anyone else with a role in these fights. I’ve never been paid by environmental groups either, not even 350.org, which I founded and which I’ve given all I have to give.”
So Moore’s using a deceit strategy. To remind us that he’s a typical leftist, I presume. Or perhaps he will blame the film-maker: “We producers have a hands-off attitude. I just thought a critical appraisal of the Green movement is a good idea.” No problem with that – it is. Negative feedback is essential to stabilise systems, both in nature and in humanity.
So Michael Moore has discovered that pandering to the prejudices of gullible congenitally disgruntled rabid anti-capitalists with over-active poorly-aimed middle fingers turns out to be quite lucrative? Who'd'a thunk it?
McKibben: "Much has been made over the years about the way that progressives eat their own, about circular firing squads and the like. I think there’s truth to it: there’s a collection of showmen like Moore who enjoy attracting attention to themselves by endlessly picking fights. They’re generally not people who actually try to organize, to build power, to bring people together. That’s the real, and difficult, work — not purity tests or calling people out, but calling them in." https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/bill-mckibben-climate-movement-michael-moore-993073/
Yes, the downside of negative feedback: division. Polemics are effective when an exclusive point of view frames the advocacy. Yet inclusive frames are what we need. You can actually do a critique as a reality check in a constructive spirit. I think Moore, as a life-long partisan, is incapable of comprehending that the common good is enhanced by building bridges. He would rather burn them. Hasn't evolved. Still fighting as if the 1960s never ended.
What's this 'typical leftist' horseshit denden? Is it your praxis to smear so broadly?
Just as valid as any other generalisation, huh? Machine-politicians marketing themselves as progressive then, when elected, serving the establishment without making an iota of progress have been a feature of leftist politics all our lives. Or haven't you noticed?
Just left'ist' politics denden? Sounds like self serving bullshit to me.
Yeah, self serving bullshit comes from both left & right. Rightists tend to be more honest about selfishness though – they have an ideology exalting it. The left masks it with the label progressive, hoping nobody will notice.
You mean they pretend to be "Left" to get votes rather.
Even right wing politicians do that.
Trump's saying he will look after the working class is just one, example.
Watch New Zealand's National party crocodile tears about "the recently jobless" lately.
And in "clusterfucks we have lately sidelined", the UK is still being a dick about post-Brexit trade protocols. The sneaking suspicion that bojo wants to go back to the 1980s seems to be becoming more solid.
Opinion on the idiots running England https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/02/the-british-charlatan-style-has-been-sent-packing-by-too-much-reality
That was written by one Nick Cohen. Even in the horrible world of British journalism, he is one of the most horrible.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/03/nick-cohens-hate-speech/
Your contributions to the discourse have been dutifully noted.
Make snide remarks about messenger.
Provide link to another messenger ‘in support’.
Nothing of any substance.
End of ‘contribution’.
Incognito, I was not being snide about Nick Cohen. I was serious, as was Craig Murray in the article I linked to.
Are you suggesting that I routinely contribute "nothing of any substance" to this forum?
Finally, the penny has dropped, or has it?
You obviously haven't read many of my contributions to this forum.
Over the many years that you have been commenting here you’ve made many comments, many of which I haven’t read because they largely or solely consist of links to your preferred sources and heroes and to your own blog site. TBF, not all of your comments are of that low quality. Unfortunately, you do have a habit of sniping at the messenger and providing nothing but links to opinions of others. I would not call that a contribution but rather opinion harvesting and aggregation, which is handy if you like to build an archive of these, for example (on) your blog spot. None of those is conducive to solid and genuine debate, IMHO.
… largely or solely consist of links to your preferred sources and heroes and to your own blog site.
Fair comment, my friend. I'll try to lift my game!
TBF, not all of your comments are of that low quality.
Thank you, Incognito. What a refreshing contrast your spare and restrained, even faint, praise is compared to the abuse dished out to this writer, i.e. moi, on other fora …..
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/02/breen-drug-fuelled-obsessive-and-lone.html
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/12/a-tribute-to-redbaiter-rip-oct-16-2011.html
Unfortunately, you do have a habit of sniping at the messenger…
I'll try to rein in my base revanchiste desires. I think snipers are the lowest of the low, right down there with politicians, third-rate novelists—yes I'm referring to YOU, Martin Amis!!!—and dim Hollywood celebrities…
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/07/that-foul-bag-of-wind-dr-phil-mcgraw.html
A work in progress or a hopeless case? Time will tell …
Only three links to your own blog spot this time but I assume this was one of your humorous comments.
I despise Nick Cohen for the complete lies he told about Corbyn and anti-semitism-he deviously and misleadingly used his platform in the Guardian to try to destroy Corbyn.
I despise Nick Cohen for his one-eyed view on Israel, where the Palestinians don't seem to exist. (The irony that Israel has created a huge concentration camp in Gaza is lost on him).
For these reasons his journalism will, for me, for ever be tainted. How can he ever be seen to be balanced, fair or honest again?
However, he can write; the charlatan article forensically takes apart the idiots that are running the UK. He destroys them with a few choice phrases.
(Note: Scotland is actually run by a very competent politician)
Totally agree.
Too compromised by his disgraceful smears of Corbyn.
You nailed it, Ed, again!
Anniversaries
https://markdoran.wordpress.com/2020/04/30/30-april/
Australia's covid tracing app still not working
It's working fine at the app end.
A puff piece about Tova O’Brien on a rivals website.
Is the press gallery feeling under pressure from their televised performances?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300000983/political-muckraker-tova-obrien-take-a-step-back-before-you-have-a-go
Incredibly, on RNZ National's The Panel on Friday, the normally astute Paula Penfold doled out unearned praise of Tova O'Brien. She must have forgotten about O'Brien's simpering behaviour at an Orwellian outrage organized by the British High Commission last May….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/05/these-people-are-representative-of-new.html
She's still using that womans dead step father to justify her calls to sack Clark, that's what she got a lot of criticism for, personally I just find her untrustworthy and shallow.
Untrustworthy, shallow, and as shown by her appearance at that farcical British High Commission event last May, way out of her depth.
Here we go again 🙁
Have you forgotten that time in high school!
It feels like it was only yesterday and the similarities are striking! It is déjà vu all over again!
She asks the stoopid questions so noone else has to.
Media organisation in search of a merger.
Why are those who report our news having their profiles raised ? Shouldn't it be about the strength of their reporting that their profile is foundered on?
I present additional evidence ( No issues regarding the story) BUT why is there a picture and placed in high prominence of of the writer ??
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121367602/opinion-supermarkets-may-regret-their-pennypinching
Good points.
These profiles are intended to build a relationship with the presenters based on familiarity (recognition), credibility, and trust. They are like social influencers who gather loads of followers, usually to generate advertising revenue (clicks and time spend on page & site). Newsreaders have always had an elevated position and profile. Remember ‘Mother of the Nation’, and Paul H. is back on our screens too with a most emotively entitled ‘show’. Hooray for the good old days.
It is a regular opinion column, not news, predicated on our confidence in the writer (whose photograph appears in each one). He just happens to be a genuinely smart guy rather than a shallow self-promoter like the ones we have all heard of.
I can appreciate that BUT with the online article why is Mike O’Donnell's picture about 1/3 of a page ? (is this a standard layout size)
Also would not the editor/sub editor decide to use this picture? If so then Stuff is building up Mike's profile. Should it not be sufficient his story and "* Mike “MOD” O’Donnell is a professional director, writer and strategic advisor. " so we can build up in our consideration of how much credence we place on the article e.g. is it from a union affiliate, Chamber of commerce, tax payers union, competing industry/brand etc.
They use the same photo each time. No idea who sets the width in the publishing platform – but it sure isn’t him. 🙂
But then on Alison Mau's opinion, there is only a thumbnail and her position. Could be the difference between contributing and paid employee templates.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300002750/alison-mau-sacrificing-fastfood-workers-in-our-coronavirus-hunger-games
But there does appear tom me a growing trend to include the reporter (Kiwi celebrities) into the story 🖖
He is neither a reporter, nor a celebrity.
Mau is spot on.
Maybe they pay guest writers in publicity.
O'Donnell…'So for a person who managed to pull in $20 an hour for the last month, suddenly they find themselves back at $18.20.'
The minimum wage is $18.90 an hour.
One of the most appalling examples of raising their profiles was the "Wendy, she's hot!" campaign on Television One.
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/02/does-wendy-petrie-ever-think-about-what.html
If I go out in a company car and get caught dangerous driving on camera and that is shown on telly, I will very likely get fired, due to the risk of reputational damage to my employers brand in the public mind.
Letting the public see on telly the sort of car-crash that Tova O'Brien is every day at 1pm is reputationally pretty much the same thing.
That's what I don't like about this type of reporting, sure report the fact Clark drove his kids to the beach during lockdown, but then it's up to the public to make up their own minds whether they think it's "good" "bad" "indifferent". I don't need her POV, unless she wants to get into the Hosking, Garner talkshow thing?
Michael Reddell: "New Zealand’s foreign trade now is a bit less (share of GDP) than it was in 1980". https://croakingcassandra.com/
So Muldoon told NZ Inc to diversify away from commodities, the Rogernomes & all subsequent neoliberal cheerleaders held to the `yeah, do that' stance ever since, and the kiwi business community yawned & went `nah, can't be bothered'.
A 40 year flatline. NZ consistently out-performed by other small countries. [see his graph – I copied & inserted it but the site then claimed that my message was too long so I had to delete it] So much for foreign trade addiction.
Drug pusher: "Here, have a hit of this. Latest design, will get you even higher."
Drug addict: "Nah, got off a while back & I'm cool cruisin', thanks anyway. Nice of you to offer."
I have found Reddell a bit self contradictory on this point for quite some time. He constantly focuses on this productivity thing including being competitive in exports. On the other hand New Zealand has been running a trade deficit since forever and despite a fairly free and open economy, so its not something which the economy (de-regulated) then fixes for you. Also there is a strong similarity between the metrics for productivity and higher wages, but all his suggestions are riddled with things which will have a negative impact on wages (at least long term). I myself suspect one of the best ways to grow productivity is to support domestic demand and let the international trade side of things largely take care of itself. I don't know enough to demonstrate it but I suspect Reddell is laboring under a paradox of composition in his arguments for a lot of how to address New Zealands productivity.
Also (as he acknowledges) New Zealand has a high level of work force skill, but still suffers from low wages in many sectors and limited investment in capital. So its not like the cause of this problem can really be the responsibility of the New Zealand work force.
One of the Neo-liberal dreams was that we were going to become wealthy, by out exporting "competing" countries. The unspoken idea behind all these trade agreements.
Our balance of trade shows what a crock of shit, that is.
Even the fantasy that countries like China and the USA would sit back, and let us take a net profit from them, was always just wishful thinking.
Successful countries have a thriving domestic sector.
+1
john key made a lot of people rich and fulfilled their wet dreams by selling out the remnants of our tattered economy to his foreign masters
neocons and neoliberals are a rotating roster of fools and thieves eroding the common wealth of this land
The interview on RNZ was telling. Reddell kept pushing the line that NZ property sector is over regulated and we have to free up more land. Prof Steve Keen says no, the problem is we're awash with easy credit from greedy banks and being killed by debt. So yeah Reddell thinks the market will sort everything out, despite all the evidence of failure and crashes of the last 30 odd years since deregulation.
Economists Michael Reddell and Steve Keen on Covid big picture (27min): https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018744947/top-economists-back-trans-tasman-bubble-concept
It must be hard being a journalist. When there is no news there has to be news. You go to a press conference where there is not likely to be anything more than dry bread. If you're lucky bread and butter.
You think and think to try come up with some unique perspective. More unique than all the others who are at the same time trying to come up with some unique perspective.
You go to the conference with questions to fill out enough words for your unique piece.
Bonus points are available if it is unique enough for it to make even in the tiniest way, a headline using 'shock, or bombshell, or explosive, slams or rejects.' Questions are directed to elicit any response likely to gain those points.
Sunday, traditional day of churching. I'll just check The Book to see if there are a couple which've been overlooked …
9 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
10 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife
11 Thou wilt have new news every day
12 If thou does not have new news every day thou shalt make it up.
"…You think and think to try come up with some unique perspective…"
By sticking lipstick on the same pig and pretending it has a different name?
OK, I have got some to ask instead of forever trying to play gotcha.
1/ Does NZ plan to create and retain an ability to manufacture/develop vaccines, given we will be last in the queue for doses when one is developed for COVID-19?
2/ Does the government have a wider strategy of ensuring greater self-reliance across a range of strategic industries, for example medical equipment or light manufacturing capacity?
3/ If not, has the government learnt any lessons from this pandemic at all?
4/ Is our lack of preparedness for a pandemic effectively being paid for now by our most vulnerable workers?
5/ Do we have a long term idea of what NZ will look like when COVID-19 is eliminated/eradicated? For example, could we establish quarantine zones around around airports to allow foreign visitors to come and conduct f2f meetings in approved hotels or facilities without the need to have a 14 day quarantine?
4/ If no to 1, 2 and 5 above, how does that square with the stated desire to get back to BAU as soon as possible – for example, help tourism get restarted ASAP?
Also, go out and find and interview people who have actually lost their jobs, so far not one retail or hospo worker has really been properly interviewed – just heaps of regurgitated whining from business sector lobby groups.
Why would NZ be at the back of the queue? You mean those billionaire boltholes, hobbit employment contracts and foreign trusts count for nothing?
Who in government is proposing that we "get back to bau.."?
Simon
In reply to no1 Bloomfeild has stated we will be testing and can manufacture
Obviously the best thing would be to 'create and retain an ability to manufacture/develop vaccines, given we will be last in the queue for doses when one is developed for COVID-19.'
Developing a vaccine is a little bit of a complicated business. No doubt overseas corporations with revenue more than our GDP will be investing billions in the race to be first with a vaccine. We have the scientists and maybe one of the 'missing links' will be found here. I wonder how many scientists are available in NZ in the necessary fields and are able to redirect their efforts. And if they do come up with the goods is the manufacturing capacity here? Whoever comes up a vaccines will make more than a few bucks.
Strong advocacy from NZ scientists who have skin in the game, as you’d expect:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/121016049/coronavirus-relying-on-other-countries-for-vaccine-wrong-approach-top-scientists-say
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/04/nz-cannot-afford-to-wait-for-covid-19-vaccine-scientists-say.html
If MoH buys PPE, should it be sold for profit to DHBs and NZ citizens?
If MoH undertakes COVID-19 tests, should they charge a premium to NZ citizens?
If MoH distributes flu shots across the county, should they be sold at a premium?
If the State funds research into development and manufacturing of vaccines, should these be used to make a profit on the backs of Kiwis?
Peter:
Your comment should be writ on every bill board in the country! 🙂
Interesting and positive story about local manufacturers investing in hi tech machinery, looking at the positive role that government contracts can play, and indicating parts of the supply chain that could be shored up or improved by some government investment. Good on them.
Then at the bottom of the story EMA (Employers & Manufacturers Assoc) chief executive Brett O'Riley decides that they also need to dump on the people like the taxpayers who are needed to support and invest in some of these projects.
"More supportive policy from the Government, such as flexible labour market, abolishing minimum wage hikes, reinstating 90-day employment trials, "
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/prosper/121177344/coronavirus-manufacturing-can-be-the-backbone-the-covid19-economic-recovery
He didn't mention abolishing executive severance packages. Must've slipped his mind.
Good call – along with reducing the executive take of the total payroll – where they are undertaking management roles not entrepreneurial ones..
Interestingly though, I have seen research in the past that suggests most people distinguish pretty sharply between
" executives receiving entrepreneurial rewards for management roles" and the rewards generated ( up to a point) for the actual entrepreneur. The likes of Sam Morgan (trade me) get a bigger pass than the overpaid power company CEO. Though for the record even Sam thought he should have paid more tax.
Apparently, Judith Collins has been involved in spreading fake news again. This time about suicide:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/05/mental-health-foundation-shuts-down-irresponsible-suicide-claims-being-made-on-social-media.html
She's similar to Trump.
Turns out Judith replied to the original comment and Lizzy Marvelly of all people retweeted it.
I think Lizzy needs some good people around her because repeating fake news is not a path you want to go down.
Wouldnt mind knowing how many people killed themselves when National were in power.
Oh that's right they were beneficaries and low paid workers, who are expendable, not farmers, exporters and business owners.
Biden's anything but a good candidate, but he's better than "Mayor Pete"
https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1256230530082889729
Good piece from Matt talking about censorship and the problems of the finger waving brigade.
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/temporary-coronavirus-censorship?
Hi, Adam. If you reckon Bill is cutting up rough, for Christ's sake don't click on this link:
https://thestandard.org.nz/god-botherer/
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Back in the pre-Twitter era when we could get 400+ comments here
Every cloud has a silver lining. As far as I’m concerned, some ‘popular topics’ here could move permanently to Twitter. Just my 2 cts.
Hi, Ad. The level of comments at Kiwiblog, the new WO and The Daily Blog have remained the same or, in KB's case, increased over the years. The reason comments have dropped so dramatically here at TS is not Twitter, though a clue might be found in Incognito's response to your comment.
That is just damn depressing.
Why is The Standard being out-competed for commenters against Kiwiblog and The Daily Blog?
I do my best with contributions, so it is immensely frustrating to see us simply become less important in the media.
I certainly don't want to waste my time here if our viewership is in sustained decline.
It depends what your time horizon is. And what you’re looking at.
Comments are only one part of the framework, and only a small proportion (<10%) of our readers actually leave comments.
The short answer is that we’ve slightly reduced in our overall readership since the 2017 election – which is pretty much what always happens to ‘government’ blogs. We’ve massively increased in our regular readership compared to 2014 or 2017. The bounce rate is way down and the overseas reads are diminishing – mainly reflecting the slow changes in the google search algorithms. The number of people who read us daily and weekly is up.
It is all a far cry from pre-2014 levels (ie pre-Dirty Politics) because the sustained active level of readers is much higher. But less than the period including and between 2014 and 2017 when there were more authors and more posts because the political temperature was much higher.
You should probably get me to add you to the analytics at the back end.
I don't have access to this 'back end'.
Mickey should introduce me I'm sure.
Thanks for the slightly more positive commentary concerning readership.
It would be good to hear of the topic areas that are more popular for readers. So I can get cracking on them.
The Left is acting a bit calmer now that "our" parties are in government and doing a good job. It's not like the days when Key, Collins, Bennett and the gang were lying to the nation on a daily basis and wrecking the lives of their victims.
Now the right wing blogs are losing their shit and spinning desperate narratives about how the socialists are going to steal their children, or something
The left is calmer, and I think that's one of the major reasons.
The other is, in my opinion, more strict moderation results in fewer comments.
Not saying the policy, or the enforcement of the policy, is wrong but it does have a dampening effect. The site is tidier, but quieter.
People aren't perfect and moderation which sort of asks them to be is daunting.
We tend to have several general modes that run. There are topics that are
The latter generate a lot of comments, but most of them could be regarded as of little value to any debate. So you'll get posts that have 400 comments and another post with less than 100 – but with same total numbers of words in each post's comments in total. When I look at them with a lexical analyzer, there is completely different pattern to the complexity of the content.
But the types of issues that the right have been trying to raise over the last two years tend to be somewhat ludicrous. They're almost pathetically petty and inane or they are just made up (like Hooten's Greens-Left leadership thing a few days ago) and not really worth bothering with getting involved in – classic silo messaging preaching to the base (and having little voter political effect).
Comments at TDB are low quality and Bomber's moderation makes it slow to publish, like a day later if at all. They don't really have much discussion there, just a sequence of disconnected screeds from the regulars.
I do read a few things at TDB but the site design is a complete mess. Bomber's intemperate rants are entertaining and well informed.
("Bomber" = Martyn Bradbury)
that's what I see on the occasions I pop over there. Pete seems to have better conversations under his posts than TDB.
I seldom read the comments at TDB these days.
The ones at YNZ are actually not bad on current topics.
When writing, I pay more attention to the reader stats than the number of comments. In part because it's always hit and miss which posts will get lots of comments. It's pretty easy to write an inflammatory post to garner more comments if that's what one wants, but I want the people reading the post and thinking about it and that's often in the quality of responses rather than the quantity. I'll take people engaging with the post over lots of shitposting and/or arguments, although when commenting I also love much of the hard debate too.
It was always pretty variable just how many comments we got on posts.
There was and is a correlation between the number of posts and the number of comments we received in total during a day.
There was and is a correlation between a low number of posts in a day and the number of comments in the day's OpenMike.
There was and is a correlation between the number of comments and a political event like an election of a scandal. Conversely there has always been an inverse relationship between the height of a political event and the average number of words per comment. Same for the average lexical analysis score per comment (basically the spluttering did little for the quality of the content).
There is certainly a correlation between an issue not covered in a post and comments on that issue in that day's Open Mike, however that doesn't explain the huge drop off of overall comments in the last couple of years.
I agree that the lack of engaging posts in recent times has contributed to the fall in comments, however the problem is wider than that. If, as Incognito indicates, some TS folk are actively discouraging engagement then that seems to me to be far more likely to explain why commentary on the site is fading away.
It's really simple; keep telling people to go away and eventually they will.
Yes.
There is a tendency nowadays for a small group of learned technocrats to indulge in lengthy debates only the qualified can understand. While it may absorb those debating, it is off-putting for everyone else. Rather than introduce another topic of conversation, I suspect many have gone away and found another source of more general stories to discuss.
Don't get me wrong. The 'debaters' I'm referring to contribute enormously to the whole sum of the information we glean from a blog site such as TS, but sometimes they do get carried away.
Also, as Weka has repeatedly pointed out, women have not always been welcomed with open arms here. Unintentional though it may have been, there has been the odd macho tendency to drown out the female voice. Some of us can shrug our shoulders and move on but others have found it hard to overcome.
There is a tendency nowadays for a small group of learned technocrats to indulge in lengthy debates only the qualified can understand.
Yes I've often contemplated that myself. And pondered my own contribution to it.
I'm not going to pretend I fully understand why we've narrowed the commentariat here down so much. But my sense is that the barrier to entry for new participants has become too high. It now takes considerable skill and experience to navigate the undercurrents that swirl in the background here that novices all too often fall afoul of. We just don't make new voices all that welcome, and are too unforgiving of their faux-pas'.
As for whether TS is more or less welcoming for women I cannot speak to directly. Only women themselves can really answer that. But the reason originally given was the unattractive aggro and pissing contests that characterised so many of the threads here for at least the first seven or so years of TS's existence crowded out and silenced the feminine voice. So we set about changing that with what were good intentions. Over time moderation has definitely scrubbed us up a lot; but I'm still seeing women participate at about the same level as they always did.
But in doing so we too often moderated on content not behaviour (see trp’s comment at 14.3 below for a proximate example), and that has an unavoidably chilling effect on open, robust debate. If you look at that marathon 461 comment thread, most of the names on it are long gone.
I attempted to put it a little more politely but your summing up is accurate. 😛
I think the main culprits have gone now but there is still a tendency among some male commenters to be a bit 'nonchalant' of the experiences and problems many women (but its not entirely confined to women) have to contend with.
We've seen a number of court cases of young women reporting profoundly serious sexual assaults within both the Defence Force and the Police Force in recent times – the outcomes of two of them in just the past fortnight. What those young women had to go through in order to achieve justice was mind boggling and distressing to read. It serves to confirm that the macho culture inside both organisations has still a long way to go before it is deemed acceptable.
This is a topic we could and should discuss in a more in-depth way from time to time – preferably by people who have knowledge and experience of them. In particular, how to change the mindset of authority and the judicial system in general so that the victims – regardless of the nature of the crimes committed against them – can trust they are going to be taken seriously and proper investigations undertaken if they choose to come forward.
Thanks Anne. The ways that women don't want to comment and write here are still very real. Lynn has said that as far as he can tell (via general stats) women readers have increased, so that's a good sign. Still hopeful that at some point more of the dudes will get on board with having women's content being a good thing (politically and for the site) and be willing to support that.
Also appreciate the point about the technical debates putting some off. It's something I'm familiar with with US political discussions here, but do you think it's broader than that? Any thoughts on what might make a difference? eg more Lefties on the Standard, or How to Get There type posts?
To be clear, TS in the past five years has lost at least 5 solid feminist authors, some of whom contributed a great deal, because of the cultural issues here around gender (front and back end). Even the current regular female author doesn't write feminist posts atm. This is an obvious *decrease in women's involvement in TS.
This is an obvious *decrease in women’s involvement in TS.
I’d agree that there has been a decrease in women authors. And specifically because of ‘cultural issues’ (nice phrase).
However, if you look at analytics you’ll find that as a percentage of users and authors there has been a significiant shift in gender participation in the site.
In 2014 from when google analytics started reporting on gender, we had between a quarter and a third of the sessions being female – generally closer to a quarter. These days it has tended to be higher – usually above a third and recently more like 50:50.
Of course this depends on where the gender data comes from (they have dropped from having about 45% of the data gendered to having 25% since 2014). But I’ve been happier that it has been steadily getting more balanced.
It is also the same trend that I get when I’m looking in the comments and based on what I know about commenters.
Yep. You should be able to see
https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/#/report/visitors-demographics-gender/a3049909w5683011p5865057/_u.date00=20180101&_u.date01=20200503&explorer-graphOptions.primaryConcept=analytics.visits&explorer-graphOptions.selected=analytics.nthMonth&explorer-graphOptions.clearCompareConcept=true/
I can't see that. Still need a login/password from what I can tell. Can you set that up for me now?
Sent you an email about it.
replied now (and just seen the earlier one too). had some problems with the login.
Yes, I agree. And it's not just technocrat discussions. I read some posts if the topic interests me.
There's a core of males who comment frequently here, often with long comments. Some of them I just scroll through – same old sense of being an authority on some topics, with or without supporting references.
There always seems to be more guys putting lengthy comments out there than women. Don't know where their motivation or sense of having important things to say comes from. But it gets boring. I'm now very selective about whose comments I read ie whether I think it's going to be informative, something a bit new, etc.
Socialisation? That speaking is more important than listening?
My usual fast scroll through through tends to be on topics that I cannot be bothered with. Either I can't see their application to the current world (I refer to them as 'pin-dancing' comments for the theological reference), or they are well worn subjects reprising material that I read through on usenet.
I read heavily on topics that I don’t know enough about. But often what I’m looking for is supporting links as much as the argument.
I'm definitely one for long comments when I have time – usually on topics that I'm digging into at the time.
I find that leaving links is a particularly effective way of leaving a notes trail for myself. Coupled with the search system I can usually find the damn things later on when they become relevant again.
First time I've seen that thread. Certainly one way of outing the ranch sliders.
Dear anonymous moderator, the comment was on topic and relevant. Get a grip.
Don't blame the mod for the anon..
It is a single button 'Open Mike' on the moderation side, and anon because I didn't code the handle in. As much as anything else because the handle is currently free-form things like "MS".
I had to code it to not only move the comment, but also all of the replies down the hierarchy, and to handle replies that were in the process of being written. By the time I got that level of complexity working I wasn't up to doing the finesse elements.
Yeah, fair enough, Lynn. It's a good tool, when used intelligently. However, I note that the moderator in question remains anonymous and has failed to front up either here on this thread nor on the back channel request for clarification. I assume they now realise that moving the original comment was an error 😉
Who knows. I could find out. But I think I’d prefer to just put the handle into the automatic note.
I quite like it being anonymous. It depersonalises it and the automatic note makes it clear that it's a general, somewhat superficial moderation that doesn't need a lot of work or engagement. A mod can add a note if there's something more that needs to be said, and the commenter whose comment was moved can ask if they want clarification.
I'm guessing that there will be more drama if the mod's name is known every time.
That is what it was designed to be. Fair enough
If you go on CV's Twitter feed he it still singing the same old song.
For me, any reason for religion vanished when the great Charles Darwin published his findings.
FYI: They dont teach evolution in Israel but do in Iran.
And this whole BS about religion being needed because it give people ‘meaning’. Heaps of people get meaning from other places. The hundreds and thousands of medical workers who are stopping COVID from cutting great swathes through our population, their lives have meaning.
And yes, I would close down all the Catholic schools and have athiest schools in their place. And they will teach LGB rights and evolution.
Your comment is steeped in ignorance, intolerance, and insensitivity. As to your ignorance:
Catholic Schools are integrated schools since 1983 and must teach the NZ Curriculum.
https://seniorsecondary.tki.org.nz/Science/Achievement-aims/AOs-by-strand/AOs-Biology
As I recall in my Catholic school, we weren't even taught creationism let alone banning evolution theory.
There were a lot of issues with that place, but anti-evolutionism wasn't one of them.
CV isn't the best example to support your argument…
Religion isn't just about abstract philosophy or supernatural beliefs, not all of us live in our heads. Religion also provides community, culture, identity, and a moral code. As well as hope and meaning.
"Religion also provides community, culture, identity, and a moral code. As well as hope and meaning.".
Thousands of New Zealanders find it on Saturday mornings each winter (and summer) then they involve themselves in grassroots sport.
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/495823-the-pandemic-winner-will-it-be-sweden-or-new-zealand
We seem to be a bit of a curiosity in the States, quite happy being here in the comments there are a few kiwis sticking up for us.
The odds are stacked.
The article implies that herd immunity is not proven but then goes on to assume it is when assigning handicaps.
The virus is wiping out care homes in Sweden (which they're blaming on the foreign workers looking after the elderly), and of course their death rate per million etc. I'd rather be here.
David P. Farrar's vile propaganda never stops
Farrar, that slimeball, has just compared those violent right wing loons who stormed the Michigan state parliament to anti-fascism protestors.
I read in an American paper that anti-vaxxers are prominent in the protests. Kind of ironic putting everyone at risk of the virus being spread and they might be there protesting about a vaccine for Covid-19 being produced.
The carrying of guns draw comments of course, like who are they going to shoot?
One Former Republican Governor of Pennsylvania has interesting views:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ31Dj5t4uk
Tell you what… I'd vote for that man if he was still in politics. Shows there are always good people on both sides of the political spectrum who can sort the wheat from the chaff. The US is the poorer for not having enough of them.
I think David Farrar is being very honest about this armed crowd & treating them the same way as Anti-fa activists. You seem to think they are right wingers therefore bad, but Antifa & its appalling violence is OK cause they are left wing & anti-fascist.
Farrar denounces both groups which is the right thing to do, but your comments indicate you’re happy with violence if it’s your preferred political group.
maybe I have misinterpreted your stance on this ?
OK.
From what I've seen plenty in Atifa just seem to want to rumble !!
https://quillette.com/2019/06/30/antifas-brutal-assault-on-andy-ngo-is-a-wake-up-call-for-authorities-and-journalists-alike/
well, yeah, you read quillette.
Best place to get pizza recipes – or is that the other guys.
Antifa's appalling violence? What violence? Against whom?
see comment above
Ah. This would be the mythical "concrete milkshake" incident.
His fa-adjcaent compadres broke someone's back with a baton in the same protests. By definition, antifa is a response to the fa.
Seems to me antifa use proportionate and reasonable force against aggressors. I tend not to blame defenders too much when they stick to reasonable force.
Farrar, that slimeball, has just compared those violent right wing loons who stormed the Michigan state parliament to anti-fascism protestors.
Does seem a bit unfair. After all, the gun-toting alt-right wingnuts don't seem to have actually smashed anything while they were there, which would be very unusual for Antifa wingnuts.
"Warren Buffett, the legendary American investor, has sold his firm’s entire holdings in the four major US airlines, warning that the “world has changed” for the aviation industry because of the coronavirus crisis."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/03/warren-buffett-dumps-us-airline-stocks-saying-world-has-changed-after-covid-19
Well thats a serious vote of no confidence
True, but unusually slow off the mark for old Warren. I told readers here that it was time to disinvest in airlines & tourism back when the news broke of the epidemic in Wuhan about five months ago. As soon as the rate of spread got reported. And I'm no economic prognosticator, just someone quick to spot a trend & intuit the apparent trajectory.
Sadly investors dont tend to follow the wisdom of DF from down south.WB on the other hand….
Dennis you financial whizz & predictor of future events ! No doubt you also warned people of the threats due to SARS & MERS & told people to disinvest in tourism & airlines back then, but neither had any effect on those industries. I guess if you make enough premonitions then eventually one will come right.
I don’t think Warren Buffet was slow off the mark. when he sells he has to unload a massive amount of shares so large buyers have to be lined up before a sale can be put through.
It happened at the very start of April, so at about the time it was becoming obvious the shit was going to hit the fan in the airline industry. And about the last point there was going to be a buyer for that amount of airline stock.
Wonder how the buyers feel right now….
And he has just published a very good Opinion piece:
Donald Trump's four-step plan to reopen the US economy – and why it will be lethal
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/03/donald-trump-reopen-us-economy-lethal-robert-reich