Hardware failures at the main server when it got it’s 3 monthly reboot. Problem with a hard disk failure and the RAID not quite working as expected so it didn’t drop the affected disk neatly. And there was a problem anyway with the remote access to the BIOS to change the array. Not to mention that the browsers are getting VERY paranoid about running Java applications.
I’d already managed to destroy (damnit!) the warm backup system (one of my home systems) with an ill-timed screwup a few days ago. Played with QFlash after setting everything up for the new IP address that I got after we moved. It seemed to trash a pile of files on the boot partition. I was actually working on repackaging it…
So I pushed the backups of data, images and code to the cold server, and went to bed at 0300.
I do have to work as well and time is tight. So decided this morning that I would let the hosting techs deal with the hardware in the morning. If everything turned to custard on the drives, I would head home early to kick the cold server into action. It is a pretty small virtual server so capacity wise, I’d have to watch it – something I am loath to do at work.
So I spent this morning and part of the afternoon silently remotely monitoring an increasingly frustrated tech working his way through the process of finding what in the hell was wrong. I could watch him working his way through the bios and booted tools. Nice toolset (I want…)
Pain being out for just over 12 hours. But we’re volunteers and usually short of time and cash. I’d love to have a dedicated warm backup server – but the budget doesn’t stretch that far at present.
Ummm need some more sleep. The coding is a bit sluggish right now.
I will make a donation and I suggest everyone else does the same.
Just think. In the past we paid Wilson and Horton to feed us with tory propaganda. Why not pay the standard to feed us real news and community interaction?
You mean if we donate they will change and start providing us ‘Real news’, where do I sign up? Would be a refreshing change, although I am thouroughly entertained with the current red tinted view of the world.
We don’t provide “news”. Mostly we provide “opinion” with a few facts interspersed and people commenting do the same. Of course the former is pretty much a job description of a journalist. They just have to get used to the blowback (the latter).
Many of them seem to have a problem with that. Personally I think that it will do them quite a lot of good.
But you have yet to tell us what you think – currently you perform the role of useless carping critic with not notable skills. This is merely my opinion, but I suspect it is because you are somewhat too stupid to think.. But is does provide us with a lower benchmark to measure ourselves against. (my nana always told me to look for what people were good at…)
They aren’t a one off cost like buying a machine. It is actually the bandwidth that costs the most over time directly and indirectly.
These days we have a dedicated server running in NZ that costs about ~$333 per month ($290+GST). Traffic is unlimited inside NZ as (a major part) of the server cost, but costs $2/GB for offshore above our limit of 25GB. We typically do somewhere between 180GB and 300GB per month in local traffic (subject to cloudflare)…
We’d typically do between 50 and 150GB in overseas traffic if it is left unconstrained – mostly to spambots, searchbots, and RSS feeds. That is where we get pinged pretty badly. It is all the more annoying because more than 95% of the human clients are inside the NZ net.
So we now have cloudflare ($US 20 per month) which caches the static parts of the site like images and pushes almost all of the traffic local and overseas back on to the Southern Cross cable that the 25GB limit is meant to ration usage of. It also slows the site compared to being on the local net. But it makes our bills a lot more manageable. We effectively feed cloudflare mostly text (because they cache the rest) and they feed that and the cached images to everyone else from multiple servers worldwide.
I also have my home system that these days could handle the traffic load for a few days with cloudflare assisting. Probably more so once the fibre arrives near the door in December. But residential bandwidth is pretty expensive. I usually run that ‘warm’ with a copy running in near real time to the main server with a replicated database and rsynced directory.
And there is a cheap virtual server that sits cold and can be upgraded easily. I mostly use it for out of NZ storage of backups. But has probably been too problematic to run for a number of years as an active server because of CPU usage. The caching from cloudflare may change that and the reason to site in NZ (speed to NZ users) is now moot as we have to run everything from offshore because of the costs of overseas traffic…
We actually make enough from the advertising. However it is somewhat unpredictable when the money arrives. So we concentrate on keeping the costs down.
So a backup server would involve a monthly outlay for bandwidth?
Another $333-odd per month? Ouch!
What happened to the previously user-friendly donate page? I don’t have a smart-phone so can’t use an app.
It’s a wee bit of a disincentive, those without the relevant tech or telebanking having to traipse down to the bank. However will make the effort…
Welcome back The Standard. Thanks for getting her going again Lprent.
The good news is that one Pagani is gone from Labour. It’s far too early to feel anything like optimism about the largest opposition party thus far, but it is good news none the less.
It seems fitting that he’s gone to represent mining interests. Not as fitting as going on a benefit would have been, but of course years of making contacts amongst the rich and powerful go a long way even amongst the ignorant and inept.
ps, my computer kept up a facsimilie of the site from after I turned the computer off last night. Something called cloud fare. Frankly I won’t be surprised if one day the computer starts turning on the kettle of its own accord before I get up in the morning, such are the marvels of technololgy…
Well, 25 odd years ago he was much younger and maybe more radical in his thinking. I did the opposite… started out quite conservative and went further to the Left the older I became.
Aye tis good news. Now hopefully the leader can be given speeches that sound like they were written for the leader of the Labour Party and not for some pale blue tosh.
The above links to a story about The Dowse Gallery being challenged over restrictions to its patrons. I entirely agree with the opinion of the blogger. After watching the 3news video linked to in the piece, I have a question.
On the subject of social privileges, do you think a journalist who watches a restricted artwork and reports its contents to everyone, disrespects the wishes of the artist and participants?
In a world where many fail to recognise the existence of social privileges, I might appear to be looking a little too closely, but it seems that 3News have an opportunity to learn from this too, not just Paul Young and friends. If you are a journalist, you have power to communicate far outside the ability of average people. If someone sees the video and tells their friends what was in it, that is acceptable and the artist would expect it. But if you do it purposely on national TV because you can, for money, for reputation, because it’s the “outrage story” of the moment, then you’ve crossed the line. Especially if one of the defining features of the work has a religious element.
You could say, ah yes but critical reviews are normal, journalists report, what’s the problem?
Normal to who? Are they normal to Muslims? Far as I know, they are not. Isn’t this all about the right way to cross lines? Muslims that challenge Islamic thought must follow strict processes and none of them are anything like the freedoms of journalistic privilege in a western world. If the artist has an agreement with the gallery to uphold certain cultural ideas, then a journalist who wanders in and is allowed to circumvent those agreements hasn’t checked their privilege or extended any courtesies. The gallery could also be at fault here, by simply forgetting about dominant culture, but there is no proof for behind the scenes events.
Yes but artists get criticised, their work is reviewed, it’s normal, how can you say it would be unacceptable, you’re a crazy PC femnobot!
The artist drew explicit lines before the work was offered for viewing. The gallery accepted those terms, potential patrons knew the terms. Anyone who knew the terms and broke them committed a violence. Ill-gotten gains, receiving stolen goods, legal entrapment, blackmail, are all generally viewed as unacceptable in mainstream white culture. In order to maintain the moral high ground, we have to be sure we don’t commit any immoral acts along the way, ourselves.
In this case, did the journalist misuse the privilege of being allowed to see the video by then clambering over the artist’s work with their own culture (the self importance of “being the first to view”) and privilege (the ability to address thousands or millions with a review), setting up a situation where the description wrongly tore away some of the privacy necessary for the installation to retain its natural integrity?
Has the work now been compromised by that rough description, not because of the description per see, but the way the review was undertaken?
For example, the journalist could have chosen to re-iterate the description given by the artist or gallery, or simply smiled and said, “Well I guess you blokes will never know. But it’s good.” instead of a pop culture analogy. Is there now the suggestion that the work has been judged by mainstream popular white culture as “nothing to get worked up about”? Cheapened by comparing religion, art and Islamic culture to an afternoon with the Kardashians? To be able to make such an analogy could suggest that any subtle messages in the artwork went totally over the viewer’s head, but that doesn’t mean the work hasn’t been labelled to invite prejudice.
And if the artwork is “nothing to get worked up about”, does that help to muddle and sideline the central issue of privilege, allowing uninformed people to think this is just a case of PC Gone Mad? Does it make the job of attacking the artwork, artist, Muslims, women, minorities, human rights and the gallery, easier? Did the journalist commit a form of cultural violence/undermining brought about by unexamined privilege?
NB: The journalist was a woman, naturally, otherwise she couldn’t have seen the video. I do not in any way suggest that because a journalist, who is a woman, may have done something wrong, that now every man and his dog is justified in doing as they please and that all issues of privilege are now void. These questions are to examine journalistic ethics (that will no doubt make some people laugh), identifying privilege and using privilege constructively.
been there while TS down, may not be my cup of tea
whole lotta questions to be subsumed above
hope you got the Very Excellent for *natural history* item
Early Mousterian man-50,000-100,000 ya
currently we share probably 96% material with our hirsute companions
yet
35M single-nucleotide changes represent about 1% of genome
yet
the proteins directly coded by genes are highly conserved (29% identical, rest differ maybe two aminos on average)
Then, there is those pesky ancient repetitive elements (Are’s)
check out mice
i am not paying to read the herald online, passed over enough money to feel unwell
On the subject of social privileges, do you think a journalist who watches a restricted artwork and reports its contents to everyone, disrespects the wishes of the artist and participants?
I was a little uncomfortable with this, but I don’t think it really breached the spirit of the request that only women view the exhibit. Plenty of articles had already said “they’re getting ready for a wedding, putting on makeup, etc” – the fact is that only the journalist saw the women unveiled, she didn’t name them or publish images of them.
Someone with more knowledge of the culture would be able to say if they think it’s disrespectful or breaching the spirit of the women’s privacy.
Yeah, I/S has a good write-up about that over on No Right Turn. Can’t say that I’m surprised – it’s what you get from a bunch of dictators upset that democracy is taking their wealth streams from them.
Same old Democrat centre right economic policy, leavened with delicious cluebatting of the Tea Bag Party’s abysmal failures to understand economics101 and why co-operation has empirically better outcome than teh GOP’s current “everyone for themselves!” meme. Plus the usual highlighting of why civil rights matter in terms of preventing people being part of society and how various aspects of poverty have very negative outcomes for the USA. With a big freaking dose of “I do give a fuck about these issues” and humour.
And amusingly the GOP response has been mostly silence with the Tea Baggers going all a twit’ with ZOMG: “DEMOCRATS BOOED GOD!”.
Has Obama fucked up? Yeap, a lot of the Republican’s are lost cases and should have never had any positions of responsibility in the Obama Administration concerning anything to do with science. Then there’s the continued use of Bush era laws to hide government actions and allow violations of civil rights both in and outside of the USA, slow movement at the federal level on LGBT rights plus the bailout. On the other hand though, the GOP has lost it’s brains completely and utterly, so a Mitt Romney presidency + Paul the Granny Starver Ryan etc is pure doom…
Not too sure why everyone thinks the sun shines out of WJC’s ass.
The economic boom during his presidency was more apparent than real, largely created by housing booms and the the expansion of credit, with a hell of a lot of people being left behind. His welfare reforms hit the poor extremely hard leading to hardship, creating a new underclass and the jobs kept streaming offshore.
I dont rate him at all really. He is no Roosevelt (the all time best), Kennedy or even a Johnson.
Wow! wotta day. be wary that habits do not form u. (no standard to continue on reading)
ya know, it is just one freakin thing after another with NZ
most here are literary, have a gander at the first paragraph of Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….Light…..Darkness…..we had everything before us, we had nothing before us..”
i regularly meet and encounter many middle-aged adult New Zealanders who do not have literacy above early intermediate level, of all ethnicities
I love watching Rachel Smalley on channel 3; i suspect she has a compassionate heart and leanings in our direction, but that is only speculation, and we all know what that’s about, know do we not?
Putin was wonderful to watch on RT today, particularly when compared and contrasted with print articles regarding his veiws today also
i check out NEWS NOW online occasionally, that covers the zeitgeist; today highlighted the U.S-Israel “spat” (clever journalism) over Iran, ya get corroborating perspectives, ya get the drift,
anyway, Putin highlighted the present Russia-China relationship, characterised by him as “at an unprecedented high….of mutual trust…developed over 1000’s of years
meanwhile the signal being sent by Singapore at the Communist Party School lectures is that there be equivalent relationships with u.s and China (they continue to benefit)
likely successor to the Party is at school there i believe. Yup
Putin-“drugs from Afganistan increase 60% in the last year, wtf? are there not a lot of international military types there? and it is continuing to flood Europe.wow! revenge is a dish best served up Cold
these freakin fasci…was one myself once…that is wot ‘appens when you wanna be your own god,
oi oi oi
well, bound because individually they are weak and fragile, been there had the patches, weirdos
Act 1: 18, (With that reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out…)
yes it is the NIV, so every one who is able and chooses to can read the freakin thing, priest…
28, You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.
I met some Beautiful maori people at a small fellowship last night
formerly they were down, and out
Now, Beautiful People, as they were to be
Maori People are Beautiful People with challenging Big Hearts
ol Martin Luther aye? some Dread
Day-Hebrew-‘Yom’ is used in different senses in the Genesis story
ex-nihilo-from nothing-go there
remember proximate cause and Ultimate cause (Aristotle)
‘pretty’ Lamarckian
then there is Ichneumonidae-Darwin could not really understand those but we can, can we not
do you know, some dinosaurs had rheumatic joints (in the fossil record)
There is at least 12 to follow around these here parts (purty Lamarckian)
joe, CV, D, Board, Dr, Murray, Olwyn, Carol, Rosie, Iprent, QoT(if your cup of tea, important work) and U-Turn, so follow McFlock to Sanctuary
Pr 1:17- How useless to spread a net in full view of the birds! These men (gender neutral nowadays)
lie in wait for their own blood;
I was at the airport the other day, and happened to see Jerry waddling towards me, I said “Jerry Brownlee”, he looked at me, and as I had his attention I said “You fat fuck” … he said “Thank you” about 10 – 20 people were in hearing distance, I wish every politician would was shown that much respect each time they went out in public, then maybe their egos wouldn’t be so big.?
Listening to yet more reports on the US Democrat convention, I was thinking about how so much of our news comes from the US (as well as the UK). But even strong lefties spend a lot of time discussing US political issues. Undoubtedly, its imperialistic power mean that it has a big influence on our lives. But, I decided I’d like to hear more from other countries we might learn from, such as Scandinavian and South American countries.
First I did a search on news from Finland. I did notice that it’s economy is experiencing some contraction right now. However, I also found this interesting op ed on Finland’s education system (albeit in a US newspaper), and why it is so successful.
The author, Pasi Sahlberg, is director general of Finland’s Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation. He has served the Finnish government in various positions, worked for the World Bank in Washington D.C. and for the European Training Foundation in Italy as senior education specialist.
Sahlberg describes Finland as a very competitive ‘market economy’ (a negative I’d have thought), but also says that,
Finland has come to be known as a nation where educational quality, equity, and productivity exist simultaneously.
He identifies 3 main provisions that ensure all Finnish children get a good education. But he also identifies an underlying reason why those provisions have been made: the relative gender equality, with significant numbers of women in top positions in central government, public life and commerce. He quotes Education historian Diane Ravitch, who criticises the corporatisation of US schools, reforming the schools along the lines of business practices, as being carried out by the “Billionaire Boys’ Club.”
The 3 fundamental provisions he identifies are:
1)
the support parents receive from the health care system prior to and right after the birth of the child. Welfare policies in Finland guarantee free health care for the mother and her infant. Parents are also issued a fully paid 12-month parental leave that parents must share between one another
2)
the country’s early childhood development and care system that is accessible to all families.
3)
a strong, systematic focus on child well being once formal schooling begins. For example, every school must have a Pupil Welfare Team that deals with all possible issues related to children’s learning, development, behavior or health in school and at home.
… Moreover, a free hot and healthful school lunch for all children has been a norm in all Finnish schools for 70 years.
Sahlberg says that,
What distinguishes Finland from the United States and many other nations in child well-being policies is accessibility and affordability. In Finland, all children and families have the same right to childcare, health and educational services regardless of socioeconomic status. Another difference is that the primary purpose of early childhood education in Finland is not to enhance children’s readiness for school. It is to support families in raising healthy and happy children.
I am having trouble putting in a proposal to the MMP Review on their web site on this the last day. The 7th September is stated but not a finishing time that I could see and there does not seems to be any box to enter a proposal on line – as if that has been withdrawn although it is before 5.30 pm and I think it should be open to midnight.
Also it is strange that a late proposal is dated 5.59 pm when the time is still about 5.30 pm.
The one before is 5.58pm. It’s almost as if times are being allocated rather than recorded.
SEPTEMBER 06, 2012 Why Desmond Tutu is Right About Bush & Blair Inside the CIA Dossier on Iraq
by VIJAY PRASHAD
Last week, Bishop Desmond Tutu was to sit beside former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair at the cringingly named Discovery Invest Leadership Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. Tutu, one of the main moral voices in the anti-Apartheid struggle, decided to withdraw. He could not stand to sit next to Blair, or to Tony’s mate, George W. Bush because they had “fabricated the grounds [for war on Iraq] to behave like playground bullies.” Stingingly, in The Observer (September 1), Tutu recounted how he had called the White House a few days before the 2003 invasion, spoke to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and asked her to give the UN weapons inspectors more time to do their work. But “Ms. Rice demurred, saying there was too much risk and the president would not postpone any longer.” The US and UK went to war, and according to Tutu, “More than 110,000 Iraqis have died in the conflict since 2003 and millions have been displaced. By the end of last year, nearly 4,500 American soldiers had been killed and more than 32,000 wounded.”
Amnesia over Iraq has already set in. President Obama refused to countenance any prosecution for Bush era officials (and Bush himself) for the fabrications that Tutu alleges. In the UK, the Chilcot Inquiry on the Iraq War has finished its deliberations, but Sir John Chilcot has delayed the release of the final report for a full year because of wrangling to prevent Blair’s private letters to Bush from being revealed (he perhaps does not want to allow validation that in a July 2002 note he wrote, “You know, George, whatever you decide to do, I’m with you). At his appearances at the Inquiry, Blair admitted that the Iraqis were continuing to allow weapons inspectors, and that, as Sir Lawrence Freedman suggested, they had “started to reap dividends.” However, Blair worried that Saddam was “back to his old games” and was not capable of a “change of heart.” In his paper-thin memoirs, A Journey, Blair notes the question of regret for the war should not be a public question, but it can only be asked and answered “in the quiet reflection of the soul.”
If this were a universal standard, then Syria’s Bashar Assad can relax, and so should all those who are threatened with arrest and trial at the International Criminal Court. They too should be allowed to claim that retrospective analysis of war crimes is a matter of the “quiet reflection of the soul,” not public, legal accountability. …..
Amnesia over Iraq has already set in. President Obama refused to countenance any prosecution for Bush era officials (and Bush himself) for the fabrications that Tutu alleges.
Prosecuting a former President (or his staff )would set a dangerous precedent for Obama when he himself left office, would it not?
Looking around for something of interest on Argentina, this morning, I came across this review of a book that documents the history of the anarchist movement of the turn from the 19th to 20th century, one that involved a widespread development of grass roots, direct democracy. The book is by Juan Suriano, Paradoxes of Utopia
When the Argentine economy collapsed in 2001, many were surprised by the factory takeovers and neighbourhood assemblies that resulted. But workers’ control and direct democracy have long histories in Argentina, where from the late nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, anarchism was the main revolutionary ideology of the labour movement and other social struggles.
…
For Juan Suriano, that’s just one part of the story. Paradoxes of Utopia gives us an engaging look at fin de siècle Buenos Aires that brings to life the vibrant culture behind one of the world’s largest anarchist movements challenging the myth that anarchist was merely a euro-centric movement: the radical schools, newspapers, theatres, and social clubs that made revolution a way of life. Cultural history in the best sense, Paradoxes of Utopia explores how a revolutionary ideology was woven into the ordinary lives of tens of thousands of people, creating a complex tapestry of symbols, rituals, and daily practices that supported-and indeed created the possibility of-the Argentine labour movement.
Suriano attributes the decline of the anarchism movement to a mixture of state repression and the rise of the welfare state, electoral democracy, and, what sounds like the acceptance of unions for negotiating for workers in the workplace:
However, by 1910 the Argentine anarchist movement in terms of numbers and influence was in steady decline mainly due to brutal state repression, but the growth of social welfare in housing, education and work, voting rights and institutionalisation of labour disputes all contributing with the author pointing out that ‘there is no doubt that the tendency toward self-marginalisation, combined with their reluctance to analyse or even note domestic particularities, dramatically facilitated their separation from the workers’.
There are lessons here, with Suiano concluding that there’s no easy route to building direct participant democracy, it’s a long hard process. I don’t know how such a movement can ensure they eventually don’t become victims of “brutal state repression”.
By ensuring that a workers movement has representation in every political party, as well as its own, and all parts of the social fabric of society.
Well that’s kind of what the “neoliberals” did for themselves over the last few decades. So it’s a big task to flush them out, and bring some sense and grass roots democracy back into every section of society.
In the judgement Justice Venning said he thought the court should be cautious about making judgements based on decisions made and conclusions drawn by a specialist body such as NIWA.
He said NIWA acted “within its own sphere of expertise”.
Justice Venning said unless the trust could point to some defect in NIWA’s decision-making process or show that the decision was clearly wrong in principle or in law the court could not intervene.
“This Court should not seek to determine or resolve scientific questions demanding the evaluation of contentious expert opinion.”
This release was jointly prepared by, and is endorsed by:
Associate Professor James Renwick, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington
Professor Jim Salinger, currently visiting Stanford University
Professor Martin Manning, Climate Change Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington
Professor Peter Barrett, Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington
Professor (Emeritus) Blair Fitzharris, University of Otago
Professor Keith Hunter, Pro-Vice Chancellor Science, University of Otago
Spokesperson for the group, Associate Professor James Renwick of Victoria University said he was pleased that the court had respected and reaffirmed the credibility of the scientific process. It was a strong message to those wanting to challenge widely-agreed scientific findings to do so honestly and openly in scientific forums.
Barry Brill and, I suspect, the ACT party were behind this nonsense, Brill set up the trust fronting the action. I hope they get screwed with substantial costs.
Judgment said NIWA are entitled to costs, not only the court.
“The plaintiff does not succeed on any of its challenges to the three decisions of NIWA in issue. The application for judicial review is dismissed and judgment entered for the defendant. [and] The defendant is entitled to costs.”
They most assuredly were… lead by that obsessional nincompoop, John Boscawen. It was nothing but an ideologically motivated political ploy to try and embarrass the climate scientists and thus infer global warming to be a fake. They never had a show in hell of succeeding, but their own tunnel-visioned arrogance and self-deceit gave them the lie they would win.
I contributed to a small portion of the data involved, and the checks and balances in place were in strict accordance with WMO (World Meteorological Organisation) guidelines.
They were hoisted by their own ignorance. Ha ha ha ha!
In defending the claim, NIWA has spent a huge amount (estimated at well over $100,000) and has diverted a number of its scientists away from their research. The country can ill afford to waste such an amount. “This misguided action of a small group adds confusion to a simple issue – the world is warming and future generations of New Zealanders will have to deal with the consequences” Dr Renwick said.
I hope this story gets a bit of international exposure. It will help discredit these foolish but dangerous global warming deniers.
It doesn’t discourage them though , here are some of the culprits and their cheerleaders, busy spinning defeat into victory.
Warning: You will be entering an alternative reality
didja see mccully weaseling out of the marine reserve in the Ross Sea.
these guys will bend over backward for buck.
ooops…better be careful about what I say.
By the Elder Gods, wtf Australia? You couldn’t even get away with that level of outright, naked misogyny in the US Senate without committing political suicide. Oh and Larry Pickering is one colossal creep /shudder
btw, please put “trigger warning” on stuff like that, some out there haven’t had it easy on this sort of shit 🙁
Where you bin Nick. Good ole godzone led the way on this with the deliberate and well-funded Helenhate campaign of 05-08.
Among other write- and talk-back efforts of note, that nice Cam Slater (son of a National Party president and pushbike partner of the mallard) published pornographic material with Helen’s head attached and along with that nice David Farrar currently appearing on nice Jim Mora’s panel published every possible mysogenistic hatred-inciting comment imagineable including exhortations for her assassination.
Worked a treat. A true kiwi initiative. Our local mysogenistic hatemongering had comparatively limited effect, but: “bitch” never quite segued to the current aussie “witch”, perhaps because Helen had neither red hair, sharp nose, nor intelligence below that of 99% of the population.
Poor old Julia’s doomed. Latest victim of the massive 1950 – 70s US-funded Catholic anti-socialist propaganda efforts now brought to fruition and propogated by the Joyces, Englishes and anti-gay-voting Findlaysons of our day.
And black days too for poor old Jesus. Just as the last corrupt manipulators of His legacy enter their well-deserved hell, their hapless and brain-washed immigrant protegees rally to the hands that feed bread alone and keep the money-changers in the temple. To their own, ultimate, but fantasy-leavened detriment.
But He works in mysterious ways. If we had to give the world Helenhate as a prelude to UN Helen, Labourlite, the Mana Maori Party and GreenLab, perhaps that’s a small price.
Ah, too sleep deprived and not active on the NZ political blog scene until post-Labour 😛
My flatmate Tui actually sort of introduced me to this place I think, or at least the road that lead to it.
I remember some of that too, but it never really made into the mainstream media enough for me to notice it, where as the one is AUS has hit the mainstream at a rather horrifyingly broad level.
And was that a Farrar of Kiwiblog aka the sewer or the one on TV3 who has a massive bias against Labour and who “helped” Chris Carter end his political career?
And Julia’s initial problem was fucking Kevin Rudd’s inability to accept his well deserved fate. He stuffed up and the party made it clear it no longer had confidence in him as the leader. This opened up a hole for the media to exploit and created a fair few issues vis party in-fighting. Which, if it were less of an issue, might have given Gillard more support and allowed the party to fight back against the outright misogynistic bullshit the right has been throwing at her.
Oh, and some of us are atheists 😛
Also on ” intelligence below 99%…” Explain it please, because Gillard very much has a working brain and more apparent intelligence than Ruddkips.
So THIS is going on in this country, and apparently the majority of the population go along with this, thinking the persons affected are largely maligners and “bludgers”.
What a bloody disgrace this country has become, I’d say! Also there is NO solution for the capable to stay here and partake in a growing, successful economy.
As a migrant from a developed country, I ask why I ever bothered coming back to such a mean spirited, unfair, unsympathetic and bullshit country, selling itself as “clean green”, “humane”, “fair” and whatever, while in reality most are at each other’s throats.
The truth is, that is what happens in a depressed, impoverished, divided and manipulated society. That is what NZ has become. I hate it. Better bloody make sure it changes, or you will lose many more fair minded, educated, reasonable, well qualified and capable people, as you are doing every bloody week.
Key must be put out of office tomorrow, not in two years, MR USELESS SHEARER!
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There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
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Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
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Well that was a pain.
Hardware failures at the main server when it got it’s 3 monthly reboot. Problem with a hard disk failure and the RAID not quite working as expected so it didn’t drop the affected disk neatly. And there was a problem anyway with the remote access to the BIOS to change the array. Not to mention that the browsers are getting VERY paranoid about running Java applications.
I’d already managed to destroy (damnit!) the warm backup system (one of my home systems) with an ill-timed screwup a few days ago. Played with QFlash after setting everything up for the new IP address that I got after we moved. It seemed to trash a pile of files on the boot partition. I was actually working on repackaging it…
So I pushed the backups of data, images and code to the cold server, and went to bed at 0300.
I do have to work as well and time is tight. So decided this morning that I would let the hosting techs deal with the hardware in the morning. If everything turned to custard on the drives, I would head home early to kick the cold server into action. It is a pretty small virtual server so capacity wise, I’d have to watch it – something I am loath to do at work.
So I spent this morning and part of the afternoon silently remotely monitoring an increasingly frustrated tech working his way through the process of finding what in the hell was wrong. I could watch him working his way through the bios and booted tools. Nice toolset (I want…)
Pain being out for just over 12 hours. But we’re volunteers and usually short of time and cash. I’d love to have a dedicated warm backup server – but the budget doesn’t stretch that far at present.
Ummm need some more sleep. The coding is a bit sluggish right now.
Thanks lprent.
pain is generally a positive protective mechanism warning of hazards
Thanks and where can we make contributions ?
Always willing to take people’s money… Donate here, these days the direct to the bank account is the best…
Good idea TC.
I will make a donation and I suggest everyone else does the same.
Just think. In the past we paid Wilson and Horton to feed us with tory propaganda. Why not pay the standard to feed us real news and community interaction?
You mean if we donate they will change and start providing us ‘Real news’, where do I sign up? Would be a refreshing change, although I am thouroughly entertained with the current red tinted view of the world.
Oh Bob, so sure of your world view, so unwilling to actually say what it is.
We don’t provide “news”. Mostly we provide “opinion” with a few facts interspersed and people commenting do the same. Of course the former is pretty much a job description of a journalist. They just have to get used to the blowback (the latter).
Many of them seem to have a problem with that. Personally I think that it will do them quite a lot of good.
But you have yet to tell us what you think – currently you perform the role of useless carping critic with not notable skills. This is merely my opinion, but I suspect it is because you are somewhat too stupid to think.. But is does provide us with a lower benchmark to measure ourselves against. (my nana always told me to look for what people were good at…)
…backup server – but the budget doesn’t stretch that far at present…
How much? Maybe we could have a whip round.
They aren’t a one off cost like buying a machine. It is actually the bandwidth that costs the most over time directly and indirectly.
These days we have a dedicated server running in NZ that costs about ~$333 per month ($290+GST). Traffic is unlimited inside NZ as (a major part) of the server cost, but costs $2/GB for offshore above our limit of 25GB. We typically do somewhere between 180GB and 300GB per month in local traffic (subject to cloudflare)…
We’d typically do between 50 and 150GB in overseas traffic if it is left unconstrained – mostly to spambots, searchbots, and RSS feeds. That is where we get pinged pretty badly. It is all the more annoying because more than 95% of the human clients are inside the NZ net.
So we now have cloudflare ($US 20 per month) which caches the static parts of the site like images and pushes almost all of the traffic local and overseas back on to the Southern Cross cable that the 25GB limit is meant to ration usage of. It also slows the site compared to being on the local net. But it makes our bills a lot more manageable. We effectively feed cloudflare mostly text (because they cache the rest) and they feed that and the cached images to everyone else from multiple servers worldwide.
I also have my home system that these days could handle the traffic load for a few days with cloudflare assisting. Probably more so once the fibre arrives near the door in December. But residential bandwidth is pretty expensive. I usually run that ‘warm’ with a copy running in near real time to the main server with a replicated database and rsynced directory.
And there is a cheap virtual server that sits cold and can be upgraded easily. I mostly use it for out of NZ storage of backups. But has probably been too problematic to run for a number of years as an active server because of CPU usage. The caching from cloudflare may change that and the reason to site in NZ (speed to NZ users) is now moot as we have to run everything from offshore because of the costs of overseas traffic…
We actually make enough from the advertising. However it is somewhat unpredictable when the money arrives. So we concentrate on keeping the costs down.
So a backup server would involve a monthly outlay for bandwidth?
Another $333-odd per month? Ouch!
What happened to the previously user-friendly donate page? I don’t have a smart-phone so can’t use an app.
It’s a wee bit of a disincentive, those without the relevant tech or telebanking having to traipse down to the bank. However will make the effort…
I haven’t looked at paypal for years. I see what you mean. I think I might remove it from the donations page.
But I usually pay things using internet banking these days. That is pretty easy. One call to the bank should be able to set it up.
Thanks for getting it going again, Lynn.
I amused myself writing up a couple of posts offline this morning before I went out. Will post one below.
Welcome back The Standard. Thanks for getting her going again Lprent.
The good news is that one Pagani is gone from Labour. It’s far too early to feel anything like optimism about the largest opposition party thus far, but it is good news none the less.
It seems fitting that he’s gone to represent mining interests. Not as fitting as going on a benefit would have been, but of course years of making contacts amongst the rich and powerful go a long way even amongst the ignorant and inept.
ps, my computer kept up a facsimilie of the site from after I turned the computer off last night. Something called cloud fare. Frankly I won’t be surprised if one day the computer starts turning on the kettle of its own accord before I get up in the morning, such are the marvels of technololgy…
Labour insider moves to NZOG
Surprised the he was once part of New Labour though.
[lprent: fixed the link. ]
Oil & Gas
How appropriate.
Like you huh, full of piss and wind and vinegar but not much else.
Well, 25 odd years ago he was much younger and maybe more radical in his thinking. I did the opposite… started out quite conservative and went further to the Left the older I became.
Ditto…
Well, I meant that he’s unctuous and flatulent.
Same here. Impending environmental doom really focusses the mind.
One down……….
@ David H
lol
Aye tis good news. Now hopefully the leader can be given speeches that sound like they were written for the leader of the Labour Party and not for some pale blue tosh.
The Labour Leader as a speech reader. Reads whatever is put in front of him. So inspiring.
SP thats how you get a golden parachute
He’s FUCKING GONE! 😀
This plus Bill Clinton’s DNC speech has made my day after some bloody horrible stuff (trigger warning, sexual harassment, 1, 2 )
This is about journalism. One of the blogs I read is this one:
http://ideologicallyimpure.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/the-thin-end-of-the-wedge-art-edition/#comments
The above links to a story about The Dowse Gallery being challenged over restrictions to its patrons. I entirely agree with the opinion of the blogger. After watching the 3news video linked to in the piece, I have a question.
On the subject of social privileges, do you think a journalist who watches a restricted artwork and reports its contents to everyone, disrespects the wishes of the artist and participants?
In a world where many fail to recognise the existence of social privileges, I might appear to be looking a little too closely, but it seems that 3News have an opportunity to learn from this too, not just Paul Young and friends. If you are a journalist, you have power to communicate far outside the ability of average people. If someone sees the video and tells their friends what was in it, that is acceptable and the artist would expect it. But if you do it purposely on national TV because you can, for money, for reputation, because it’s the “outrage story” of the moment, then you’ve crossed the line. Especially if one of the defining features of the work has a religious element.
You could say, ah yes but critical reviews are normal, journalists report, what’s the problem?
Normal to who? Are they normal to Muslims? Far as I know, they are not. Isn’t this all about the right way to cross lines? Muslims that challenge Islamic thought must follow strict processes and none of them are anything like the freedoms of journalistic privilege in a western world. If the artist has an agreement with the gallery to uphold certain cultural ideas, then a journalist who wanders in and is allowed to circumvent those agreements hasn’t checked their privilege or extended any courtesies. The gallery could also be at fault here, by simply forgetting about dominant culture, but there is no proof for behind the scenes events.
Yes but artists get criticised, their work is reviewed, it’s normal, how can you say it would be unacceptable, you’re a crazy PC femnobot!
The artist drew explicit lines before the work was offered for viewing. The gallery accepted those terms, potential patrons knew the terms. Anyone who knew the terms and broke them committed a violence. Ill-gotten gains, receiving stolen goods, legal entrapment, blackmail, are all generally viewed as unacceptable in mainstream white culture. In order to maintain the moral high ground, we have to be sure we don’t commit any immoral acts along the way, ourselves.
In this case, did the journalist misuse the privilege of being allowed to see the video by then clambering over the artist’s work with their own culture (the self importance of “being the first to view”) and privilege (the ability to address thousands or millions with a review), setting up a situation where the description wrongly tore away some of the privacy necessary for the installation to retain its natural integrity?
Has the work now been compromised by that rough description, not because of the description per see, but the way the review was undertaken?
For example, the journalist could have chosen to re-iterate the description given by the artist or gallery, or simply smiled and said, “Well I guess you blokes will never know. But it’s good.” instead of a pop culture analogy. Is there now the suggestion that the work has been judged by mainstream popular white culture as “nothing to get worked up about”? Cheapened by comparing religion, art and Islamic culture to an afternoon with the Kardashians? To be able to make such an analogy could suggest that any subtle messages in the artwork went totally over the viewer’s head, but that doesn’t mean the work hasn’t been labelled to invite prejudice.
And if the artwork is “nothing to get worked up about”, does that help to muddle and sideline the central issue of privilege, allowing uninformed people to think this is just a case of PC Gone Mad? Does it make the job of attacking the artwork, artist, Muslims, women, minorities, human rights and the gallery, easier? Did the journalist commit a form of cultural violence/undermining brought about by unexamined privilege?
NB: The journalist was a woman, naturally, otherwise she couldn’t have seen the video. I do not in any way suggest that because a journalist, who is a woman, may have done something wrong, that now every man and his dog is justified in doing as they please and that all issues of privilege are now void. These questions are to examine journalistic ethics (that will no doubt make some people laugh), identifying privilege and using privilege constructively.
been there while TS down, may not be my cup of tea
whole lotta questions to be subsumed above
hope you got the Very Excellent for *natural history* item
Early Mousterian man-50,000-100,000 ya
currently we share probably 96% material with our hirsute companions
yet
35M single-nucleotide changes represent about 1% of genome
yet
the proteins directly coded by genes are highly conserved (29% identical, rest differ maybe two aminos on average)
Then, there is those pesky ancient repetitive elements (Are’s)
check out mice
i am not paying to read the herald online, passed over enough money to feel unwell
On the subject of social privileges, do you think a journalist who watches a restricted artwork and reports its contents to everyone, disrespects the wishes of the artist and participants?
I was a little uncomfortable with this, but I don’t think it really breached the spirit of the request that only women view the exhibit. Plenty of articles had already said “they’re getting ready for a wedding, putting on makeup, etc” – the fact is that only the journalist saw the women unveiled, she didn’t name them or publish images of them.
Someone with more knowledge of the culture would be able to say if they think it’s disrespectful or breaching the spirit of the women’s privacy.
Authoritarian arses.
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/environment-canterbury-commissioners-stay
http://www.dia.govt.nz/Resource-material-Our-Policy-Advice-Areas-Environment-Canterbury
Yeah, I/S has a good write-up about that over on No Right Turn. Can’t say that I’m surprised – it’s what you get from a bunch of dictators upset that democracy is taking their wealth streams from them.
Grrrrrrrr.
And of course the rural National supporters wont give a toss, despite the irony over their ETS whinging etc.
science IS Wonderful imo Joe.:)
more soon
Farmers, big business and big iwi want all the water to themselves and as far as they are concerned, domestic and recerational users can get stuffed.
And here’s Bill Clinton’s DNC speech:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/40869_Video-_President_Bill_Clintons_Remarks_at_the_2012_Democratic_National_Convention
Same old Democrat centre right economic policy, leavened with delicious cluebatting of the Tea Bag Party’s abysmal failures to understand economics101 and why co-operation has empirically better outcome than teh GOP’s current “everyone for themselves!” meme. Plus the usual highlighting of why civil rights matter in terms of preventing people being part of society and how various aspects of poverty have very negative outcomes for the USA. With a big freaking dose of “I do give a fuck about these issues” and humour.
And amusingly the GOP response has been mostly silence with the Tea Baggers going all a twit’ with ZOMG: “DEMOCRATS BOOED GOD!”.
Has Obama fucked up? Yeap, a lot of the Republican’s are lost cases and should have never had any positions of responsibility in the Obama Administration concerning anything to do with science. Then there’s the continued use of Bush era laws to hide government actions and allow violations of civil rights both in and outside of the USA, slow movement at the federal level on LGBT rights plus the bailout. On the other hand though, the GOP has lost it’s brains completely and utterly, so a Mitt Romney presidency + Paul the Granny Starver Ryan etc is pure doom…
Not too sure why everyone thinks the sun shines out of WJC’s ass.
The economic boom during his presidency was more apparent than real, largely created by housing booms and the the expansion of credit, with a hell of a lot of people being left behind. His welfare reforms hit the poor extremely hard leading to hardship, creating a new underclass and the jobs kept streaming offshore.
I dont rate him at all really. He is no Roosevelt (the all time best), Kennedy or even a Johnson.
Just a thought, pagani may cause an explosion when he tries to turn oil and gas into water 🙂
Wow! wotta day. be wary that habits do not form u. (no standard to continue on reading)
ya know, it is just one freakin thing after another with NZ
most here are literary, have a gander at the first paragraph of Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….Light…..Darkness…..we had everything before us, we had nothing before us..”
i regularly meet and encounter many middle-aged adult New Zealanders who do not have literacy above early intermediate level, of all ethnicities
I love watching Rachel Smalley on channel 3; i suspect she has a compassionate heart and leanings in our direction, but that is only speculation, and we all know what that’s about, know do we not?
Putin was wonderful to watch on RT today, particularly when compared and contrasted with print articles regarding his veiws today also
i check out NEWS NOW online occasionally, that covers the zeitgeist; today highlighted the U.S-Israel “spat” (clever journalism) over Iran, ya get corroborating perspectives, ya get the drift,
anyway, Putin highlighted the present Russia-China relationship, characterised by him as “at an unprecedented high….of mutual trust…developed over 1000’s of years
meanwhile the signal being sent by Singapore at the Communist Party School lectures is that there be equivalent relationships with u.s and China (they continue to benefit)
likely successor to the Party is at school there i believe. Yup
Putin-“drugs from Afganistan increase 60% in the last year, wtf? are there not a lot of international military types there? and it is continuing to flood Europe.wow! revenge is a dish best served up Cold
these freakin fasci…was one myself once…that is wot ‘appens when you wanna be your own god,
oi oi oi
well, bound because individually they are weak and fragile, been there had the patches, weirdos
Act 1: 18, (With that reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out…)
yes it is the NIV, so every one who is able and chooses to can read the freakin thing, priest…
28, You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.
I met some Beautiful maori people at a small fellowship last night
formerly they were down, and out
Now, Beautiful People, as they were to be
Maori People are Beautiful People with challenging Big Hearts
ol Martin Luther aye? some Dread
Day-Hebrew-‘Yom’ is used in different senses in the Genesis story
ex-nihilo-from nothing-go there
remember proximate cause and Ultimate cause (Aristotle)
‘pretty’ Lamarckian
then there is Ichneumonidae-Darwin could not really understand those but we can, can we not
do you know, some dinosaurs had rheumatic joints (in the fossil record)
There is at least 12 to follow around these here parts (purty Lamarckian)
joe, CV, D, Board, Dr, Murray, Olwyn, Carol, Rosie, Iprent, QoT(if your cup of tea, important work) and U-Turn, so follow McFlock to Sanctuary
Pr 1:17- How useless to spread a net in full view of the birds! These men (gender neutral nowadays)
lie in wait for their own blood;
OR,
Acts 2: 44-
I was at the airport the other day, and happened to see Jerry waddling towards me, I said “Jerry Brownlee”, he looked at me, and as I had his attention I said “You fat fuck” … he said “Thank you” about 10 – 20 people were in hearing distance, I wish every politician would was shown that much respect each time they went out in public, then maybe their egos wouldn’t be so big.?
Listening to yet more reports on the US Democrat convention, I was thinking about how so much of our news comes from the US (as well as the UK). But even strong lefties spend a lot of time discussing US political issues. Undoubtedly, its imperialistic power mean that it has a big influence on our lives. But, I decided I’d like to hear more from other countries we might learn from, such as Scandinavian and South American countries.
First I did a search on news from Finland. I did notice that it’s economy is experiencing some contraction right now. However, I also found this interesting op ed on Finland’s education system (albeit in a US newspaper), and why it is so successful.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/a-new-finnish-lesson-why-gender-equality-matters-in-school-reform/2012/09/05/3703ad4c-f778-11e1-8253-3f495ae70650_blog.html
The author, Pasi Sahlberg, is director general of Finland’s Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation. He has served the Finnish government in various positions, worked for the World Bank in Washington D.C. and for the European Training Foundation in Italy as senior education specialist.
Sahlberg describes Finland as a very competitive ‘market economy’ (a negative I’d have thought), but also says that,
He identifies 3 main provisions that ensure all Finnish children get a good education. But he also identifies an underlying reason why those provisions have been made: the relative gender equality, with significant numbers of women in top positions in central government, public life and commerce. He quotes Education historian Diane Ravitch, who criticises the corporatisation of US schools, reforming the schools along the lines of business practices, as being carried out by the “Billionaire Boys’ Club.”
The 3 fundamental provisions he identifies are:
1)
2)
3)
Sahlberg says that,
I am having trouble putting in a proposal to the MMP Review on their web site on this the last day. The 7th September is stated but not a finishing time that I could see and there does not seems to be any box to enter a proposal on line – as if that has been withdrawn although it is before 5.30 pm and I think it should be open to midnight.
Also it is strange that a late proposal is dated 5.59 pm when the time is still about 5.30 pm.
The one before is 5.58pm. It’s almost as if times are being allocated rather than recorded.
SEPTEMBER 06, 2012
Why Desmond Tutu is Right About Bush & Blair
Inside the CIA Dossier on Iraq
by VIJAY PRASHAD
Last week, Bishop Desmond Tutu was to sit beside former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair at the cringingly named Discovery Invest Leadership Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. Tutu, one of the main moral voices in the anti-Apartheid struggle, decided to withdraw. He could not stand to sit next to Blair, or to Tony’s mate, George W. Bush because they had “fabricated the grounds [for war on Iraq] to behave like playground bullies.” Stingingly, in The Observer (September 1), Tutu recounted how he had called the White House a few days before the 2003 invasion, spoke to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and asked her to give the UN weapons inspectors more time to do their work. But “Ms. Rice demurred, saying there was too much risk and the president would not postpone any longer.” The US and UK went to war, and according to Tutu, “More than 110,000 Iraqis have died in the conflict since 2003 and millions have been displaced. By the end of last year, nearly 4,500 American soldiers had been killed and more than 32,000 wounded.”
Amnesia over Iraq has already set in. President Obama refused to countenance any prosecution for Bush era officials (and Bush himself) for the fabrications that Tutu alleges. In the UK, the Chilcot Inquiry on the Iraq War has finished its deliberations, but Sir John Chilcot has delayed the release of the final report for a full year because of wrangling to prevent Blair’s private letters to Bush from being revealed (he perhaps does not want to allow validation that in a July 2002 note he wrote, “You know, George, whatever you decide to do, I’m with you). At his appearances at the Inquiry, Blair admitted that the Iraqis were continuing to allow weapons inspectors, and that, as Sir Lawrence Freedman suggested, they had “started to reap dividends.” However, Blair worried that Saddam was “back to his old games” and was not capable of a “change of heart.” In his paper-thin memoirs, A Journey, Blair notes the question of regret for the war should not be a public question, but it can only be asked and answered “in the quiet reflection of the soul.”
If this were a universal standard, then Syria’s Bashar Assad can relax, and so should all those who are threatened with arrest and trial at the International Criminal Court. They too should be allowed to claim that retrospective analysis of war crimes is a matter of the “quiet reflection of the soul,” not public, legal accountability. …..
Read more…..
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/09/06/inside-the-cia-dossier-on-iraq/
Prosecuting a former President (or his staff )would set a dangerous precedent for Obama when he himself left office, would it not?
Excellent! Thanks, Morrissey…
Looking around for something of interest on Argentina, this morning, I came across this review of a book that documents the history of the anarchist movement of the turn from the 19th to 20th century, one that involved a widespread development of grass roots, direct democracy. The book is by Juan Suriano, Paradoxes of Utopia
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/23799
Suriano attributes the decline of the anarchism movement to a mixture of state repression and the rise of the welfare state, electoral democracy, and, what sounds like the acceptance of unions for negotiating for workers in the workplace:
There are lessons here, with Suiano concluding that there’s no easy route to building direct participant democracy, it’s a long hard process. I don’t know how such a movement can ensure they eventually don’t become victims of “brutal state repression”.
By ensuring that a workers movement has representation in every political party, as well as its own, and all parts of the social fabric of society.
By ensuring that a workers movement has representation in every political party, as well as its own, and all parts of the social fabric of society.
Well that’s kind of what the “neoliberals” did for themselves over the last few decades. So it’s a big task to flush them out, and bring some sense and grass roots democracy back into every section of society.
Climate clowns lose action against NIWA
http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/cases/nz-climate-science-education-trust-v-niwa-ltd/at_download/fileDecision
And the sceptics were so sure of winning 🙄
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7634556/Climate-sceptics-fail-in-Niwa-case
Leading Climate Scientists Welcome Judge’s Decision
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC1209/S00009/leading-climate-scientists-welcome-judges-decision.htm
This release was jointly prepared by, and is endorsed by:
Associate Professor James Renwick, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington
Professor Jim Salinger, currently visiting Stanford University
Professor Martin Manning, Climate Change Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington
Professor Peter Barrett, Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington
Professor (Emeritus) Blair Fitzharris, University of Otago
Professor Keith Hunter, Pro-Vice Chancellor Science, University of Otago
Ouch!
Looks as if costs are almost certainly going to be granted against the plaintiff.
Hehehehehe…
They’ll still try and spin this though in their favour 🙁
But stupid does as stupid is…
Barry Brill and, I suspect, the ACT party were behind this nonsense, Brill set up the trust fronting the action. I hope they get screwed with substantial costs.
They’ll just get a donation from Heartland and fellow weasels to cover it probably…
And because this is NZ, the court costs wont be hideous, so it wont be that much sadly :/
Judgment said NIWA are entitled to costs, not only the court.
“The plaintiff does not succeed on any of its challenges to the three decisions of NIWA in issue. The application for judicial review is dismissed and judgment entered for the defendant. [and] The defendant is entitled to costs.”
the ACT party were behind this nonsense
They most assuredly were… lead by that obsessional nincompoop, John Boscawen. It was nothing but an ideologically motivated political ploy to try and embarrass the climate scientists and thus infer global warming to be a fake. They never had a show in hell of succeeding, but their own tunnel-visioned arrogance and self-deceit gave them the lie they would win.
I contributed to a small portion of the data involved, and the checks and balances in place were in strict accordance with WMO (World Meteorological Organisation) guidelines.
They were hoisted by their own ignorance. Ha ha ha ha!
They’ve already tried that and had their arses handed to them. This was the Deniers last chance to stop the truth from winning out.
I hope this story gets a bit of international exposure. It will help discredit these foolish but dangerous global warming deniers.
It doesn’t discourage them though , here are some of the culprits and their cheerleaders, busy spinning defeat into victory.
Warning: You will be entering an alternative reality
http://www.climateconversation.wordshine.co.nz/2012/09/judge-declines-to-intervene/
Their intentions are to stop the science saying what they don’t want it to say. Them saying that their intentions are anything else is BS.
And NZ$100000? Pocket money for the people bank-rolling the deniers. They’ve got plenty of trust-funds and stupid idiots to milk for donations.
Ha ha, good job. That’s god punishing you for being a twat Lyn.
Having you around is the real punishment
didja see mccully weaseling out of the marine reserve in the Ross Sea.
these guys will bend over backward for buck.
ooops…better be careful about what I say.
The Standard is back online, Bill Clinton made an awesome speech, and John Pagani is goneburger 😀
A very happy Friday it is 😀
Clinton set the example for Obama, promise to the left, but deliver to the right.
At least Obama didnt totally cave in to the right over health care like Clinton did.
http://annesummers.com.au/speeches/her-rights-at-work-r-rated/
🙁
By the Elder Gods, wtf Australia? You couldn’t even get away with that level of outright, naked misogyny in the US Senate without committing political suicide. Oh and Larry Pickering is one colossal creep /shudder
btw, please put “trigger warning” on stuff like that, some out there haven’t had it easy on this sort of shit 🙁
Where you bin Nick. Good ole godzone led the way on this with the deliberate and well-funded Helenhate campaign of 05-08.
Among other write- and talk-back efforts of note, that nice Cam Slater (son of a National Party president and pushbike partner of the mallard) published pornographic material with Helen’s head attached and along with that nice David Farrar currently appearing on nice Jim Mora’s panel published every possible mysogenistic hatred-inciting comment imagineable including exhortations for her assassination.
Worked a treat. A true kiwi initiative. Our local mysogenistic hatemongering had comparatively limited effect, but: “bitch” never quite segued to the current aussie “witch”, perhaps because Helen had neither red hair, sharp nose, nor intelligence below that of 99% of the population.
Poor old Julia’s doomed. Latest victim of the massive 1950 – 70s US-funded Catholic anti-socialist propaganda efforts now brought to fruition and propogated by the Joyces, Englishes and anti-gay-voting Findlaysons of our day.
And black days too for poor old Jesus. Just as the last corrupt manipulators of His legacy enter their well-deserved hell, their hapless and brain-washed immigrant protegees rally to the hands that feed bread alone and keep the money-changers in the temple. To their own, ultimate, but fantasy-leavened detriment.
But He works in mysterious ways. If we had to give the world Helenhate as a prelude to UN Helen, Labourlite, the Mana Maori Party and GreenLab, perhaps that’s a small price.
Ah, too sleep deprived and not active on the NZ political blog scene until post-Labour 😛
My flatmate Tui actually sort of introduced me to this place I think, or at least the road that lead to it.
I remember some of that too, but it never really made into the mainstream media enough for me to notice it, where as the one is AUS has hit the mainstream at a rather horrifyingly broad level.
And was that a Farrar of Kiwiblog aka the sewer or the one on TV3 who has a massive bias against Labour and who “helped” Chris Carter end his political career?
And Julia’s initial problem was fucking Kevin Rudd’s inability to accept his well deserved fate. He stuffed up and the party made it clear it no longer had confidence in him as the leader. This opened up a hole for the media to exploit and created a fair few issues vis party in-fighting. Which, if it were less of an issue, might have given Gillard more support and allowed the party to fight back against the outright misogynistic bullshit the right has been throwing at her.
Oh, and some of us are atheists 😛
Also on ” intelligence below 99%…” Explain it please, because Gillard very much has a working brain and more apparent intelligence than Ruddkips.
Excellent imo.(big price regretably)
Yeah, sorry about that, will do so in the future.
Reminder call:
ACC legal and moral breaches:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCecwuwCHb4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QknNdOhOkr8
WINZ legal and moral breaches:
http://www.gpcme.co.nz/pdf/2012/Fri_DaVinci_1400_Bratt_Medical Certificates are Clinical Instruments too – June 2012.pdf
http://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=Dr+David+Bratt+ppt&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CE0QFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rgpn.org.nz%2FNetwork%2Fmedia%2Fdocuments%2FConference2011%2FD-Bratt.ppt&ei=pOMqUNyqF–QiQee4oGgBQ&usg=AFQjCNFEdYN_dDW9BAZvZo_cQpC2rFyelg&cad=rja
So THIS is going on in this country, and apparently the majority of the population go along with this, thinking the persons affected are largely maligners and “bludgers”.
What a bloody disgrace this country has become, I’d say! Also there is NO solution for the capable to stay here and partake in a growing, successful economy.
As a migrant from a developed country, I ask why I ever bothered coming back to such a mean spirited, unfair, unsympathetic and bullshit country, selling itself as “clean green”, “humane”, “fair” and whatever, while in reality most are at each other’s throats.
The truth is, that is what happens in a depressed, impoverished, divided and manipulated society. That is what NZ has become. I hate it. Better bloody make sure it changes, or you will lose many more fair minded, educated, reasonable, well qualified and capable people, as you are doing every bloody week.
Key must be put out of office tomorrow, not in two years, MR USELESS SHEARER!
Thank you for that. true