Rapprochement has broken out between the Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas.
This is surely significant. This gives me great hope for the future.
The joyous photos speak for themselves. Also the gestures of reconciliation of the respective leaderships.
Both Fatah and Hamas organisations, have both strength and weaknesses. In my opinion these moves will join their respective strengths and negate their respective weaknesses.
Published on Friday, January 4, 2013 by Common Dreams
In Show of Unity, Hundreds of Thousands Rally in Gaza
Fatah event in Hamas-controlled Gaza hailed as ‘a step on the road to restoring national unity’ Lauren McCauley Common Dreams staff writer
In their first mass gathering in Gaza since 2007, hundreds of thousands of Fatah supporters rallied on Friday in celebration of the 48th anniversary of taking up arms against Israel.
Supporters waved the distinctive black and yellow flags of Fatah and carried pictures of current President Mahmoud Abbas, an Agence France Presse correspondent reports.
“Gaza was the first Palestinian territory rid of [Israeli] occupation and settlement and we want a lifting of the blockade so that it can be free and linked to the rest of the nation,” saidPresident Abbas, whose authority has been limited to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the 2007 conflict between Fatah and Hamas, in a short televised speech.
Hamas, who permitted the rally to take place in the territory, congratulated Fatah on the anniversary in a statement, saying it considered it a “celebration of national unity and a success for Hamas as well as Fatah.”
“This positive atmosphere is a step on road to restoring national unity,” they added.
Lauren McCauley Common Dreams staff writer
Nothing succeeds like success. Bouyed by the Arab spring the Palestinians like all Arabs are resurgent. This has given the Palestinians the courage and the optimism to overcome their internal historical divisions.
In other good news. The Green led campaign to halt partial asset sales has achieved a significant victory in forcing a referendum on the issue.
Nothing succeeds like success. And in even further good news. In the euphoria following this victory, the comments celebrating the achievement of the referendum thresh hold, on this website, display a new feeling of solidarity and respect, even bonhomie, emerging between the Greens and Labour.
This is great news and all credit to the Greens. Through extra parliamentary joint activity with Labour and other groups, the Greens have pulled the whole political spectrum to the left.
The Greens gave leadership and put up the challenge, and to their credit, Labour and the rest of the left rose to it.
This bodes well for the future.
Now if only the Greens, building on this success, can do this for climate change.
Building on this victory, I would like to suggest that the Greens, instead of appeasing the conservative views in Labour over climate change. Instead switch to challenging Labour over climate change.
They could do this immediately in a number of ways. the first would be to call a parliamentary inquiry into the crisis of climate change and invite Labour to attend. Just as labour called a parliamentary inquiry into manufacturing and invited the Greens to attend.
Another initiative the Greens could take up, to challenge Labour over climate change. Is to put up a private members bill calling for the banning of all coal exports. Which is the most iniquitous immoral and corrupt way of subverting our commitment to Kyoto to cut our fossil fuel use.
Obviously such a bill will not pass while the Nats are in power and are committed to pimping our country to the fossil fuel big boys.
But, it will publicly challenge Labour’s conscience on where way they stand on this singular issue, related to climate change. With heavy lobbying of the Labour MPs by the Green caucus I expect that a number (possibly a majority) of Labour MPs will cross the floor rather than vote with the Nats to veto such a private members bill.
Having voted this way in opposition, these Labour MPs would be more likely to support such a bill when they are in government, (hopefully) within the next 24 months.
The Greens also need to announce now that they will make climate change a prominent election issue. (Unlike last time when they deliberately decided to play it down).
“With heavy lobbying of the Labour MPs by the Green caucus I expect that a number (possibly a majority) of Labour MPs will cross the floor”
You mean the caucus mps who shat themselves over supporting DC, and are now nothing more than obedient, subservient lap dogs for those behind DS?
Can’t see them doing anything other than they’re told from now on, but nice thought.
Perhaps a mod could remove post 3 [B:duplicate comment removed]
I expect the LECs and the Labour grass roots will have something to say, if as you suggest the MPs ignore the membership wish for a a vote on the leadership come February.
“I expect the LECs and the Labour grass roots will have something to say, if as you suggest the MPs ignore the membership wish for a a vote on the leadership come February.”
You expect wrong, Jenny. The members and LEC’s are fine with the process approved at conference and as there will be a unanimous vote of confidence in Shearer in caucus, it will not be going to a wider vote. That’s the process the party agreed to and that’s whats going to happen.
You are also wrong to refer to the asset sales petition as being ‘greens led’. It was a joint effort between several groups and political parties. There was no ‘leader’.
Te Reo Putake is almost certainly right. The main reason there will be no vote is because Cunliffe will not challenge Shearer, and so there will be no cause to trigger the membership-wide vote. That’s my understanding of how it works anyway.
I may despise the ABC club for their deceitful behaviour, but I guess the aim of the exercise was to make it impossible for Cunliffe to challenge, and in that they have succeeded. The irony is: we have no evidence to suggest Cunliffe was going to challenge anyway.
I, and many other members, will be watching to see how Shearer handles the re-shuffle. If he continues to ignore Cunliffe – and other promising Labour MPs who supported Cunliffe at the time of the leadership contest – then he will be buying himself into a future fight that will surely cost Labour the next election.
There will be a unanimous vote because there is no longer an alternative. The caucus know that Shearer will be leading the party into the next election and their jobs as MP’s and as Ministers in the next Government depend on him. Some might call it self interest, but it is the political reality.
Technically, there doesn’t have to be a challenger as its a vote of confidence. But in the absence of an alternative, no Labour MP is going to go into terminal martyr mode.
Nah, your membership is still useful. TRP talks bold, but s/he has no way of knowing what will happen, and it comes across as wishful thinking as much as anything.
No you didn’t renew your membership in vain, Jilly Bee, unless you think the leader is everything in politics. For me, the talking head is just the means of delivery for policy. It’s policy that makes good government, not a slick leader. Shearer is here for the next few years and is going to be a good, if somewhat plodding, PM. He’s not that important; its the changes made that mark the nature of government, not the leader.
True, TRP, but the leader needs to be able to articulate the agreed policy in a forthright and confident manner, not stumbling and mumbling his/her way which is happening at present and it’s simply makes me cringe. The last time I saw David Cunliffe being asked for an opinion on the TV news and I wish I could recall what the question was about now, but he answered in two or three concise words which totally answered the question put to him and left the viewer [or this viewer] in no doubt. I can’t say that for DS at the moment and I don’t think he’s going to be able to do so into the foreseeable future.
You mean the stumbling, stuttering, bumbling, head????? Because that is a real turn off for voters, when the message cannot be gotten out in a 10 sec sound bite, or in Shearers case a 5 minute explanation that leaves the viewers going HUH??
When the Douglas clique took over the Labour Party, people left in droves, but they had powerful backers and they got away with transforming NZ for the worse. It looks to me now as if the Labour Party is at risk of being hijacked again by undisclosed deals, and the answer is not to leave, but to stay in or join, so as to be in the position to collectively exert pressure in favour of genuine Labour principles. It may not work, but it has a chance of working. The other option, as some people have been saying, is to support the Greens, but I think it is too early to throw in the towel just yet. I would like the party to be able to throw out MPs and even leaders who fail to adhere to Labour principles, as this would arguably place conditions on the sorts of deals that can be made.
Please explain this lack of alternative? Are backbenchers debarred from challenging leaders? No. Was the unanimous backing of Shearer a genuine backing of him by caucus? If you believe in the tooth fairy, then I guess so.
But since I don’t belive in the tooth fairy, and since I also do not believe Cunliffe was issuing a challenge at conference, it would seem obvious that a proportion of caucus backed Shearer because it was the pragmatic thing to do….until February.
Its over for Cunliffe, Bill. And unless Shearer does something spectacularly stupid, he will be the next PM. I hate to repeat myself, but nobody is going to challenge him, because he is going to win the next election and the backbenchers would very much like to be considered for ministerial positions so they are not going to rock the boat.
So there is no application of common sense or attempt at anlysis that might underpin your opinion….it’s just hope and wishful thinking. (Shearer a shoo-in? No challenge because…oh that’s right – Shearer’s a shoo in. And in the event he’s not, then the ‘fact’ that every single member of caucus is a careerist who reckons he’s a shoo-in secures his position as leader anyway. wow ) Actually – probably more accurate to refer to your string of ultimately baseless assertions floating on circular and self reinforcing hot air and puffery rather than ‘your opinion’.
No doubt you’ll apologise for your ignorance and wishful thinking in February, Bill. I won’t hold my breath though.
If you have an alternative scenario, please put it up. But do open your eyes first. See any signs of a challenge to Shearer? Any indication that any MP will vote against Shearer in February? Any tittle tattle/gossip/interweb fantasy that suggests I’m wrong?
That scenario seems to be that the minority in caucus that support Cunliffe are keeping their powder dry. Yes?
I don’t see any evidence of that at all. Honestly, its over. Done like a dinner.
Time to move on to the real issues: what’s the election policy going to be and when is Shearer going to put the senior members of the ABC club out to pasture?
edit: got to shoot through for a few hours. It’s been an interesting discussion, cheers. TRP.
Thats exactly right, if you look at pure instinct to provide for yourself and your family would you rock the boat when it may well cost you a salary which is well above that you would get elsewhere? This is especially true for those dependant on list ranking. Most will make the descision to back the team they think will win purely for the above reason.
There is no challenge because the ABC mob, or whoever the twits were that put Shearer in, have decided that they would rather lose the election than have a credible leader.
Whoever floated in Shearer and his sycophants have destroyed the Labour parties chance of actually winning an election. National may yet lose it, but it will be no thanks to the present Labour leadership.
Well, if that’s the case I will seriously consider not party voting for Labour [for the first time since I started voting in 1966]. I will be taking a close interest in the candidate selection for Waitakere, or whatever the seat may morph itself into as to whether I even want to work for his/her election.
<blockquote.TRP
How do you know there will be a “UNANIMOUS VOTE OF CONFIDENCE IN SHEARER IN CAUCUS”
KhandallaViper
Another farcical unanimous vote of confidence? The North Koreans would be proud.
It will be unanimous vote because the ABCs know that they can’t allow a genuine democratic vote. If they let even one MP vote with their conscience, then more might, then more, and the Shearer gang might just, find themselves on the wrong end of it.
Self appointed stalinist commissar, TRP has threatened terminal martyrdom against any member of caucus who dares step out of line. The LECs and the membership need to match TRP’s threat, with an even bigger one. Betray the membership and you can put up your own bill boards.
That’s all a little too far of a gaze into the crystal ball of the future for me, come 2014 we may come full circle to where Labour and the Greens have not the numbers to Govern alone,
Given that NZFirst may balk at forming a coalition with Labour/Greens we may end up with a Labour/NZFirst minority Government with the Greens providing the votes for confidence and supply,
Whether inside Government or outside the Greens need to be doing the work now on which Ministries it could hope to gain from what is at this point a right leaning Labour Party, and of as much importance the budgetary requirements of these ministries,
My view is that Kyoto is history and we should resign from that agreement, impose a carbon tax across the whole economy using such a tax to fund an ongoing tree planting program along with research into ways of reducing emissions and capturing carbon from the atmosphere on an industrial scale…
Grey Power aligned themselves seriously with the signature collection.
Please give them some of the credit.
They are looking more like possible Labour voters now, than for Winston.
Those in my area who voted Winston will not do so again, some are looking towards the Greens as they are impressed by Russel Norman’s forthright views.
First time GreyPower appear to have deviated towards the left.
Not in the Waikato millsy. attended twice,With one or two exceptions it was full of redneck anti young greedy bitter eldery ,we were glad when it was over. Mind you they did put on a good lunch,if one could get there in the rush.We prefer our Rufus Rogers branch for the seniors where all the members look to the future.
Really? You associate grammar nazi with jack boots and Stuka dive bombers?
I’m all for defence against the dark arts, like most sane people, but surely it’s about picking your battles, friend.
This article by Naomi Klein, in the form of a letter to Kathryn Bigelow, explains how Bigelow and other film makers get corrupted by the readily available finance for movies that are pro-US military actions. Klein argues that Bigelow’s latest movie, while claiming to be based in fact, legitimises the US use of torture in Gitmo & elsewhere.
Your film Zero Dark Thirty is a huge hit here. But in falsely justifying, in scene after scene, the torture of detainees in “the global war on terror”, Zero Dark Thirty is a gorgeously-shot, two-hour ad for keeping intelligence agents who committed crimes against Guantánamo prisoners out of jail. It makes heroes and heroines out of people who committed violent crimes against other people based on their race – something that has historical precedent….
This also sets a dangerous precedent: we can be sure, with the “propaganda amendment” of the 2013 NDAA, just signed into law by the president, that the future will hold much more overt corruption of Hollywood and the rest of US pop culture. This amendment legalizes something that has been illegal for decades: the direct funding of pro-government or pro-military messaging in media, without disclosure, aimed at American citizens.
The “historical precedent” that Klein refers to is Leni Riefenstahl, whose films glamorised the 3rd Re1ch.
Actually I think the article points to something bigger than the corruption of one film maker. It’s about the corruption of the whole system, and the way the US authorities propagandise the entertainment industry.
Thanks for the link karol, but I ought to point out that it was the other Naomi who wrote it 😉
I vaguely recall seeing a short doco – or maybe it was part of a larger doco – about this wider issue. It seems the military will provide incredible amounts of logistic and material support for films with a sympathetic tone or message. Need tanks? Jets? How about lots of muscle? Need your crew and equipment airlifted into a remote location? Pretty handy to have an army on hand.
We’ve never been known as deep or considered, its the lack of public broadcasting and independent media that leave us with outlets with agendas to produce such results.
When a shock jock racist and a rorting politician who passed acts that robbed communities of their assets get new years honours is this any surprise.
Don’t be surprised if Deaker and Sharples are next.
Only 2.3% of those surveyed named Key as their favourite NZ ‘celebrity’. I think we can safely assume that zombies have not infiltrated the population.
In answer to Tazireviper’s question “Are Kiwi’s thicker than batshit?” (The term is pigshit Mr P.M)The answer has to be YES.
Not just in relation to yet another poll that bathes Shonkey in an adoring light. Read any of the reader comments on the Stuff site and you’ll start to have questions about our diminishing cognitive capacity. Check out the “Stuff nation” section and you’ll feel truly depressed. I get TC’s point about the lack of public broadcasting and a strong independant media but is a person not capable of thinking for themselves and asking questions? And if we were smart wouldn’t we be demanding more open and thought provoking media and not tuning into mind numbing “reality” shows? Are we so dumbed down that we even consider Shonkey in terms of celebrity? Sure he’s been modelled that way but we are the suckers for believing it.
We are a country that not only voted once for National under Shonkey, but twice, even when the damage was blindingly obvious. To me that alone highlights our inability to think. It doesn’t have to be deep thinking – just regular plain old thinking would have done.
During the second George Dubya reign I often used to wonder how stupid/blindly influenced the Americans could be for voting him back in (even taking on board the Florida rigging) and then I used to wonder what it must be like for those who didn’t support him who felt that his “leadership” was damaging their country (and those of the nations they invaded and or controlled). Living in NZ at this time feels like we are living in a void. Was this what it was like for the Americans? When we begin to reject our increasingly inane media and entertainment culture and as ordinary people begin to question is when we begin to get our power back
I’ve no time for either of them and wouldn’t know McCaw if I fell over him, but I think it would be a pretty sorry state of affairs if a man whose sole claim to fame is the ability to kick an inflated bladder in the right direction for entertainment was more popular than the Prime Minister of a nation state.
+ a gangnail; McCaw has been an Excellent Captain, a real hardman, imho. (a “brother” of mine is self-employed fixing pneumatic nail-guns, in fact, he has a boot full of new ones, generally under-cutting the franchisees) It has been my experience that if one can read the manual and has been shown the correct tool for the job we can fix any fu$k-up, or we could disproportionately Taser the mentally ill…
What’s with these little pop up polls that the Herald keeps running that Key keeps winning? Key more popular than Richie McCaw!!! Yea, good to know. Personally I don’t know anybody that has any time for our tedious little pm.
What lies behind this hyperactivity? Critics accuse the government of softening up the sector for privatisation. But the education secretary, Michael Gove, and the universities minister, David Willetts, insist that ensuring accountability for taxpayers’ money and driving up academic standards are their goals. Gove’s own fogeyish style completes the picture of the old-fashioned, no-nonsense grammar school headmaster. But the government is not simply stuck in 1950s “3Rism”, nor is it planning wholesale privatisation (yet). Rather, it is still stubbornly pursuing a discredited 1980s ideology of quasi-markets, even though 30 years of experience shows that far from improving quality, it is destroying it.
And our government is doing exactly the same thing so, why are conservatives so intent on destroying education?
Right-wingers in the UK (especially columnists in the Daily Mail – a publication which balances a call for ‘family values’ with a peddling of a rather high concentration of sleaze), routinely call for a return of the Tripartite System with the Grammar School taking precedence.
To which my response is: What about those who get dumped in the secondary moderns?
The Conservatives fear a well educated and informed populace. People might actually think, gain insight, and ask far too many awkward questions (let alone make enlightened demands).
Dr. Terry’s reply presupposes a sinister conspiracy by a cabal who are aware that their fundamental beliefs won’t stand up to scrutiny but respond by acting to pull the wool over everyone else’s eyes.
Einstein famously defined insanity as doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. These people merely still firmly believe that their ideas and philosophy although discredited by experience will work if only conditions are different or the implementation is tweaked at the edges, ie they are insane rather than mendacious. A much simpler explanation.
That may be true of many of those who support conservative parties but it’s not true of all of them. Some of them will be looking to prevent a proper education that encourages people to think about what’s actually happening. These few will most likely be the leaders in the conservative parties. Research has shown that the majority of leaders in conservative parties and business happen to be psychopaths.
“Research has shown that the majority of leaders in conservative parties and business happen to be psychopaths.”
As you haven’t provided any authority for this statement I cannot weigh the veracity of the claim, but off the top of my head think it unlikely to be true. I would be more willing to accept a proposal that “the majority of leaders…’ &tc are sociopaths.
The difference? Psychopaths = “Tendency for impulsive or opportunistic criminal behavior, excessive risk taking, impulsive or opportunistic violence. Unable to maintain normal relationships.” Sociopaths = “Tendency for premeditated crimes with controllable risks, criminal opportunism, fraud, calculated or opportunistic violence. Tendency to appear superficially normal in social relationships, often social predators.”
By that definition Sociopaths I suggest are far more common that Psychopaths and I don’t see any reason why sociopathic behaviour should be a phenomenon limited to the Right, although the great unwashed would more likely accept TV drama displaying Sociopathic behaviour by bankers and Psychopathic behaviour by the residents of State housing.
In any cause I would argue your basic premise is wrong in that I don’t see many societies or countries around the world where an ill-educated and ‘repressed’ populace regularly votes in and supports rich Right-wing elites – at least where they get the chance to vote.
In fact I would suggest that it is the Right which benefits from a well-educated and socially mobile poplace. The reason the Left virtually doesn’t exist in the US despite its relatively well-educated population is that the Right represents what most people aspire to – ie being rich.
As you haven’t provided any authority for this statement I cannot weigh the veracity of the claim…
It was a book I read years ago by one of the better known sociologists – Robert Hare I believe but I could be misremembering.
In any cause I would argue your basic premise is wrong in that I don’t see many societies or countries around the world where an ill-educated and ‘repressed’ populace regularly votes in and supports rich Right-wing elites – at least where they get the chance to vote.
It’s all about perception and the perception being built by this government and the one in the UK is that they’re making education better.
In fact I would suggest that it is the Right which benefits from a well-educated and socially mobile poplace.
Nope as has been pointed out. A well educated populace that thinks (really important that bit) will pull down the neo-liberal BS and, eventually, capitalism as well. A populace that’s only taught to the test fails to learn to think and thus can’t as easily pick out the logical holes in the capitalist paradigm.
And there isn’t a hell of a lot of social mobility going on either. In fact, it’s been declining for a long time and even more so after the neo-liberal policies were brought in.
The reason the Left virtually doesn’t exist in the US despite its relatively well-educated population is that the Right represents what most people aspire to – ie being rich.
~50% of the populace in the US doesn’t vote and half of those don’t vote for the Republicans. This would indicate that most people aren’t all that enthused with the right (of course, there’s not a hell of a lot of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans).
Sweeping claims with no factual basis, that cannot be evidenced outside of “I read it once, in some book by this guy, but I can’t remember however it must be totally legit because it adheres to my preconceived bias” are far more offensive than any swear word I can lay down.
You are so right. Just been reading about Tebbet. What a fucking arsole The Tories do not want a well educated inquiring populace. I have also recently read about the Falklands war. This could have been easily fixed by negotiation, but Thatcher the evil cow knowing that she would lose the next election decided to invade the Falklands. She knew, by using and aided by the British MSM mainly that heap of filth called the Daily Express and using the “Rule Britannia, The Sun Will Never Set on the British Empire” bullshit cards she would win the next election. To her the “Falklands “was a gift from heaven” and a “Get Out of Jail” card. To enhance the “Rule Britannia” bullshit she awarded some prat in charge of a state of the art submarine a “decoration” for sinking a clapped out rusty tub full of sea cadets called the General Belgrano. The stupid poms fell for the “Rule Britannia” bullshit hook line and bloody sinker. and at the next election they voted for her with a landslide victory. To me this was like some medieval king putting on a show to get the peasants on his side to fight a war. This is why the right are shit scared of a well educated populace and do their best to dumb us down. We see this in the MSM with bite sized bits of information with no
indepth inquiries or discussions. If the populace are well educated they will not believe all they read in the excuses for papers or what they see on Fox News. They will ask questions, they will not believe the right wing bullshit. It is not in the interest of the fucking right to have people well educated as they will ask “why”, “how”, and “what for” and more importantly “is that the truth” .
They don’t want a well educated and informed society. National would like the opposite. A society of uneducated, individual self centered citizens so it can maintain power and create a cheap labour force.
The rich get richer and poor get poorer.
RNZ
-Rape Crisis facing funding crisis, tenuous, may have to close doors as they compete for Grants with sports clubs
-S.A-in S.Auck accommadation suppl maxed out Big time (rentiers on imported subsidized steroids)
there was more but I heard the Machine Gun Blues and had Georgias on my mind (Wow, what a soothing voice of voluptuosness; exceelent bait to capture the drosophila)
If we deliberately keep on with apostasy after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for missing the mark is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgement and of raging fire that will consume. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or more witnesses. How much more do you think a person deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son under his foot?
The Lord will judge His people. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were pubicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions (unless of course, solar activity fries all the data) 🙂
So do not throw away your confidence, it will be richly rewarded.
Habakkuk- Yet, my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.
-Kotter
1:5 Look at the nations and watch-and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own; they are a law unto themselves and promote their own honour; Their horses are swifter than Leopards; Their cavalry gallops Headlong; They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; Their hordes advance like a Desert Storm and gather prisoners like sand; Guilty men whose own strength is their god.
Bi noculars see beyond the foreground to what is in the background circling the wagon trains.
“RNZ
-Rape Crisis facing funding crisis, tenuous, may have to close doors as they compete for Grants with sports clubs.”
Yeah for a while some time ago I was a member of our local REAP committee, ’til I left in despair and disgust at the amount of money that was being voted by my fellow members to what were little more than Maori social clubs while the Rape Crisis Centers, Charities for the Disabled, Legal Aid Centers, &tc went begging.
“Yet, my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” The reason many righteous ones have hit the buttons on their padded jackets.
There are 13 REAPs in New Zealand. Each REAP is a locally -based Incorporated Society or Trust. The Ministry of Education and the Tertiary Education Commission are the main sources of funding. The overall purpose of REAP is to provide educational support to early childhood centres, primary, secondary schools and community groups. REAP promotes and provides learning opportunities that enhance community and personal development.”
Each year we had a couple of $100,000 to distribute to applicants – nothing like enough to meet the needs of a Province, with ‘community groups’ the widest and most ‘flexible’ catagory. I found the sums allocated to a dozen or more Mari and half a dozen Te Reo set-ups in an area with a miniscule Maori population while charities filling desperate needs were refused – some like Refuges and Rape Crisis on the grounds that they weren’t ‘community groups’ – disgusted me, but it was just a personal matter of priorities.
Would it be impolite of me to suggest that you are full of s**t???, i will not ask you to name any of the recipients of the REAP funds but it would be helpful to know which region you are talking of,
So, in this miniscule Maori population there were at least half a dozen Kohanga with bugger all kids in each being given REAP funding???,
Please ennumerate what you consider to be a miniscule Maori population, and last but not least, what exactly is a Mari???…
PS, your whine has as it’s answer the Mission Statement of REAP that you yourself posted above, and i don’t personally see where ‘vote Education’ should be considered as a source of funding for ‘Rape Crisis’ which should be funded from ‘vote health’…
Yes. You make exactly the points I had to fight for several years before I gave up in disgust.
The problem lies with the definitions of “community groups” and “personal development” – or rather the lack of definition we had to work with and the refusal of the officers to provide any guidance. Hence “community groups” was taken by the majority on the committee as meaning “local community groups” so that anything with any national structure was refused ab initio regardless of the fact that the local ‘branch’ or whatever provided services to the local community, was staffed by local volunteers or barely-paid workers and was expected to raise most of its own funds. And “personal development” was vague practically anything could be made to qualify – after all, working to bring down your handicap at golf is “personal development”.
I took and fought for the unpopular view that helping someone get over being raped, or to escape an abusive relationship, or get compensation for an unjustified dismissal &tc, was a necessary first step for them even to begin any kind of “personal development” but, as you pointed out, this is strictly speaking someone else’s financial responsibility and the fact that the funding provided is totally insufficient is a simple matter of inefficient bureaucracy.
No, I won’t say where it was. However I did also have to fight a prevailing view that if we gave money to one Marae we had to give the same to all of them to avoid appearing more supportive of some over others, or if we gave $10,000 to someone undertaking to teach Te Reo in their front room we had to give $10,000 to anyone undertaking to teach Te Reo in their front room with no way whatever of ascertaining the efficacy of such teaching, nor how many children actually benefitted from it.
REAP does a lot of good and the fights I had probably affected no more than 20% if the money distributed at most, and I resigned because it had merely become apparent that my priorities in some areas differed from the majority of the committee and the half-day I occasionally gave up for the process was a waste of my time.
Your answer to my queries is simply a continuance of a series of unsupported allegations directed at Kohanga Reo and Marae,
You provide nothing in the way of ‘facts’ just broaden your unsupported allegations to include ‘giving $10,000 to someone undertaking to teach Maori language ‘in their front room’,
The ‘problem’ as you put it does not lie with the definitions of ‘community group’ and ‘personal development’, when i read those 2 phrases in conjunction with the stated intention of REAP as per EDUCATION it doesn’t take a intellectual giant to figure out the linkages between the 3, education, personal development, and community group,
An example of the above paragraph is a Wellington Marae that takes groups of youths through road safety courses and onto gaining their driving licenses, this fulfills all the REAP aims, it is a community group providing education which leads to the personal development of those involved, really simple if you think about it,
I however get the impression from your series of unsupported allegations,(i would have used the word bullshit,but, i am trying to be polite), that you are deliberately using the hot potato of ‘Rape Crisis’ funding along with the even more spurious ‘get compensation for unjustified dismissal’ as props in what appears to be an anti-Maori
rant in the hope that you will gain support from people here at the Standard via the support those who read these pages have for both those who are unjustifiably dismissed from employment and Rape Crisis/Womens Refuges…
it is all there in read white and black,
C.K Stead y
Future going bananas in Pluto’s banana republic.Goofy
Chinese Leaders embrace simplicity
Arabian nights as autumn fall; Suunis do not Shia divide
In Israel religious communities drive the golf course; Likud licked, another Bennett on the Right
(60,000 deaths in Syria, and counting on a Moscow plan)
“Currency Wars” pass the parcel to more victims of Europa and Bay of Piigs
anxiety ridden children cohorts sky-rocketing over-diagnosis and under-Amelioration of socio-cultural stimulants; Armoured clothes next one hit wonder?
NZQA failing dropouts passed over
Michael’s growing his own and I dig it. Sur l’herbe!
“Although the average temperatures for January and February are the same at 22 degrees, the average rainfall is considerably less in February than in January, with 19mm less rain. In January the average number of rain days is 8.2. In February it is 7.5”
What I find astounding in this article is that no-one seems to account for February being 3 days shorter than January (except in leap years when it is 2 day shorter)
Thus rainfall and raindays for February are being counted in a month that is around 10% shorter than January.
Allow for that 10% and the case that weather is ‘better’ in February is shown to be largely an urban myth born out of simple ignorance of the length of these two summer months.
(Business NZ chief executive Phil) O’Reilly had spoken to several Americans who underwent a similar process for their Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and found it difficult to motivate themselves through the period.
Yeah. Cause…cause…fck, I can’t even make anything up. What is/was O’Reilly on?
Rolls Royce Engines: the beauty of high value manufacturing
An amazing documentary, showing the kinds of wealth, capability and community that high tech, high added value manufacturing brings. It also makes it clear that this kind of expertise is gained over many years or decades and has to be protected and nurtured over the long term.
just in case “any body” wonders why? the Rogue holds the positions he does, it came about through dedicated reading, life experience, tertiary education, film, literature, and watching documentaries on the variety that exists in our world,(including on the production of food, apparel and other commodities for Years. Years! (i may be one-eyed, yet I keep one eye open) and then came The Standard and you guys, you guys. Like D., I too am a critical realist and I believe it is healthy to discuss “religion”, politics, and sociology in an open forum; thanks to an inspirational woman, (a nurse) I was taught that “the more windows you open, the more light we let in”; however, despite my “critical” gaze, i still believe we are well placed here in Aotearoa New Zealand to muddle through this inevitable storm, padded cells or not.(and although we have different styles, i do respect Cameron), what do I know, I’m just a gardener 🙂 (we are thinking of precis ing back issues of Best Practice; this medication of society is, as a generalization, not healthy, and I have personal relationships with G.P’s who suggest that diet / lifestyle is what is making people unwell (as a generalization) which is ironic when we consider the importance of ‘lifestyle’ to most of us. As Draco once exflamed, the economic system /s we are living under are exploitative and wasteful and sadly we live in the times when those ‘chickens’ are coming home to roost.Dreadful when we consider the BLiP compilation. I also watched parliament consistently live and was astounded at the behaviour and attitudes of many, though clearly there are many well meaning politicians.And the cognitive behaviouralists, don’t get me started (some Lorries are just too light for logging, and they wear out… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_behavior_therapy
is something worth discussing though 🙂
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
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 ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
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 Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
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On the international scene;
Rapprochement has broken out between the Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas.
This is surely significant. This gives me great hope for the future.
The joyous photos speak for themselves. Also the gestures of reconciliation of the respective leaderships.
Both Fatah and Hamas organisations, have both strength and weaknesses. In my opinion these moves will join their respective strengths and negate their respective weaknesses.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/01/04-2
Published on Friday, January 4, 2013 by Common Dreams
Nothing succeeds like success. Bouyed by the Arab spring the Palestinians like all Arabs are resurgent. This has given the Palestinians the courage and the optimism to overcome their internal historical divisions.
I wish them well.
“Gaza was the first Palestinian territory rid of [Israeli] occupation and settlement…”
Israel finally moved out those illegal terrorist/settlers, but it has not stopped inflicting murder and mayhem on the citizens of Gaza…..
That’s the sinister Australian-Israeli MARK REGEV at the end of the clip, explaining why killing that family was okay.
‘
In other good news. The Green led campaign to halt partial asset sales has achieved a significant victory in forcing a referendum on the issue.
Nothing succeeds like success. And in even further good news. In the euphoria following this victory, the comments celebrating the achievement of the referendum thresh hold, on this website, display a new feeling of solidarity and respect, even bonhomie, emerging between the Greens and Labour.
This is great news and all credit to the Greens. Through extra parliamentary joint activity with Labour and other groups, the Greens have pulled the whole political spectrum to the left.
The Greens gave leadership and put up the challenge, and to their credit, Labour and the rest of the left rose to it.
This bodes well for the future.
Now if only the Greens, building on this success, can do this for climate change.
Building on this victory, I would like to suggest that the Greens, instead of appeasing the conservative views in Labour over climate change. Instead switch to challenging Labour over climate change.
They could do this immediately in a number of ways. the first would be to call a parliamentary inquiry into the crisis of climate change and invite Labour to attend. Just as labour called a parliamentary inquiry into manufacturing and invited the Greens to attend.
Another initiative the Greens could take up, to challenge Labour over climate change. Is to put up a private members bill calling for the banning of all coal exports. Which is the most iniquitous immoral and corrupt way of subverting our commitment to Kyoto to cut our fossil fuel use.
Obviously such a bill will not pass while the Nats are in power and are committed to pimping our country to the fossil fuel big boys.
But, it will publicly challenge Labour’s conscience on where way they stand on this singular issue, related to climate change. With heavy lobbying of the Labour MPs by the Green caucus I expect that a number (possibly a majority) of Labour MPs will cross the floor rather than vote with the Nats to veto such a private members bill.
Having voted this way in opposition, these Labour MPs would be more likely to support such a bill when they are in government, (hopefully) within the next 24 months.
The Greens also need to announce now that they will make climate change a prominent election issue. (Unlike last time when they deliberately decided to play it down).
“With heavy lobbying of the Labour MPs by the Green caucus I expect that a number (possibly a majority) of Labour MPs will cross the floor”
You mean the caucus mps who shat themselves over supporting DC, and are now nothing more than obedient, subservient lap dogs for those behind DS?
Can’t see them doing anything other than they’re told from now on, but nice thought.
Perhaps a mod could remove post 3
[B:duplicate comment removed]
I expect the LECs and the Labour grass roots will have something to say, if as you suggest the MPs ignore the membership wish for a a vote on the leadership come February.
All depends on who they’re more afraid of, voters or their bosses b(l)and of brothers.
“I expect the LECs and the Labour grass roots will have something to say, if as you suggest the MPs ignore the membership wish for a a vote on the leadership come February.”
You expect wrong, Jenny. The members and LEC’s are fine with the process approved at conference and as there will be a unanimous vote of confidence in Shearer in caucus, it will not be going to a wider vote. That’s the process the party agreed to and that’s whats going to happen.
You are also wrong to refer to the asset sales petition as being ‘greens led’. It was a joint effort between several groups and political parties. There was no ‘leader’.
Ho ho. “there will be a unanimous vote of confidence in Shearer in Caucus” TRP
Yes sir, comrade commissar.
Well TRP seeing as you can tell the future.
Next weeks Lotto numbers Please.
TRP
How do you know there will be a “UNANIMOUS VOTE OF CONFIDENCE IN SHEARER IN CAUCUS” ?
Yeah I’m not sure how that works either. Last time there was a unanimous vote it was taken as evidence of a dastardly plot and heads had to roll.
Te Reo Putake is almost certainly right. The main reason there will be no vote is because Cunliffe will not challenge Shearer, and so there will be no cause to trigger the membership-wide vote. That’s my understanding of how it works anyway.
I may despise the ABC club for their deceitful behaviour, but I guess the aim of the exercise was to make it impossible for Cunliffe to challenge, and in that they have succeeded. The irony is: we have no evidence to suggest Cunliffe was going to challenge anyway.
I, and many other members, will be watching to see how Shearer handles the re-shuffle. If he continues to ignore Cunliffe – and other promising Labour MPs who supported Cunliffe at the time of the leadership contest – then he will be buying himself into a future fight that will surely cost Labour the next election.
Two can play that game.
Btw felixviper, it was a majority vote.
There will be a unanimous vote because there is no longer an alternative. The caucus know that Shearer will be leading the party into the next election and their jobs as MP’s and as Ministers in the next Government depend on him. Some might call it self interest, but it is the political reality.
Technically, there doesn’t have to be a challenger as its a vote of confidence. But in the absence of an alternative, no Labour MP is going to go into terminal martyr mode.
Looks like I renewed my membership in vain.
Nah, your membership is still useful. TRP talks bold, but s/he has no way of knowing what will happen, and it comes across as wishful thinking as much as anything.
No you didn’t renew your membership in vain, Jilly Bee, unless you think the leader is everything in politics. For me, the talking head is just the means of delivery for policy. It’s policy that makes good government, not a slick leader. Shearer is here for the next few years and is going to be a good, if somewhat plodding, PM. He’s not that important; its the changes made that mark the nature of government, not the leader.
True, TRP, but the leader needs to be able to articulate the agreed policy in a forthright and confident manner, not stumbling and mumbling his/her way which is happening at present and it’s simply makes me cringe. The last time I saw David Cunliffe being asked for an opinion on the TV news and I wish I could recall what the question was about now, but he answered in two or three concise words which totally answered the question put to him and left the viewer [or this viewer] in no doubt. I can’t say that for DS at the moment and I don’t think he’s going to be able to do so into the foreseeable future.
Leadership is not that important??? Just a talking head!!!
Another couple of clangers from TRP.
But, I suppose if this is what Labour insiders think then it would explain a lot about David Shearer’s dire performance.
“if this is what Labour insiders think then it would explain a lot about David Shearer’s dire performance.”
Not to mention those that put him there in the first place.
One day, when the memoirs are out.
You mean the stumbling, stuttering, bumbling, head????? Because that is a real turn off for voters, when the message cannot be gotten out in a 10 sec sound bite, or in Shearers case a 5 minute explanation that leaves the viewers going HUH??
When the Douglas clique took over the Labour Party, people left in droves, but they had powerful backers and they got away with transforming NZ for the worse. It looks to me now as if the Labour Party is at risk of being hijacked again by undisclosed deals, and the answer is not to leave, but to stay in or join, so as to be in the position to collectively exert pressure in favour of genuine Labour principles. It may not work, but it has a chance of working. The other option, as some people have been saying, is to support the Greens, but I think it is too early to throw in the towel just yet. I would like the party to be able to throw out MPs and even leaders who fail to adhere to Labour principles, as this would arguably place conditions on the sorts of deals that can be made.
Please explain this lack of alternative? Are backbenchers debarred from challenging leaders? No. Was the unanimous backing of Shearer a genuine backing of him by caucus? If you believe in the tooth fairy, then I guess so.
But since I don’t belive in the tooth fairy, and since I also do not believe Cunliffe was issuing a challenge at conference, it would seem obvious that a proportion of caucus backed Shearer because it was the pragmatic thing to do….until February.
Its over for Cunliffe, Bill. And unless Shearer does something spectacularly stupid, he will be the next PM. I hate to repeat myself, but nobody is going to challenge him, because he is going to win the next election and the backbenchers would very much like to be considered for ministerial positions so they are not going to rock the boat.
So there is no application of common sense or attempt at anlysis that might underpin your opinion….it’s just hope and wishful thinking. (Shearer a shoo-in? No challenge because…oh that’s right – Shearer’s a shoo in. And in the event he’s not, then the ‘fact’ that every single member of caucus is a careerist who reckons he’s a shoo-in secures his position as leader anyway. wow ) Actually – probably more accurate to refer to your string of ultimately baseless assertions floating on circular and self reinforcing hot air and puffery rather than ‘your opinion’.
No doubt you’ll apologise for your ignorance and wishful thinking in February, Bill. I won’t hold my breath though.
If you have an alternative scenario, please put it up. But do open your eyes first. See any signs of a challenge to Shearer? Any indication that any MP will vote against Shearer in February? Any tittle tattle/gossip/interweb fantasy that suggests I’m wrong?
You mean like the reasonable scenario I suggested at 12:02?
That scenario seems to be that the minority in caucus that support Cunliffe are keeping their powder dry. Yes?
I don’t see any evidence of that at all. Honestly, its over. Done like a dinner.
Time to move on to the real issues: what’s the election policy going to be and when is Shearer going to put the senior members of the ABC club out to pasture?
edit: got to shoot through for a few hours. It’s been an interesting discussion, cheers. TRP.
Thats exactly right, if you look at pure instinct to provide for yourself and your family would you rock the boat when it may well cost you a salary which is well above that you would get elsewhere? This is especially true for those dependant on list ranking. Most will make the descision to back the team they think will win purely for the above reason.
There is no challenge because the ABC mob, or whoever the twits were that put Shearer in, have decided that they would rather lose the election than have a credible leader.
Whoever floated in Shearer and his sycophants have destroyed the Labour parties chance of actually winning an election. National may yet lose it, but it will be no thanks to the present Labour leadership.
Well, if that’s the case I will seriously consider not party voting for Labour [for the first time since I started voting in 1966]. I will be taking a close interest in the candidate selection for Waitakere, or whatever the seat may morph itself into as to whether I even want to work for his/her election.
……….”because he is going to win the next election”…….
Wow thats great news. Has anybody told voters yet that they MUST give Labour over 50% of the vote so Shearer can WIN the next election?
<blockquote.TRP
How do you know there will be a “UNANIMOUS VOTE OF CONFIDENCE IN SHEARER IN CAUCUS”
KhandallaViper
Another farcical unanimous vote of confidence? The North Koreans would be proud.
It will be unanimous vote because the ABCs know that they can’t allow a genuine democratic vote. If they let even one MP vote with their conscience, then more might, then more, and the Shearer gang might just, find themselves on the wrong end of it.
Self appointed stalinist commissar, TRP has threatened terminal martyrdom against any member of caucus who dares step out of line. The LECs and the membership need to match TRP’s threat, with an even bigger one. Betray the membership and you can put up your own bill boards.
That’s all a little too far of a gaze into the crystal ball of the future for me, come 2014 we may come full circle to where Labour and the Greens have not the numbers to Govern alone,
Given that NZFirst may balk at forming a coalition with Labour/Greens we may end up with a Labour/NZFirst minority Government with the Greens providing the votes for confidence and supply,
Whether inside Government or outside the Greens need to be doing the work now on which Ministries it could hope to gain from what is at this point a right leaning Labour Party, and of as much importance the budgetary requirements of these ministries,
My view is that Kyoto is history and we should resign from that agreement, impose a carbon tax across the whole economy using such a tax to fund an ongoing tree planting program along with research into ways of reducing emissions and capturing carbon from the atmosphere on an industrial scale…
Grey Power aligned themselves seriously with the signature collection.
Please give them some of the credit.
They are looking more like possible Labour voters now, than for Winston.
Those in my area who voted Winston will not do so again, some are looking towards the Greens as they are impressed by Russel Norman’s forthright views.
First time GreyPower appear to have deviated towards the left.
I thought GreyPower were more or less left anyway?
Not in the Waikato millsy. attended twice,With one or two exceptions it was full of redneck anti young greedy bitter eldery ,we were glad when it was over. Mind you they did put on a good lunch,if one could get there in the rush.We prefer our Rufus Rogers branch for the seniors where all the members look to the future.
Tv leaders debates in 2014
Should be for the three main parties, no?
Who would object most, Key or Shearer?
Who would object most, Key or Shearer?
Rewrite as….
Who would object MORE, Key or Shearer?
Or rewrite as…
Who would object the most, Key, Shearer or grammar nazis? 😆
I do believe we have a case of Godwin’s on our hands.
No, I was messing with you, but if you didn’t see what I did, I wouldn’t worry about it. 😉
No, I was messing with you,
I KNOW you were, Al1en, you kidder, you.
…but if you didn’t see what I did, I wouldn’t worry about it.
I SAW what you did, already! Sheesh…
Are you serial?
the nuzzies were pacificly mentioned…
Really? You associate grammar nazi with jack boots and Stuka dive bombers?
I’m all for defence against the dark arts, like most sane people, but surely it’s about picking your battles, friend.
No mileage crying heil wolf in my direction.
And yes, before you ask, I think sacha baron cohen is knob. 😉
lol
sorry, I was just continuing the mispronounciation jokes.
This article by Naomi Klein, in the form of a letter to Kathryn Bigelow, explains how Bigelow and other film makers get corrupted by the readily available finance for movies that are pro-US military actions. Klein argues that Bigelow’s latest movie, while claiming to be based in fact, legitimises the US use of torture in Gitmo & elsewhere.
The “historical precedent” that Klein refers to is Leni Riefenstahl, whose films glamorised the 3rd Re1ch.
Actually I think the article points to something bigger than the corruption of one film maker. It’s about the corruption of the whole system, and the way the US authorities propagandise the entertainment industry.
Thanks for the link karol, but I ought to point out that it was the other Naomi who wrote it 😉
I vaguely recall seeing a short doco – or maybe it was part of a larger doco – about this wider issue. It seems the military will provide incredible amounts of logistic and material support for films with a sympathetic tone or message. Need tanks? Jets? How about lots of muscle? Need your crew and equipment airlifted into a remote location? Pretty handy to have an army on hand.
Whoops. Thanks, felix. Yes – Wolf.
I think this is the film I was thinking of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r20a7nHpnY
that is correct
Are Kiwis thicker than batshit?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/8146954/Key-more-popular-than-McCaw-poll-finds
The answer is yes.
We’ve never been known as deep or considered, its the lack of public broadcasting and independent media that leave us with outlets with agendas to produce such results.
When a shock jock racist and a rorting politician who passed acts that robbed communities of their assets get new years honours is this any surprise.
Don’t be surprised if Deaker and Sharples are next.
Sir Garth McVicar.
You read it here first.
Only 2.3% of those surveyed named Key as their favourite NZ ‘celebrity’. I think we can safely assume that zombies have not infiltrated the population.
In answer to Tazireviper’s question “Are Kiwi’s thicker than batshit?” (The term is pigshit Mr P.M)The answer has to be YES.
Not just in relation to yet another poll that bathes Shonkey in an adoring light. Read any of the reader comments on the Stuff site and you’ll start to have questions about our diminishing cognitive capacity. Check out the “Stuff nation” section and you’ll feel truly depressed. I get TC’s point about the lack of public broadcasting and a strong independant media but is a person not capable of thinking for themselves and asking questions? And if we were smart wouldn’t we be demanding more open and thought provoking media and not tuning into mind numbing “reality” shows? Are we so dumbed down that we even consider Shonkey in terms of celebrity? Sure he’s been modelled that way but we are the suckers for believing it.
We are a country that not only voted once for National under Shonkey, but twice, even when the damage was blindingly obvious. To me that alone highlights our inability to think. It doesn’t have to be deep thinking – just regular plain old thinking would have done.
During the second George Dubya reign I often used to wonder how stupid/blindly influenced the Americans could be for voting him back in (even taking on board the Florida rigging) and then I used to wonder what it must be like for those who didn’t support him who felt that his “leadership” was damaging their country (and those of the nations they invaded and or controlled). Living in NZ at this time feels like we are living in a void. Was this what it was like for the Americans? When we begin to reject our increasingly inane media and entertainment culture and as ordinary people begin to question is when we begin to get our power back
I’ve no time for either of them and wouldn’t know McCaw if I fell over him, but I think it would be a pretty sorry state of affairs if a man whose sole claim to fame is the ability to kick an inflated bladder in the right direction for entertainment was more popular than the Prime Minister of a nation state.
And it’s exactly that sort of pointless elitist snobbery that makes the Left look ugly for a lot of potential supporters
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/14305/in_defense_of_the_spectacle/
Relax.It’s actually the pollsters who are thick.
(Nails are more popular than gerbils).
+1
+ a gangnail; McCaw has been an Excellent Captain, a real hardman, imho. (a “brother” of mine is self-employed fixing pneumatic nail-guns, in fact, he has a boot full of new ones, generally under-cutting the franchisees) It has been my experience that if one can read the manual and has been shown the correct tool for the job we can fix any fu$k-up, or we could disproportionately Taser the mentally ill…
“Taser the mentally ill…”
This party political election broadcast was bought to you by the conservative party.
apparently, the Tasers are in the “shop” being repaired alot; Communication Breakdown?
I bet judith collins has a can of mace in her handbag next to her emergency y fronts
love Leo
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/537839_363900367041926_1588146299_n.jpg
Always a tough crowd on comedy night at the standard 😆
^ ^ (he is funny, and very little swearing, from memory of tele)
Economics again. Required listening for better understanding of the present day culture.
On Radionz now Laidlaw interviewing a NZ economist.
Related to book Behavioural Economics for Dummies.
What’s with these little pop up polls that the Herald keeps running that Key keeps winning? Key more popular than Richie McCaw!!! Yea, good to know. Personally I don’t know anybody that has any time for our tedious little pm.
Britain’s education system is being tested to destruction
And our government is doing exactly the same thing so, why are conservatives so intent on destroying education?
Right-wingers in the UK (especially columnists in the Daily Mail – a publication which balances a call for ‘family values’ with a peddling of a rather high concentration of sleaze), routinely call for a return of the Tripartite System with the Grammar School taking precedence.
To which my response is: What about those who get dumped in the secondary moderns?
The Conservatives fear a well educated and informed populace. People might actually think, gain insight, and ask far too many awkward questions (let alone make enlightened demands).
Dr. Terry’s reply presupposes a sinister conspiracy by a cabal who are aware that their fundamental beliefs won’t stand up to scrutiny but respond by acting to pull the wool over everyone else’s eyes.
Einstein famously defined insanity as doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. These people merely still firmly believe that their ideas and philosophy although discredited by experience will work if only conditions are different or the implementation is tweaked at the edges, ie they are insane rather than mendacious. A much simpler explanation.
That may be true of many of those who support conservative parties but it’s not true of all of them. Some of them will be looking to prevent a proper education that encourages people to think about what’s actually happening. These few will most likely be the leaders in the conservative parties. Research has shown that the majority of leaders in conservative parties and business happen to be psychopaths.
“Research has shown that the majority of leaders in conservative parties and business happen to be psychopaths.”
As you haven’t provided any authority for this statement I cannot weigh the veracity of the claim, but off the top of my head think it unlikely to be true. I would be more willing to accept a proposal that “the majority of leaders…’ &tc are sociopaths.
The difference? Psychopaths = “Tendency for impulsive or opportunistic criminal behavior, excessive risk taking, impulsive or opportunistic violence. Unable to maintain normal relationships.” Sociopaths = “Tendency for premeditated crimes with controllable risks, criminal opportunism, fraud, calculated or opportunistic violence. Tendency to appear superficially normal in social relationships, often social predators.”
By that definition Sociopaths I suggest are far more common that Psychopaths and I don’t see any reason why sociopathic behaviour should be a phenomenon limited to the Right, although the great unwashed would more likely accept TV drama displaying Sociopathic behaviour by bankers and Psychopathic behaviour by the residents of State housing.
In any cause I would argue your basic premise is wrong in that I don’t see many societies or countries around the world where an ill-educated and ‘repressed’ populace regularly votes in and supports rich Right-wing elites – at least where they get the chance to vote.
In fact I would suggest that it is the Right which benefits from a well-educated and socially mobile poplace. The reason the Left virtually doesn’t exist in the US despite its relatively well-educated population is that the Right represents what most people aspire to – ie being rich.
It was a book I read years ago by one of the better known sociologists – Robert Hare I believe but I could be misremembering.
It’s all about perception and the perception being built by this government and the one in the UK is that they’re making education better.
Nope as has been pointed out. A well educated populace that thinks (really important that bit) will pull down the neo-liberal BS and, eventually, capitalism as well. A populace that’s only taught to the test fails to learn to think and thus can’t as easily pick out the logical holes in the capitalist paradigm.
And there isn’t a hell of a lot of social mobility going on either. In fact, it’s been declining for a long time and even more so after the neo-liberal policies were brought in.
~50% of the populace in the US doesn’t vote and half of those don’t vote for the Republicans. This would indicate that most people aren’t all that enthused with the right (of course, there’s not a hell of a lot of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans).
[delete]
[B:- you were banned for a week on Tuesday. This is only Sunday.]
Sweeping claims with no factual basis, that cannot be evidenced outside of “I read it once, in some book by this guy, but I can’t remember however it must be totally legit because it adheres to my preconceived bias” are far more offensive than any swear word I can lay down.
Use your heads. Logic works.
This Old Chestnut
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_Anxiety
Bonkers!
(however, from small acorns grow mighty folks)
You are so right. Just been reading about Tebbet. What a fucking arsole The Tories do not want a well educated inquiring populace. I have also recently read about the Falklands war. This could have been easily fixed by negotiation, but Thatcher the evil cow knowing that she would lose the next election decided to invade the Falklands. She knew, by using and aided by the British MSM mainly that heap of filth called the Daily Express and using the “Rule Britannia, The Sun Will Never Set on the British Empire” bullshit cards she would win the next election. To her the “Falklands “was a gift from heaven” and a “Get Out of Jail” card. To enhance the “Rule Britannia” bullshit she awarded some prat in charge of a state of the art submarine a “decoration” for sinking a clapped out rusty tub full of sea cadets called the General Belgrano. The stupid poms fell for the “Rule Britannia” bullshit hook line and bloody sinker. and at the next election they voted for her with a landslide victory. To me this was like some medieval king putting on a show to get the peasants on his side to fight a war. This is why the right are shit scared of a well educated populace and do their best to dumb us down. We see this in the MSM with bite sized bits of information with no
indepth inquiries or discussions. If the populace are well educated they will not believe all they read in the excuses for papers or what they see on Fox News. They will ask questions, they will not believe the right wing bullshit. It is not in the interest of the fucking right to have people well educated as they will ask “why”, “how”, and “what for” and more importantly “is that the truth” .
They don’t want a well educated and informed society. National would like the opposite. A society of uneducated, individual self centered citizens so it can maintain power and create a cheap labour force.
The rich get richer and poor get poorer.
yaaaaay, out of “jail”;
RNZ
-Rape Crisis facing funding crisis, tenuous, may have to close doors as they compete for Grants with sports clubs
-S.A-in S.Auck accommadation suppl maxed out Big time (rentiers on imported subsidized steroids)
there was more but I heard the Machine Gun Blues and had Georgias on my mind (Wow, what a soothing voice of voluptuosness; exceelent bait to capture the drosophila)
If we deliberately keep on with apostasy after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for missing the mark is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgement and of raging fire that will consume. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or more witnesses. How much more do you think a person deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son under his foot?
The Lord will judge His people. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were pubicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions (unless of course, solar activity fries all the data) 🙂
So do not throw away your confidence, it will be richly rewarded.
Habakkuk- Yet, my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.
-Kotter
1:5 Look at the nations and watch-and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own; they are a law unto themselves and promote their own honour; Their horses are swifter than Leopards; Their cavalry gallops Headlong; They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; Their hordes advance like a Desert Storm and gather prisoners like sand; Guilty men whose own strength is their god.
Bi noculars see beyond the foreground to what is in the background circling the wagon trains.
-Franklin (J.C)
“RNZ
-Rape Crisis facing funding crisis, tenuous, may have to close doors as they compete for Grants with sports clubs.”
Yeah for a while some time ago I was a member of our local REAP committee, ’til I left in despair and disgust at the amount of money that was being voted by my fellow members to what were little more than Maori social clubs while the Rape Crisis Centers, Charities for the Disabled, Legal Aid Centers, &tc went begging.
“Yet, my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” The reason many righteous ones have hit the buttons on their padded jackets.
What’s a ‘REAP’ committee??
(Sorry for my ignorance).
“Rural Education Activities Programme”.
There are 13 REAPs in New Zealand. Each REAP is a locally -based Incorporated Society or Trust. The Ministry of Education and the Tertiary Education Commission are the main sources of funding. The overall purpose of REAP is to provide educational support to early childhood centres, primary, secondary schools and community groups. REAP promotes and provides learning opportunities that enhance community and personal development.”
Each year we had a couple of $100,000 to distribute to applicants – nothing like enough to meet the needs of a Province, with ‘community groups’ the widest and most ‘flexible’ catagory. I found the sums allocated to a dozen or more Mari and half a dozen Te Reo set-ups in an area with a miniscule Maori population while charities filling desperate needs were refused – some like Refuges and Rape Crisis on the grounds that they weren’t ‘community groups’ – disgusted me, but it was just a personal matter of priorities.
Would it be impolite of me to suggest that you are full of s**t???, i will not ask you to name any of the recipients of the REAP funds but it would be helpful to know which region you are talking of,
So, in this miniscule Maori population there were at least half a dozen Kohanga with bugger all kids in each being given REAP funding???,
Please ennumerate what you consider to be a miniscule Maori population, and last but not least, what exactly is a Mari???…
PS, your whine has as it’s answer the Mission Statement of REAP that you yourself posted above, and i don’t personally see where ‘vote Education’ should be considered as a source of funding for ‘Rape Crisis’ which should be funded from ‘vote health’…
Yes. You make exactly the points I had to fight for several years before I gave up in disgust.
The problem lies with the definitions of “community groups” and “personal development” – or rather the lack of definition we had to work with and the refusal of the officers to provide any guidance. Hence “community groups” was taken by the majority on the committee as meaning “local community groups” so that anything with any national structure was refused ab initio regardless of the fact that the local ‘branch’ or whatever provided services to the local community, was staffed by local volunteers or barely-paid workers and was expected to raise most of its own funds. And “personal development” was vague practically anything could be made to qualify – after all, working to bring down your handicap at golf is “personal development”.
I took and fought for the unpopular view that helping someone get over being raped, or to escape an abusive relationship, or get compensation for an unjustified dismissal &tc, was a necessary first step for them even to begin any kind of “personal development” but, as you pointed out, this is strictly speaking someone else’s financial responsibility and the fact that the funding provided is totally insufficient is a simple matter of inefficient bureaucracy.
No, I won’t say where it was. However I did also have to fight a prevailing view that if we gave money to one Marae we had to give the same to all of them to avoid appearing more supportive of some over others, or if we gave $10,000 to someone undertaking to teach Te Reo in their front room we had to give $10,000 to anyone undertaking to teach Te Reo in their front room with no way whatever of ascertaining the efficacy of such teaching, nor how many children actually benefitted from it.
REAP does a lot of good and the fights I had probably affected no more than 20% if the money distributed at most, and I resigned because it had merely become apparent that my priorities in some areas differed from the majority of the committee and the half-day I occasionally gave up for the process was a waste of my time.
Your answer to my queries is simply a continuance of a series of unsupported allegations directed at Kohanga Reo and Marae,
You provide nothing in the way of ‘facts’ just broaden your unsupported allegations to include ‘giving $10,000 to someone undertaking to teach Maori language ‘in their front room’,
The ‘problem’ as you put it does not lie with the definitions of ‘community group’ and ‘personal development’, when i read those 2 phrases in conjunction with the stated intention of REAP as per EDUCATION it doesn’t take a intellectual giant to figure out the linkages between the 3, education, personal development, and community group,
An example of the above paragraph is a Wellington Marae that takes groups of youths through road safety courses and onto gaining their driving licenses, this fulfills all the REAP aims, it is a community group providing education which leads to the personal development of those involved, really simple if you think about it,
I however get the impression from your series of unsupported allegations,(i would have used the word bullshit,but, i am trying to be polite), that you are deliberately using the hot potato of ‘Rape Crisis’ funding along with the even more spurious ‘get compensation for unjustified dismissal’ as props in what appears to be an anti-Maori
rant in the hope that you will gain support from people here at the Standard via the support those who read these pages have for both those who are unjustifiably dismissed from employment and Rape Crisis/Womens Refuges…
it is all there in read white and black,
C.K Stead y
Future going bananas in Pluto’s banana republic.Goofy
Chinese Leaders embrace simplicity
Arabian nights as autumn fall; Suunis do not Shia divide
In Israel religious communities drive the golf course; Likud licked, another Bennett on the Right
(60,000 deaths in Syria, and counting on a Moscow plan)
“Currency Wars” pass the parcel to more victims of Europa and Bay of Piigs
anxiety ridden children cohorts sky-rocketing over-diagnosis and under-Amelioration of socio-cultural stimulants; Armoured clothes next one hit wonder?
NZQA failing dropouts passed over
Michael’s growing his own and I dig it. Sur l’herbe!
Heat’s on for later summer break
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8146816/Heats-on-for-later-summer-break
“Although the average temperatures for January and February are the same at 22 degrees, the average rainfall is considerably less in February than in January, with 19mm less rain. In January the average number of rain days is 8.2. In February it is 7.5”
What I find astounding in this article is that no-one seems to account for February being 3 days shorter than January (except in leap years when it is 2 day shorter)
Thus rainfall and raindays for February are being counted in a month that is around 10% shorter than January.
Allow for that 10% and the case that weather is ‘better’ in February is shown to be largely an urban myth born out of simple ignorance of the length of these two summer months.
Yeah. Cause…cause…fck, I can’t even make anything up. What is/was O’Reilly on?
Positively Discriminating
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_discrimination#New_Zealand.
playing catch-up when we acknowledge the Power of language and culture; after all that
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_psychology
makes sense Tooby Cosmic
Rolls Royce Engines: the beauty of high value manufacturing
An amazing documentary, showing the kinds of wealth, capability and community that high tech, high added value manufacturing brings. It also makes it clear that this kind of expertise is gained over many years or decades and has to be protected and nurtured over the long term.
just in case “any body” wonders why? the Rogue holds the positions he does, it came about through dedicated reading, life experience, tertiary education, film, literature, and watching documentaries on the variety that exists in our world,(including on the production of food, apparel and other commodities for Years. Years! (i may be one-eyed, yet I keep one eye open) and then came The Standard and you guys, you guys. Like D., I too am a critical realist and I believe it is healthy to discuss “religion”, politics, and sociology in an open forum; thanks to an inspirational woman, (a nurse) I was taught that “the more windows you open, the more light we let in”; however, despite my “critical” gaze, i still believe we are well placed here in Aotearoa New Zealand to muddle through this inevitable storm, padded cells or not.(and although we have different styles, i do respect Cameron), what do I know, I’m just a gardener 🙂 (we are thinking of precis ing back issues of Best Practice; this medication of society is, as a generalization, not healthy, and I have personal relationships with G.P’s who suggest that diet / lifestyle is what is making people unwell (as a generalization) which is ironic when we consider the importance of ‘lifestyle’ to most of us. As Draco once exflamed, the economic system /s we are living under are exploitative and wasteful and sadly we live in the times when those ‘chickens’ are coming home to roost.Dreadful when we consider the BLiP compilation. I also watched parliament consistently live and was astounded at the behaviour and attitudes of many, though clearly there are many well meaning politicians.And the cognitive behaviouralists, don’t get me started (some Lorries are just too light for logging, and they wear out…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_behavior_therapy
is something worth discussing though 🙂
p.s I hope C.S has read and concurred with C.K Stead