How can people who are so adamant that "bloody Labour" and useless "Jacinta who is mucking everything up" and yet don't know the difference between the EU and the Commowealth when the next discussion point is Brexit be allowed to have a vote?
One just has to hope that these ignorants are spread evenly across the political spectrum… so their influence is nil….
Talkback suits the Right better with their adamant rather than us with our buts and why-fors. Whatever silly-arse prejudice you have mate it's right. Only the hosts being brought up in social-democracy holds it back.
I've been following the Brexit shenanigans and ensuing parliamentary farce on a couple of UK stations, LBC and BBC 5 Live. The differences between them and our so-called news radio is like night and day. Ignoring a couple of the more hoskinesque hosts , the nuanced and informative analysis and commentary from hosts, commentators and expert guests is first rate. And they must have rather good vetting systems to weed out the ranting, partisan, single-issue loons because most of their talk-back callers come across as reasonable, well informed, and worthwhile the time spent listening.
The way who have handled it? The Labour Party? In what sense was their handling of it a joke? Neither of us has significant knowledge of how it was handled, so ignorance-based reckons about the quality of the handling could themselves only take the form of jokes, surely?
As an abstract hypothetical, though: when allegations of workplace harrassment and bullying are made against an individual and an investigation finds that the allegations are unsupported, ie it comes down to he says/she says, how would you handle those allegations in a way that treated all parties fairly, respected their privacy, achieved a result satisfactory to all parties and also couldn't be used as propaganda against you by your enemies? Do take your time.
Vance mentions in passing Parliaments inquiry into Bullying etc?
The Journalists have never revisited the shock conclusion that some Journalists around parliament are part of the problem
"A significant number of respondents – not all of them Members – commented on what they perceived as inappropriate behaviour by members of the Press Gallery or media more generally."
and a quote:
““Gallery behaviour is unacceptable… they come in there perfectly nice people and then adopt this persona of the classic bully. You can watch it happen.”
Code of Omerta means people like Vance wont touch that aspect
"Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Labour Party President Nigel Haworth have delivered an apologetic press conference, admitting major failings by the party. Ms Ardern said the burden of care and responsibility for those allegedly sexually assualted at a summer camp should not have been left to members of Young Labour. "We handled this very, very badly as a party," Ms Ardern said."
"The party is also facing criticism for the presence of alcohol at the event. Young people attended the event with parental consent, but on Wednesday afternoon, Ms Ardern was unable to say whether those consent forms mentioned alcohol. Labour MP Liz Craig was at the event that night. On Wednesday afternoon, she deleted a photo from her Facebook page which showed her seated at a table with a group of young adults who were drinking alcohol."
There's more, but that's enough. I don't like labelling Labour's handling of this 'a joke'; it rather minimises the damage. Incompetent, inept, useless…these are far better descriptors.
Nigel Haworth has not done Jacinda any favours the way he has handled it. If true that he banned complainants from buildings, why was the accused not banned or stood down why investigation going on? Andrea Vance and Alison Mau seem to have really turned on Labour this weekend.
As an abstract hypothetical: when allegations of workplace harrassment and bullying are made against an individual and an investigation finds that the allegations are unsupported, ie it comes down to he says/she says, how would you handle those allegations in a way that treated all parties fairly, respected their privacy, achieved a result satisfactory to all parties and also couldn't be used as propaganda against you by your enemies? Do take your time.
The accused should have been stood down while investigation underway, not just the accusers being banned from the building. I think this may cost Nigel Haworth his job. The last one cost Andrew Kirton his job.
The Spinoff piece under discussion in today's thread suggests there was no investigation, or at least nothing you could reasonably call an investigation. Like you, I don't see how Kirton could keep his job and still expect anyone to vote Labour – same with the others involved.
I had to reread the story carefully as from the "heading" it seemed as though the story was in regard to the recent case due to be sentenced later in the year – the word "young" gave, to me, every impression of that. What it is referring to is another completely separate matter that has an element of "employment" attached to it and no charges, as yet, which has a bearing that needs to be sorted but the inference unless studied and read carefully implies something else.
Thanks for the clarification Rapaunzel. It wasn't at all clear from that article what case was being referred to:
He [Mallard] said: "The first point that I want to make is that I have repeatedly, through [Parliamentary Service's] general manager [Rafael Gonzalez-Montero], the relevant office and people who have raised the matter with me that I think either a Police complaint (if an offence is alleged to have occurred) or a complaint relating to employment if people feel unsafe, should be made.
The seven complainants have still not laid any complaints with either the police or Parliamentary Services.
I'm not suggesting nothing happened, but I’m starting to smell a big rat over this case.
🙂 It didn;t help that the paper was drenched but the heading led me, and I guess others, up the garden path until I re-read it. No one is suggesting anything did not happen but there are cases that were supposedly being looked at that the public had heard no more of within the National Party that were not disimmilar.
Why can't NZ media stick to the facts and the fact is as you say there are no charges and employment matters have to be handled very carefully for all involved. Allowing media to be judge and jury of what happened, how it "should be handled" and where the "blame" lies is unacceptable. This sort of conjecture and getting to the heart of who, how many people and exactly what needs to be done does nothing to educate on and improve workplace relationships.
... there are cases that were supposedly being looked at that the public had heard no more of within the National Party that were not disimilar.
There was a serious case earlier this year involving a Young Nat (male) and a Young Nat event. It was reported through the MSM and then… nothing. It was suspected at the time the complainant was 'bought off'.
"In line with our health and safety policies, we acted quickly to offer any support and advice to the person who raised the issue, and this information was passed on to the alleged victim.
"As this is now a matter for the police, we can't comment any further."
And that, as far as I know, was the last we heard of the matter so I am assuming the complainant withdrew her complaint. Did she do it of her own accord or was she coerced? Did any journos bother to check out what happened? The answer appears to be… no.
It would seem there's a big difference how these cases get reported depending on which party the complainant/complainants belong to eh?
Anne, the reason your comments are held in in Auto-Moderation is a minor typo in your user name, which I have corrected a number of times now. The system ‘thinks’ that you’re a new user and this needs to be manually approved.
That was from about 3 weeks ago , Bennett went full out on it, it was covered by the media as she arranged.
Now Vance who moved out of the Press gallery into management has a slow Sunday scandal day hole to fill ? . Has she been chatting to Bennett who wanted to recycle old news
Their new weekly columnist , the taxpayer funded opinion piece by Seymours staffer seems to disappeared
Well Stuff can get stuf't on a Sunday I'm cancelling my paper and will say exactly why, the same should apply to talkback advertisers such as "magic" radio with its Too Cheap Cars donations. After the $400+k fine for cheating clients only "trmagic's" terminally dim listeners would be an option as clientele anyway.
After the Revolutionary War, many of the white people who were loyal to Britain moved to the Bahamas, which was largely empty. A lot of those people brought their enslaved Africans with them.
But harsh conditions made many of the white people leave. Then, in 1807, Britain abolished the slave trade. Many of those freed Africans who were liberated on the open seas went to the Bahamas as free people.
When the US basically bought Florida from Spain, thousands of enslaved Africans and Black Seminoles said “fuck this” and escaped to the Bahamas.
So many ran to freedom that the US government had to build a lighthouse in Cape Florida in 1825.
In 1834, Britain freed all the slaves in its territories and shit really got crazy.
So there are significant numbers of Tory MPs with the integrity and spine prepared to stand up to Boorish and say what they think, in full knowledge the likely price is the end of their political career. That really highlights what a bunch of jellyfish the Repugs are in their craven capitulation to Kim Jong Orange.
A teacher on an individual contract has complained to the Human Rights Commission about payments union members will get after the settling of a protracted pay wrangle.
And he claims non-union teachers have been kept in the dark that they can negotiate their own employment agreements.
Hastings Boys' High head of music Justin Lindsay claims that the Ministry of Education has discriminated on the basis of political opinion in their new Secondary Teachers Collective Agreement (STCA) 2019-2022.
I googled him. Looks like he took care to sanitise his online foot print before speaking out. The only thing he shows is that he was employed in the ESOL and tech sector in Japan for a number of years,
"And he claims non-union teachers have been kept in the dark "? Really? And he also claims to be a teacher? I have seen that name before with similar "complaints" but no mention of how many people he represents. How is it that one individual's statement is passed by media as being either a wide-spread issue or movement?
Which is why NZ seriously needs some sort of public service information outlet, either a whole channel or something. While I suppose that was clear to me right from the messing with contract thing in the 1990s, more towards the end of that period I gather their are people who don't appear to "know" these things – he does is, spreading misinformation is his intent.
There are lots of basic things beginning with how to register and vote, what "free" medical options families might have, how not to pay insurance unless you know you have met criteria and are fully covered for what you think you've paid for, what are your employment "rights" and obligations are – so as not to jeopardize your employment, along with reliable borrowing or budgeting advice etc. The information is there but it needs to be more readily available and visible and repeated till it sinks in. During the 2014 election I heard from several young people that their employers or other told them "if you don't vote this way you will have no job". They believed it and spread that idea around. If basic information about "rights' was more common and normalised people might start thinking for themselves and/or seeking out the facts when they need them.
There's a Parliament TV channel that has a lot of downtime – even given repeats of QT etc. (and that's just for starters). It could actually be used for educational purposes at various times – providing 'civics'/'social studies', the citizens' rights when dealing with government agencies, the Treaty, BOR et al
No end of things – took my grandson to the medical centre last holidays and they had a number of items running, how many other groups have items of interest, probably local councils and voluntary groups.
Besides that what groups are active in an area may be an incentive to make people more active which is the first step in the right direction to give mental stimulation, company and activities to turn back the tide of health issues putting pressure on services.
Yes, that is indeed the kind of thing that happens when technologists use simple sloppy techniques that are more or less how bacteria have been getting their genes into other organisms without any human intervention since forever. Like happened with sweet potato.
Rudd is just a careerist first and foremost looking out for herself. She makes Paula Bennett seem like Mary Poppins… the Windrush scandal wa swhen she was in charge….. she smells blood in the water for Johnson and wants to be part of the next cabinet and the next cabinet
This is the person she is :
"Rudd first denied there were targets for the removal of immigrants. Later, she maintained that she had not known of targets. Later still, The Guardian published leaked evidence that Rudd had known about targets: "
Wikipedia. That resulted in one of her many resignations
She should really be going to the Great Tory Boneyard in the Sky… but is likely to reappear somwhow.
Fox News opinion host Laura Ingraham’s earnest efforts to troll liberals reached a new, if not bizarre, level Friday as she attempted to drink a steak stuffed with incandescent light bulbs through a plastic straw.
“Well, it’s a meal that will trigger all the right … I meant all the left people,” she said to kick off the “Ingraham Angle” segment.
Meanwhile, let's remind ourselves of Article 2 Section 1 Clause 7 of the Constitution:
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
Money from any government source finding it's way into a federal official's pocket from any source other than salary is a direct violation of the constitution, and should be cause for immediate impeachment. But Repugs just don't care, it's not like adults were indulging in any consensual private pleasure or anything like that. (Although grossly inappropriate due to the power imbalance involved)
Thats a beat up about USAF flight stop overs in Prestwick Scotland. Its not really Glasgow which has its own airport close to the city.
They reason they stop. because planes fly 'Great Circle' arcs between origin and destination as much as possible. Prestwick is on the direct route for stop overs between Middle east and US military bases. Plus its less crowded airspace- which causes delays- than military airports in Southern England.
We can see similar occurrences for USAF flights to Antarctica, they stop to refuel at Christchurch, change crew etc .
This Trump Hotel/ Golf club is just outside Prestwick, maybe they offer a cut price deal for all these sort of cargo airlines for crew stop overs.
The idea that they are stopping there so they can stay at that hotel doesnt follow.
Cant see Prestwick 'supporting Bombing raids on Syria'
A loaded Bomber definitely wont be landing at a public airport…. they need facilities that can handle live bombs.
Like I said its a beatup about an insignificant thing, not that Trump hasnt loaded up his other hotels and golf clubs with official government events.
this is more important
n three Saturday evening tweets, Donald Trump claims that leaders of the Taliban, as well as Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, were secretly scheduled to land on U.S. soil “tonight.” Trump claimed that, “unbeknownst to almost everyone,” he had separate meetings scheduled with each at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.
Trump then claimed that he bailed on the peace talks after the Taliban took credit for a deadly car bombing in Kabul on Thursday, which killed 12 people, including an American soldier.
A Camp David peace deal with the Taliban ?
What could go wrong. Even NZ has the Taliban on its Terrorist List of proscibed groups.
Like I said its a beatup about an insignificant thing
I don't think I would be saying that. There are questions being asked on both sides of the Atlantic. And yes! Trump is benefiting from this cozy arrangement.
Scottish Government-owned Prestwick Airport paid £9m by Trump administration
Meanwhile – Trump Turnberry lost $4.5 mill in 2017 and with the help of taxpayer $$$, it made $3 mill in 2018. Furthermore Prestwick offered free rounds of golf at Turnberry to visiting US military and civilian air crews. So a fairly clear example of further contravention of the emoluments clause of the Constitution.
Wow! That is some thread Joe. Meanwhile Jerry Nadler is preparing for action this week:
House Judiciary panel preparing vote to define Trump impeachment probe
…
The panel could vote as early as Wednesday on a resolution to spell out the parameters of its investigation. The precise language is still being hammered out inside the committee and with House leaders. A draft of the resolution is expected to be release Monday morning.
Nadler has already sort clarification from the Pentagon on this very matter with a flat refusal to comply. Things could get very interesting this week.
Yes, I do vote. If it makes you feel better, I'm registered in the California 51st District, so the only time my vote might make the slightest difference is in the Dem primary for the House and Senate. But the House Rep is Juan Vargas who is well-liked, so it's unlikely he'll get a serious challenger, and CA doesn't have a senator up for election in 2020.
I'm also capable of correctly spelling Christchurch.
Meanwhile, you got anything to say about the situation whereby this is the first president ever* to own and operate businesses that sell services to the federal government, in direct contravention of one of the first clauses of the constitution? And where that business has massively increased since he took office with the one branch of government he has the most direct control over, being the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces?
*I s’pose it’s possible Washington’s distillery sold whiskey to the Feds, but I’ve never seen any claim that that actually happened.
He never had "his shit" to lose. All he ever had was a big stack of dodgy dollars, an overactive middle finger that excited the deplorables, and a massive streak of nasty vindictiveness sufficient to cow into submission or at least silence anyone that voluntarily got close to him.
Went to the one in Dunedin a few weeks ago – pretty good I thought. Didn't see much of that on the menu lol
A couple of things stood out – the "express" lunch, with a 35 minute delivery time. Seafood joint near my work has a 15 minute promise today. Sign of the time crunch these days.
Also: why did they put little plastic cow silhouettes in the steaks?! I remembered them as kids as soon as I saw them. What the actual fuck? At least plastic straws were useful!
lol so they were a little plastic token to tell you what the chef thinks you got, rather than just leaving it for you to assume that what you get is what you ordered?
I was a kitchen hand at cobbyco in welly – they really loved burning the bottom of the pots big time – I was also a vege so never ate there just cleaned the filthy meat pots – ahh now that took elbow grease to move that grease.
Along with canned beans and Irish stew, they were a staple on the surf trips of my youth. Easily heated and eaten with white whole loaf bread and washed down with beer or milk, they were pretty damned good.
The film reviews on RadioNZ – one is of Apollo 11 and the question was raise- was this the event when the USA was really great?
I think actually it was when The New Deal was brought in in USA and also being behind the Marshall Plan that got Europe out of its WW2 hell-hole of poverty of the countries, infrastructure and systems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal
Yep, USA was great once. As you say, Marshall Plan etc. Really though, US still is, in general. Most disaster aide in the world today is via US military.
Sadly, the invasion of Iraq pretty much undermined a great country. And as for Vietnam,……. but I guess that is the superpower complex.
What I like about the USA is that it sets itself pretty spectacular ideals. Usually it fails dismally at achieving those ideals (most of the writers of those "self evident" truths about freedom were slaveholders, for example), but sometimes (UN, New Deal, Civil Rights Act, Apollo) it approaches them. And that's pretty spectacular.
But so are their failures (KKK, Vietnam, CIA mcfuckery).
And the thousands if not millions of people who worked together to have 12 people walk on the moon. Awesome not just that they did it, but as an example of what we can do with a united focus.
The White House is considering a plan that would have the government directly purchase uranium from U.S. producers as it contemplates ways to revive the flagging domestic mining industry.
A group set up by President Donald Trump to study the issue is considering a request by the nuclear industry to use the Defense Production Act, a 68-year-old Cold War-era statute once invoked by President Harry Truman to help the steel industry. The plan calls for requiring the government to buy American uranium to replenish their stockpiles and for other purposes, Paul Goranson, chief operating officer for Energy Fuels Inc., said in an interview.
The Greens used to claim to be doing politics differently.
The censoring of an article by veteran Green Jill Abigail suggest the Green leadership have opted for censorship and control freakery. Here is they article they took exception to and banned:
Your marxist analysis is notably lacking if you genuinely believe that biological sex as a binary model of human physiology holds any water in modern medical science. In order to properly analyse reality, you first have to understand it; a task that is apparently too difficult for your ilk who are clearly stuck in centuries-old thought about sex that has long since been updated and replaced.
Your quack theories about trans people being a threat are founded on bad science, education comes before activism, please step up.
Your marxist analysis is notably lacking if you genuinely believe that biological sex as a binary model of human physiology holds any water in modern medical science.
Good luck convincing any actual biologists that sexual reproduction doesn't involve two sexes.
Trans people exist, modern medical science understands this, many societies understand this. Unfortunately they are a marginalised, stigmatised minority and articles that present trans-women as a threat in "women-only spaces" are factually wrong and exclusionary. Trans-women are women.
What pre-occupation? You posted a quote saying biological sex isn't binary, and I replied to the effect that biologists would be surprised to hear there are more than two sexes. That's not a "pre-occupation," it's a "reply."
Trans people exist…
No-one, least of all Jill Abigail, is disputing that.
Unfortunately they are a marginalised, stigmatised minority…
Ditto.
Trans-women are women.
However, that's simply untrue for any functional definition of "woman." The fact that "trans-woman" has the prefix "trans" should be a bit of a giveaway about that.
In the complete quote I posted it says sex isn't a binary in human physiology and this is well-known in modern medical science. This has nothing to do with reproduction, nothing to do with biologists so your "reply" was at best a distraction from the topic at hand.
Please provide what you consider to be the 'functional definition of "woman"'.
In the complete quote I posted it says sex isn't a binary in human physiology and this is well-known in modern medical science. This has nothing to do with reproduction…
I've tried parsing the claim that sex has nothing to do with reproduction multiple times, but no matter how I come at it the claim still makes no sense. The term "sex" refers to reproduction, and the term "sex differences" exists exactly because they are differences in the respective reproductive systems (or caused by the reproductive systems.
In my previous experience, references to sex supposedly not being binary are usually based on the existence of intersex people. However, the fact that sexual reproduction isn't 100% perfect and birth defects of the reproductive system can occur the same as they can for any other parts of the body was well-known to ancient medical science, let alone modern. That doesn't alter the fact that sexually-reproducing species have two sexes. Humans are no different in that respect.
Please provide what you consider to be the 'functional definition of "woman"'.
"A" functional definition, not "the." We have dictionaries for that, and the definition is usually "adult female human," or a variation on it. Drop "female" from the definition and it's just a synonym for "person," which would render it non-functional.
The obsession with reproduction as the important part for the definition of sex and gender excludes everyone who is unable to naturally conceive. Are all those infertile cis-gendered people also to be excluded from this gender binary? If not, why not?
Some females were assigned male at birth, it’s not a complicated thing, we agreed this above, it’s in dictionaries. However your example of a functional definition excludes trans-women because evidently you don’t actually consider them to be female. Why would this be?
… reproduction as the important part for the definition of sex and gender excludes everyone who is unable to naturally conceive.
Sex, not gender – gender's a social construct, nothing to do with physiology. And no the definitions of man and woman don't exclude people unable to conceive – the dictionary doesn't qualify the term "female" with "NB: female reproductive system in question must be proven to function correctly", for fairly obvious reasons.
Some females were assigned male at birth, it’s not a complicated thing, we agreed this above, it’s in dictionaries.
We did. However, we're talking about trans-women, not intersex people. The proportion of trans women who are intersex would be tiny.
…your example of a functional definition excludes trans-women because evidently you don’t actually consider them to be female. Why would this be?
First and foremost, because they're not female. I found that a pretty compelling reason.
Trans-women were assigned male at conception, by physical reality. If they'd rather live as a woman, all good by me and let's make that as straightforward for them as possible, but there isn't any way for them to become female – which leads to debates like the one Jill Abigail was contributing to (or trying to, at least).
So you say trans-women are not female, pray tell, what do you determine them to be?
Male/female is a matter of sex, not gender. We can fuck with gender every which way we feel like because it's a social construct, but so far no-one's come up with the technology for a person to change their sex.
A bit circular, and well removed from your original comment about reproduction requiring two sexes.
Fair cop, that was a silly answer, but it was a silly question. The answer was also not unrelated from my original comment, because male and female refer to the two sexes. The question of why I'd consider someone with a male body not to be female is self-answering.
Tauranga a ghost town at 5pm, Monday. Lots of vacant prime commercial real estate. Anyone who thinks we will keep seeing prices rise is dreaming & it will get worse despite the GST about to be charged on imported goods.
30 odd units vacant (!) on just two roads.
Check it out what mainstream news won’t be telling you.
The Tauranga auction spy reports that this week out of the 11 residential auctions he attended 8 did not get a single bid.
pretty much any town in nz is suffering from this lack of commercial tenants. Reason one: Leases in Tauranga, Rotorua, Tokoroa, Putaruru, Taupo etc are all the same, namely as in AKL. Meaninch 15-25 grand a year ex gst, ex rates, ex building insurance, ex ex ex ex ex ex
and so as long as that is addressed ( and we have the same issue with residential) people don't rent/lease. Simple as that.
Prices will raise, but it ain't the locals buying. And for those that can't sell, fear not, just write of your loss if you can't find a tenant to pay your exuberant rent / lease demands. The government will look after you 🙂
That is the biggest single failing of the current lot running the show in wellington, they could have closed loopholes that allow property owners to keep buildings, dwelling, residential/commercial spaces empty as they still make money of it. They could have regulated rent demands, they could have regulated air bnb, they could have should have but sadly have done fuck all.
With the soaring cost of housing, power, rates, insurance and food it's no wonder people can't afford to go shopping, thus bars and restaurants are struggling and shops are sitting vacant.
The one thing that is growing is queues at the local food bank.
wow – just noticed this – I hope it gets better I really do
Authorities are labelling Queensland's bushfire emergency as historic, as crews continue to battle dozens of blazes.
…"It is an historic event. [We've] never seen this before in recorded history – fire weather has never been as severe, this early in Spring," Inspector Sturgess said.
"So this is an omen, if you will, a warning of the fire season that we're likely to see ahead in the south-eastern parts of the state, the driest parts of the state, where most of our population is."
Acting Queensland Premier Jackie Trad said the severe conditions could be attributed to climate change.
"There is no doubt that with an increasing temperature with climate change, then what the scientists tell us is that events such as these will be more frequent and they will be much more ferocious."
The East Coast Fire Season, has started about 2mths early than normal. In some parts of the east coast it’s so extreme that some towns have next to no water or are likely to run out water in the coming months and as a result of a lack of water the fire crews have to resort to dry fire fighting techniques which is not a effective, but that’s what they do given the circumstances especially around the Tenterfield area in Northern NSW.
I had drinks with my Bushfire Brigade on Thursday here at Dundee NT, where the talk got around the water supply? The local plumber who also supplies water as everyone is on Tank water or they shallow bores are running out of water and it get worse. The local plumber has had to cut back in the water cart business, so he doesn’t run old of water and the community open water supply has run dry. Due to selfish members of the Dundee community have been using our bushfires outlet which feeds out of the bottom tank and at times has stuffed up the bore feeding the water tank. Where as the community outlet is half way up the tank and it’s going to a point if we have fire we may not have water and this water supply supports people out to a radius of 20-30 km’s.
Some communities in the Darwin Rural Area are about run out of water or they have been trucking in water since Xmas and the scary thing is we are expecting to this fire season to extend out to December and water to be very scarce until the Wet Season breaks if it comes at all?
Its getting despite in a lot of places throughout Australia if this current droughts doesn’t break IRT water, food production and whole communities etc.
For various reasons, agriculture in much of Australia will be near impossible in a few decades.
Drought, salinity inclusions into artesian water, air borne erosion of soil, (Dust bowl affect) warmer temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, and more frequent storms are already having a serious impact.
Yesterday I watched ABC’s Landline as I do most Sunday’s and this weeks episode was entire on Climate Change. There was some interesting stuff from a whole range of people including a former GG who has a special forces background and who also supported the Maj Les Hiddins aka The Bush Tucker Man at a time when the Army thought Les was a bit of a crackpot. Who has an interest in soil carbon capture and he words about CC are the same POV as mine.
The follow links were on yesterday’s Landline and this is the link for Landline as they will do more episodes on CC in the future. https://www.abc.net.au/landline/
Last years Drought summit held in Canberra before the Federal election, raised the possibility that retiring land has to be now considered as a result of CC in the more marginal areas of Australia. But the sticking point was how to give those Farmers some dignity without the banks etc including Government leaving them penny less as most of the farmers wealth is tired up in land etc, management of the land once its retired from farming and those a effected communities that service the farming sector.
The old man comes from Broken Hill and to see the massive fish kill at the Menindee Lakes almost brought him to tears as the lake system was meant to hold water during the Drought's and hold water for the fish etc. But somewhere along the line some smart ass lobbied the State government to use all that water for farming/ horticulture, instead of it sitting there when the next drought comes along.
Here's a couple of more interesting links and both them I've had some experience in especially from a military planning/ military research side of things at unit level and group level before I was medical discharge.
Aron looks like a national supporter I seen his nihor showing.
Sam the number one cause of suicide is no money. I have seen for my self how professionals lawyers advises accounts and foresters have ripped off people close to me THAT'S CAPTILSIM take all you can from innocent people with their silver TONGUES.
You should have taken the complaints to the police Paula milking it.
BULLSHIT there are deaths from dairydack for years how do we know that you are telling the TRUTH about the numbers and dates. People were making money off the sale of stuff that could kill people this is national mess you are trying to blame others Paul It would never have been a issue if it was stamped out straight away not sold in shops.
There you go America needs to change laws to make tech companies responsible for the content on their platform.
Eric their you go Jacinda is speaking about the haters get exposure on big tech companies sites that will help to highlight the problem and motivate them to take the videos down. It's will be hard when you have old Politicians employed on the big tech companies LOBBYING branches.
I read that colonel sanders was a white supremist I get a sore face when people quote him.
The Coalition Government new approach ZERO lives lost to suicide every life matters is awesome.
Some people are so cruel how can they do that to a human or even a animal those idiots who torchered that poor Wahine WTF.
There he goes again barking up the wrong tree bridges doe not think very well of course we care about the haters who harm inenecint tangata using the Internet to gain support it must be stop.
Let's hope Otago get a good growing season this year. Im hopeing for some wind from Tawhirimate to get my wind turbine turning I had to design if for strong Tawhirimate as things get blown over were we are.
Mike that's gives Eco Maori A sore face all the Tangata and Tamariki wanting to learn Te Reo it is every one in Aotearoa taonga Ka pai.
I have congratulations for our government move to a goal of zero lives lost to suicide . I agree with Mike suicide is a New Zealand problem
It awesome that Te puni korokiri is tau toko Te tangata with building whare on their own whenua that is what Te puni Korokiri did back in the days of old.
Maori tourism is getting links to boost their business and putea Ka pai
Toronto film Festival Tika Waititi Jojo rabbit will show Maori wit and humour awesome.
Turangi A Kiwa celebrating Te Reo Maori Language week kia kaha Whanau. Tawhirimate was celebrating Te Reo Maori Language week to. Pouho Rawiri Marae
Maunatu taonga their tamariki Ka pai I taonga my tamariki so does Ngāti Porou.
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eric Stokan, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County If you live in one of the most economically deprived neighborhoods in your city, you might think the government is directing a smaller share of public funds to your community. ...
Wansolwara The news media’s crucial role in climate change and environment journalism was the focus of The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme 2024 World Press Freedom Day celebrations. The European Union Ambassador to the Pacific, Barbara Plinkert, and Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna were the chief ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Adams, Professor of Corporate Law & Academic Director of UNE Sydney campus, University of New England Last August, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal proceedings against Qantas. The consumer watchdog accused the airline of selling thousands of tickets ...
This episode of A View From Afar was recorded LIVE on May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, May 5, 2024 at 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Taylor, Assistant Professor, Bond University Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures At the crux of the critical response to Luca Guadagnino’s new movie Challengers is one word: “sexy”. The film charts a love triangle between three up-and-coming tennis players: Tashi (Zendaya), ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Stewart, Professor of Public Policy, ADFA Canberra, UNSW Sydney For years, First Nations people have been telling governments they want to be listened to. In particular, they want more ownership of the programs and services that are supposed to help them. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Why do trees have bark? Julien, age 6, Melbourne. This is a great question, Julien. We are so familiar with bark on trees, that most of us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Nasser, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, University of Technology Sydney PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is an important ligament in the knee. It runs from the thigh bone (femur) to the shin bone (tibia) and helps stabilise ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne I covered the May 2 United Kingdom local government elections for The Poll Bludger. The Blackpool South parliamentary byelection was also held, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna Grant-Smith, Professor of Management, University of the Sunshine Coast The federal government has announced a “Commonwealth Prac Payment” to support selected groups of students doing mandatory work placements. Those who are studying to be a teacher, nurse, midwife or social ...
We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+. If you love a dark comedy: Bodkin (Netflix, May 9)An English podcaster, an Irish podcaster and American podcaster walk into a pub and…make a TV show? ...
By Eleisha Foon, RNZ Pacific senior journalist A Pacific regionalism academic has called out New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS and says the security deal “raises serious questions for the Pacific region”. Auckland University of Technology academic Dr Marco de Jong ...
How worried should we be about the cloud? This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. I currently have a few thousand unread emails languishing in my inbox, mostly old marketing newsletters and piles of unread science journal press releases. I have a similar number ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nuurrianti Jalli, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies College of Arts and Sciences Department of Languages, Literature, and Communication Studies, Northern State University Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Southeast Asian governments not only have to deal with the virus but also with the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Murakami Wood, Professor of Critical Surveillance and Securities Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa The skyline of Riyadh, the capital and largest city of the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia.(Shutterstock) There is a long history of planned city building by both governments ...
The LIVE Recording of A View from Afar podcast will begin today at 12:45pm May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment of ...
The Boil Up’s Lucinda Bennett considers the oyster – from freshness to pearls to the joy of shucking your own. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. In Carmen Maria Machado’s short story ‘Eight Bites’, a woman begins her last supper before bariatric surgery with “a cavalcade ...
Asia Pacific Report A group of 65 Auckland University academics have written an open letter to vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater criticising the institution’s stance over students protesting in solidarity with Palestine. They have called on her administration to “support” the students who were denied permission to establish an “overnight encampment” by ...
The Student Volunteer Army is on the march, generating approximately 1.6 million hours of volunteering from roughly 35,000 secondary school students in just five years. For Rebekah Brown, the pathway to volunteering started with her singing coach. With a passion for the arts, the suggestion to volunteer at Acting Antics, ...
Keeping up with online communication can be exhausting, so Fran Barclay enlisted the help of Meta’s new ‘intelligent assistant’ to respond to all her messages. Could her mates tell the difference? For centuries, technology has ruled the ways in which we communicate. From the dawn of written language, to the ...
Jamie Arbuckle, a councillor who has become an member of parliament, says he has settled into having two roles so comfortably he's going to keep both pay cheques. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong Fifty years ago, Australian feminist Anne Summers denounced “the ideology of sexism” governing over so many women’s lives. Unfortunately, sexism is as lethal today as it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez, Senior Researcher in Architecture, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images The COVID-19 pandemic and the hybrid work patterns it fostered have changed the way we think about office space, and central business districts in general. While fears ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dale Boccabella, Associate Professor of Taxation Law, UNSW Sydney There’s a good reason your local volunteer-run netball club doesn’t pay tax. In Australia, various nonprofit organisations are exempt from paying income tax, including those that do charitable work, such as churches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marina Deller, Casual Academic, Creative Writing and English Literature, Flinders University NetflixComedy is opening up spaces for silences to be broken and trauma stories to be told. In 2018, Hannah Gadsby started a revolution with Nanette, asking audiences to rethink ...
The workplace can be a minefield of bad comms and passive aggression. Kinksters can help you navigate it. A friend and colleague recently gave me a compliment I loved. They told me I’d always been good at emotional communication and making people feel comfortable. “But I feel like it’s really ...
Even if some students are now just texting on their laptops. Stewart Sowman-Lund writes in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Councils from Horowhenua, Kāpiti, Wairarapa, the Hutt Valley, Porirua and Wellington City will meet this Friday to work together on a plan for a Greater Wellington region water deal. ...
Renowned musician, advocate, and proud born and raised daughter of Tauranga, Ria Hall, is announcing her candidacy for Mayor of Tauranga and Pāpāmoa Ward for the upcoming election on July 20th. ...
The new Aotearoa histories curriculum is rich with potential. There’s still work to be done, but the education minister’s criticisms about ‘balance’ miss the mark, argues primary school teacher Jessie Moss. In 2015, Ōtorohanga College students presented to parliament a petition signed by more than 10,000 people calling for a ...
For too long our so-called national bird has maintained its stranglehold on the economy of regional New Zealand. Thanks to the fast track legislation, we will have our revenge. Theories abound on what ails New Zealand’s economy. National leader Chris Luxon has posited that we’re negative, wet, whiny, and inward-looking; ...
Late one afternoon in March 1860 a man in a thin green velveteen jacket and a wide-awake hat arrived on foot at a sheep station named Glenmark, about 65 kilometres north of Christchurch. The man was in his mid-fifties but he looked older. Several people who met him that day ...
If building one of Auckland’s possible waterfront stadiums was funded privately, it would need to hold a sold-out Ed Sherran concert every weekday for 25 years. That’s Rob Hamlin’s finding – he’s a senior marketing lecturer at the University of Otago. “It’s not going to happen; forget about it,” he ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 6 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
For the past 12 years, Georgia-Rose Brown has balanced on the brink of making an Olympic Games – but always landed gracefully on the wrong side. Reaching the Olympics is a dream the gymnast has harboured since she was a six-year-old; a dream that would dwindle every four years, yet ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A new Commonwealth Prac Payment will provide students with $319.50 a week when they are on clinical and professional placements. The payment will be means tested and start from July 1 next year, which ...
Asia Pacific Report About 500 people honoured Palestinian journalists in the heart of the New Zealand city of Auckland today for their brave coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza, now in its seventh month with almost 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children. Marking the annual May 3 World Press ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
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Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
How can people who are so adamant that "bloody Labour" and useless "Jacinta who is mucking everything up" and yet don't know the difference between the EU and the Commowealth when the next discussion point is Brexit be allowed to have a vote?
One just has to hope that these ignorants are spread evenly across the political spectrum… so their influence is nil….
Frankly I think that talk back radio is a great weapon of the right –
These sort of lies and drivel are the harvest of the echo chamber known as talk back radio.
Just as the National party has the 'Cabinet Club' ,
Im sure they have a 'Talk Back Club…on call to flood the phone lines.
Talkback suits the Right better with their adamant rather than us with our buts and why-fors. Whatever silly-arse prejudice you have mate it's right. Only the hosts being brought up in social-democracy holds it back.
Yes Barfly. That is true here in Australia as well. Mike Hoskins is another Alan Jones type.
I've been following the Brexit shenanigans and ensuing parliamentary farce on a couple of UK stations, LBC and BBC 5 Live. The differences between them and our so-called news radio is like night and day. Ignoring a couple of the more hoskinesque hosts , the nuanced and informative analysis and commentary from hosts, commentators and expert guests is first rate. And they must have rather good vetting systems to weed out the ranting, partisan, single-issue loons because most of their talk-back callers come across as reasonable, well informed, and worthwhile the time spent listening.
VTO – They used to call it 'brainwashing'.keep saying it so many times until a lie becomes the truth.
Propaganda… Repeat ad nauseam.
Ignore facts and science, just repeat repeat, until it is imprinted.
A tactic as old as politics, and just remember "Who pays the Piper to play the song on repeat?"
The answer is, "Follow the big money"
This is getting beyond a joke now.https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/115592299/young-labour-abuse-victims-barred-from-parliament-offices.
It was a joke up until now?
The way they have handled it has been a joke yes.
The way who have handled it? The Labour Party? In what sense was their handling of it a joke? Neither of us has significant knowledge of how it was handled, so ignorance-based reckons about the quality of the handling could themselves only take the form of jokes, surely?
As an abstract hypothetical, though: when allegations of workplace harrassment and bullying are made against an individual and an investigation finds that the allegations are unsupported, ie it comes down to he says/she says, how would you handle those allegations in a way that treated all parties fairly, respected their privacy, achieved a result satisfactory to all parties and also couldn't be used as propaganda against you by your enemies? Do take your time.
Vance mentions in passing Parliaments inquiry into Bullying etc?
The Journalists have never revisited the shock conclusion that some Journalists around parliament are part of the problem
"A significant number of respondents – not all of them Members – commented on what they perceived as inappropriate behaviour by members of the Press Gallery or media more generally."
https://www.parliament.nz/media/5739/independent-external-review-into-bullying-and-harassment-in-the-new-zealand-parliamentary-workplace-final-report.pdf
and a quote:
““Gallery behaviour is unacceptable… they come in there perfectly nice people and then adopt this persona of the classic bully. You can watch it happen.”
Code of Omerta means people like Vance wont touch that aspect
"In what sense was their handling of it a joke?"
"Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Labour Party President Nigel Haworth have delivered an apologetic press conference, admitting major failings by the party. Ms Ardern said the burden of care and responsibility for those allegedly sexually assualted at a summer camp should not have been left to members of Young Labour. "We handled this very, very badly as a party," Ms Ardern said."
"The party is also facing criticism for the presence of alcohol at the event. Young people attended the event with parental consent, but on Wednesday afternoon, Ms Ardern was unable to say whether those consent forms mentioned alcohol. Labour MP Liz Craig was at the event that night. On Wednesday afternoon, she deleted a photo from her Facebook page which showed her seated at a table with a group of young adults who were drinking alcohol."
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/03/labour-accused-of-dropping-the-ball-on-young-labour-sexual-assault-claims.html
"The Prime Minister, parents of the victims, and police were not notified about alleged sexual misconduct at a Young Labour summer camp last month."
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/03/labour-didn-t-tell-police-parents-or-pm-about-sexual-assault-claims.html
There's more, but that's enough. I don't like labelling Labour's handling of this 'a joke'; it rather minimises the damage. Incompetent, inept, useless…these are far better descriptors.
Nigel Haworth has not done Jacinda any favours the way he has handled it. If true that he banned complainants from buildings, why was the accused not banned or stood down why investigation going on? Andrea Vance and Alison Mau seem to have really turned on Labour this weekend.
As an abstract hypothetical: when allegations of workplace harrassment and bullying are made against an individual and an investigation finds that the allegations are unsupported, ie it comes down to he says/she says, how would you handle those allegations in a way that treated all parties fairly, respected their privacy, achieved a result satisfactory to all parties and also couldn't be used as propaganda against you by your enemies? Do take your time.
The accused should have been stood down while investigation underway, not just the accusers being banned from the building. I think this may cost Nigel Haworth his job. The last one cost Andrew Kirton his job.
The Spinoff piece under discussion in today's thread suggests there was no investigation, or at least nothing you could reasonably call an investigation. Like you, I don't see how Kirton could keep his job and still expect anyone to vote Labour – same with the others involved.
Picking on a turn of phrase psycho?
I had to reread the story carefully as from the "heading" it seemed as though the story was in regard to the recent case due to be sentenced later in the year – the word "young" gave, to me, every impression of that. What it is referring to is another completely separate matter that has an element of "employment" attached to it and no charges, as yet, which has a bearing that needs to be sorted but the inference unless studied and read carefully implies something else.
Thanks for the clarification Rapaunzel. It wasn't at all clear from that article what case was being referred to:
The seven complainants have still not laid any complaints with either the police or Parliamentary Services.
I'm not suggesting nothing happened, but I’m starting to smell a big rat over this case.
🙂 It didn;t help that the paper was drenched but the heading led me, and I guess others, up the garden path until I re-read it. No one is suggesting anything did not happen but there are cases that were supposedly being looked at that the public had heard no more of within the National Party that were not disimmilar.
Why can't NZ media stick to the facts and the fact is as you say there are no charges and employment matters have to be handled very carefully for all involved. Allowing media to be judge and jury of what happened, how it "should be handled" and where the "blame" lies is unacceptable. This sort of conjecture and getting to the heart of who, how many people and exactly what needs to be done does nothing to educate on and improve workplace relationships.
... there are cases that were supposedly being looked at that the public had heard no more of within the National Party that were not disimilar.
There was a serious case earlier this year involving a Young Nat (male) and a Young Nat event. It was reported through the MSM and then… nothing. It was suspected at the time the complainant was 'bought off'.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12166768
Nov 2018.
Simon Bridges said:
"In line with our health and safety policies, we acted quickly to offer any support and advice to the person who raised the issue, and this information was passed on to the alleged victim.
"As this is now a matter for the police, we can't comment any further."
And that, as far as I know, was the last we heard of the matter so I am assuming the complainant withdrew her complaint. Did she do it of her own accord or was she coerced? Did any journos bother to check out what happened? The answer appears to be… no.
It would seem there's a big difference how these cases get reported depending on which party the complainant/complainants belong to eh?
If any thing serious happened, surely, at least one complainant must report it to the police (or Parliamentary services?).
The Nat one was reported to police.
Not parliamentary services for that one, as it was in Auckland bar and a apartment. No Parliamentary Services employees from the outline of the event
Anne, the reason your comments are held in in Auto-Moderation is a minor typo in your user name, which I have corrected a number of times now. The system ‘thinks’ that you’re a new user and this needs to be manually approved.
Thank-you Incognito. I picked it up after sending the comment. 😳
That was from about 3 weeks ago , Bennett went full out on it, it was covered by the media as she arranged.
Now Vance who moved out of the Press gallery into management has a slow Sunday scandal day hole to fill ? . Has she been chatting to Bennett who wanted to recycle old news
Their new weekly columnist , the taxpayer funded opinion piece by Seymours staffer seems to disappeared
Well Stuff can get stuf't on a Sunday I'm cancelling my paper and will say exactly why, the same should apply to talkback advertisers such as "magic" radio with its Too Cheap Cars donations. After the $400+k fine for cheating clients only "trmagic's" terminally dim listeners would be an option as clientele anyway.
Marvelous!
https://twitter.com/michaelharriot/status/1170202643672776704
After the Revolutionary War, many of the white people who were loyal to Britain moved to the Bahamas, which was largely empty. A lot of those people brought their enslaved Africans with them.
But harsh conditions made many of the white people leave. Then, in 1807, Britain abolished the slave trade. Many of those freed Africans who were liberated on the open seas went to the Bahamas as free people.
When the US basically bought Florida from Spain, thousands of enslaved Africans and Black Seminoles said “fuck this” and escaped to the Bahamas.
So many ran to freedom that the US government had to build a lighthouse in Cape Florida in 1825.
In 1834, Britain freed all the slaves in its territories and shit really got crazy.
[…]
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1170202643672776704.html
It usually raises a red flag for me when some one claims a country was 'largely empty'
Its part of the White Settlers shtick about South Africa too.
The large existing population of the Bahamas was removed by the Spanish for the slave trade at the start of Colonisation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Bahamas
Amber Rudd has resigned from the BJ Cabinet and the Tory whip.
1. BJ is only pretending to seek a deal.
2. the removal of the 21 MP’s.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49623737
So there are significant numbers of Tory MPs with the integrity and spine prepared to stand up to Boorish and say what they think, in full knowledge the likely price is the end of their political career. That really highlights what a bunch of jellyfish the Repugs are in their craven capitulation to Kim Jong Orange.
Quoted for Truth
Turns out the bludger is stupid, too.
A teacher on an individual contract has complained to the Human Rights Commission about payments union members will get after the settling of a protracted pay wrangle.
And he claims non-union teachers have been kept in the dark that they can negotiate their own employment agreements.
Hastings Boys' High head of music Justin Lindsay claims that the Ministry of Education has discriminated on the basis of political opinion in their new Secondary Teachers Collective Agreement (STCA) 2019-2022.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12265580&ref=clavis
I googled him. Looks like he took care to sanitise his online foot print before speaking out. The only thing he shows is that he was employed in the ESOL and tech sector in Japan for a number of years,
"And he claims non-union teachers have been kept in the dark "? Really? And he also claims to be a teacher? I have seen that name before with similar "complaints" but no mention of how many people he represents. How is it that one individual's statement is passed by media as being either a wide-spread issue or movement?
He would have signed this – which is a template
https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/School/Individual-Employment-Agreements/Secondary-Teachers-IEA-2019.pdf
perhaps he should appoint /pay for his own advocate to get better terms than the Union members.
Funny these sort of stories dont sit for long in the NZME 'pending publishing' queue.
Which is why NZ seriously needs some sort of public service information outlet, either a whole channel or something. While I suppose that was clear to me right from the messing with contract thing in the 1990s, more towards the end of that period I gather their are people who don't appear to "know" these things – he does is, spreading misinformation is his intent.
There are lots of basic things beginning with how to register and vote, what "free" medical options families might have, how not to pay insurance unless you know you have met criteria and are fully covered for what you think you've paid for, what are your employment "rights" and obligations are – so as not to jeopardize your employment, along with reliable borrowing or budgeting advice etc. The information is there but it needs to be more readily available and visible and repeated till it sinks in. During the 2014 election I heard from several young people that their employers or other told them "if you don't vote this way you will have no job". They believed it and spread that idea around. If basic information about "rights' was more common and normalised people might start thinking for themselves and/or seeking out the facts when they need them.
There's a Parliament TV channel that has a lot of downtime – even given repeats of QT etc. (and that's just for starters). It could actually be used for educational purposes at various times – providing 'civics'/'social studies', the citizens' rights when dealing with government agencies, the Treaty, BOR et al
No end of things – took my grandson to the medical centre last holidays and they had a number of items running, how many other groups have items of interest, probably local councils and voluntary groups.
Besides that what groups are active in an area may be an incentive to make people more active which is the first step in the right direction to give mental stimulation, company and activities to turn back the tide of health issues putting pressure on services.
Cross contamination (Bacteria) in gene editing experiment.
https://twitter.com/techreview/status/1169921428969480192
Yes, that is indeed the kind of thing that happens when technologists use simple sloppy techniques that are more or less how bacteria have been getting their genes into other organisms without any human intervention since forever. Like happened with sweet potato.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150421084204.htm
Genetic transfer has been ongoing in the nature,with subsequent trial and success,over very looooooong time periods.
Mitichondria being a good example.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrion
Brexit is my addiction, (I watch it like I used to watch Babylon 5.) Fascinating – what's next.
I like the photo of Boorish that has been captured.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/more-turmoil-boris-johnson-he-loses-another-cabinet-member-over-brexit-fiasco
BBC one good too. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49618242
Amber Rudd not a dead insect encapsulated in gum. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49623737
Rudd is just a careerist first and foremost looking out for herself. She makes Paula Bennett seem like Mary Poppins… the Windrush scandal wa swhen she was in charge….. she smells blood in the water for Johnson and wants to be part of the next cabinet and the next cabinet
This is the person she is :
"Rudd first denied there were targets for the removal of immigrants. Later, she maintained that she had not known of targets. Later still, The Guardian published leaked evidence that Rudd had known about targets: "
Wikipedia. That resulted in one of her many resignations
She should really be going to the Great Tory Boneyard in the Sky… but is likely to reappear somwhow.
If that's true dookydooky, then blobbyjobby should be worried shouldn't he.
If you watch nothing else – watch the first first 2.15 find out if your a socialist or just some sort of wannabe.
Haven't watched it but a muscly govt is vital now to face climate change.
Cleek's law done wrong.
https://twitter.com/JordanUhl/status/1170172075094487041
Fox News opinion host Laura Ingraham’s earnest efforts to troll liberals reached a new, if not bizarre, level Friday as she attempted to drink a steak stuffed with incandescent light bulbs through a plastic straw.
“Well, it’s a meal that will trigger all the right … I meant all the left people,” she said to kick off the “Ingraham Angle” segment.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/laura-ingraham-tries-to-drink-light-bulb-steak-to-trigger-liberals_n_5d73c962e4b0fde50c2740cd?
she is so thick – thin lipped zombie who need 'braaaaaaaaaiiinnnnnnnnss'
Dementia Don is clearly contagious.
She really does suck.
The grift continues …
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/09/house-investigation-air-force-crew-trump-turnberry-resort-scotland.html
Meanwhile, let's remind ourselves of Article 2 Section 1 Clause 7 of the Constitution:
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
Money from any government source finding it's way into a federal official's pocket from any source other than salary is a direct violation of the constitution, and should be cause for immediate impeachment. But Repugs just don't care, it's not like adults were indulging in any consensual private pleasure or anything like that. (Although grossly inappropriate due to the power imbalance involved)
Thats a beat up about USAF flight stop overs in Prestwick Scotland. Its not really Glasgow which has its own airport close to the city.
They reason they stop. because planes fly 'Great Circle' arcs between origin and destination as much as possible. Prestwick is on the direct route for stop overs between Middle east and US military bases. Plus its less crowded airspace- which causes delays- than military airports in Southern England.
We can see similar occurrences for USAF flights to Antarctica, they stop to refuel at Christchurch, change crew etc .
This Trump Hotel/ Golf club is just outside Prestwick, maybe they offer a cut price deal for all these sort of cargo airlines for crew stop overs.
The idea that they are stopping there so they can stay at that hotel doesnt follow.
Ah – huh …
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/feb/07/scottish-government-criticised-over-us-military-use-of-airport
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/1884091
Cant see Prestwick 'supporting Bombing raids on Syria'
A loaded Bomber definitely wont be landing at a public airport…. they need facilities that can handle live bombs.
Like I said its a beatup about an insignificant thing, not that Trump hasnt loaded up his other hotels and golf clubs with official government events.
this is more important
n three Saturday evening tweets, Donald Trump claims that leaders of the Taliban, as well as Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, were secretly scheduled to land on U.S. soil “tonight.” Trump claimed that, “unbeknownst to almost everyone,” he had separate meetings scheduled with each at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.
Trump then claimed that he bailed on the peace talks after the Taliban took credit for a deadly car bombing in Kabul on Thursday, which killed 12 people, including an American soldier.
A Camp David peace deal with the Taliban ?
What could go wrong. Even NZ has the Taliban on its Terrorist List of proscibed groups.
I don't think I would be saying that. There are questions being asked on both sides of the Atlantic. And yes! Trump is benefiting from this cozy arrangement.
Meanwhile – Trump Turnberry lost $4.5 mill in 2017 and with the help of taxpayer $$$, it made $3 mill in 2018. Furthermore Prestwick offered free rounds of golf at Turnberry to visiting US military and civilian air crews. So a fairly clear example of further contravention of the emoluments clause of the Constitution.
Nothing quite like an official partnership.
https://twitter.com/MartynMcL/status/1170151675132297216
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1170137677095669766.html
Wow! That is some thread Joe. Meanwhile Jerry Nadler is preparing for action this week:
Nadler has already sort clarification from the Pentagon on this very matter with a flat refusal to comply. Things could get very interesting this week.
More crazy conspiracy theories.
And of course, man never landed on the moon, the ChCh mosque massacre was all Mossads doing, and my chips tonight are soggy because of Brexit.
Unbelievable. And you are allowed to vote? I despair at times like this.
Yes, I do vote. If it makes you feel better, I'm registered in the California 51st District, so the only time my vote might make the slightest difference is in the Dem primary for the House and Senate. But the House Rep is Juan Vargas who is well-liked, so it's unlikely he'll get a serious challenger, and CA doesn't have a senator up for election in 2020.
I'm also capable of correctly spelling Christchurch.
Meanwhile, you got anything to say about the situation whereby this is the first president ever* to own and operate businesses that sell services to the federal government, in direct contravention of one of the first clauses of the constitution? And where that business has massively increased since he took office with the one branch of government he has the most direct control over, being the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces?
*I s’pose it’s possible Washington’s distillery sold whiskey to the Feds, but I’ve never seen any claim that that actually happened.
And now the dayglo swampzilla is trying to force automakers to pollute more …
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/antitrust-investigation-ford-bmw-justice-department_n_5d728876e4b03aabe35bbd99
Meanwhile…
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/trump-aides-worried-about-mental-state-alabama-hurricane-dorian-2019-9?
He never had "his shit" to lose. All he ever had was a big stack of dodgy dollars, an overactive middle finger that excited the deplorables, and a massive streak of nasty vindictiveness sufficient to cow into submission or at least silence anyone that voluntarily got close to him.
Well yeah I totally agree.
"Sharpiegate" is just another episode in the total clusterfuck of daily shock and horror that is now everyday American politics.
this is effin' hilarious..
a cobb & co training vid from the 80's..
i've never been to a cobb & co..
but for those of you who used to..?…and liked it..?
my god – you used to eat some crap..
(the vid is 12 and a half mins long..but i urge you to watch all of it..
the dessert for two – at the end – is well worth the wait/journey..(it comes with an umbrella..(!)..didn’tyaknow..?..)
https://thespinoff.co.nz/food/14-08-2017/a-play-by-play-of-a-32-year-old-cobb-co-staff-training-video/
i laughed like a drain thru much of it..
the re-heated tinned-mushrooms – the ubiquitous orange-slice..
the foul muck they called sauces – the piped cream..
it just keeps giving and giving…heh..!
Cobbnco was great philly… ngnghchn…
Mmmmmm …. crumbed schnitzel … stuffed with ham and cheese …
Ah, the eighties.
Went to the one in Dunedin a few weeks ago – pretty good I thought. Didn't see much of that on the menu lol
A couple of things stood out – the "express" lunch, with a 35 minute delivery time. Seafood joint near my work has a 15 minute promise today. Sign of the time crunch these days.
Also: why did they put little plastic cow silhouettes in the steaks?! I remembered them as kids as soon as I saw them. What the actual fuck? At least plastic straws were useful!
I'm pretty sure the coloured cows were to indicate the 'doneness' of steak.
lol so they were a little plastic token to tell you what the chef thinks you got, rather than just leaving it for you to assume that what you get is what you ordered?
It was more for the one between the chef and the diner – the wait staff.
So they knew what to announce they had when they got to the table.
Don't be so awful Phil. It was farken sofusticaydid and pretty much the start of it all. Lil ole NuZull had come of age.
..heh..!
and i have just remembered i have been to one..on north shore..just a few yrs ago..
i think it was one..
it was an auntie-do..
and my vegan cousin and i wandered past the offerings..(twice..)
and neither i nor she could bring ourselves to try anything…
the aunties were all tucking in tho'…
no accounting for taste..i'spose
I was a kitchen hand at cobbyco in welly – they really loved burning the bottom of the pots big time – I was also a vege so never ate there just cleaned the filthy meat pots – ahh now that took elbow grease to move that grease.
Thanks for the link, it was a hoot.
chrs..!
i can't get those tinned mushrooms out of my mind..
they must have been vile/puke-inducing..
Along with canned beans and Irish stew, they were a staple on the surf trips of my youth. Easily heated and eaten with white whole loaf bread and washed down with beer or milk, they were pretty damned good.
OMG — I havent been to Cobb and Co since 2000.
The film reviews on RadioNZ – one is of Apollo 11 and the question was raise- was this the event when the USA was really great?
I think actually it was when The New Deal was brought in in USA and also being behind the Marshall Plan that got Europe out of its WW2 hell-hole of poverty of the countries, infrastructure and systems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan#Change_in_American_ideology
Incidentally I came across this good article from The Atlantic on Election voting – USA and Germany.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/why-germany-s-politics-are-much-saner-cheaper-and-nicer-than-ours/280081/
Yep, USA was great once. As you say, Marshall Plan etc. Really though, US still is, in general. Most disaster aide in the world today is via US military.
Sadly, the invasion of Iraq pretty much undermined a great country. And as for Vietnam,……. but I guess that is the superpower complex.
What I like about the USA is that it sets itself pretty spectacular ideals. Usually it fails dismally at achieving those ideals (most of the writers of those "self evident" truths about freedom were slaveholders, for example), but sometimes (UN, New Deal, Civil Rights Act, Apollo) it approaches them. And that's pretty spectacular.
But so are their failures (KKK, Vietnam, CIA mcfuckery).
Nothing much I like about America after '45. Took over the world, became an empire.
The War on Poverty was a good attempt.
The tech is nice.
And the thousands if not millions of people who worked together to have 12 people walk on the moon. Awesome not just that they did it, but as an example of what we can do with a united focus.
BJ’s cunning plan?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12265853
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/07/tories-extend-lead-over-labour-to-10-despite-chaotic-week
More corporate welfare.
The White House is considering a plan that would have the government directly purchase uranium from U.S. producers as it contemplates ways to revive the flagging domestic mining industry.
A group set up by President Donald Trump to study the issue is considering a request by the nuclear industry to use the Defense Production Act, a 68-year-old Cold War-era statute once invoked by President Harry Truman to help the steel industry. The plan calls for requiring the government to buy American uranium to replenish their stockpiles and for other purposes, Paul Goranson, chief operating officer for Energy Fuels Inc., said in an interview.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-06/white-house-considering-direct-purchases-of-u-s-mined-uranium
The Greens used to claim to be doing politics differently.
The censoring of an article by veteran Green Jill Abigail suggest the Green leadership have opted for censorship and control freakery. Here is they article they took exception to and banned:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2019/09/03/21871/
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
They had to pick a side: TERF-positive or trans-positive. Either position was going to piss people off.
Seraphir
Your marxist analysis is notably lacking if you genuinely believe that biological sex as a binary model of human physiology holds any water in modern medical science.
Good luck convincing any actual biologists that sexual reproduction doesn't involve two sexes.
Why the preoccupation on sexual reproduction?
Trans people exist, modern medical science understands this, many societies understand this. Unfortunately they are a marginalised, stigmatised minority and articles that present trans-women as a threat in "women-only spaces" are factually wrong and exclusionary. Trans-women are women.
Why the preoccupation on sexual reproduction?
What pre-occupation? You posted a quote saying biological sex isn't binary, and I replied to the effect that biologists would be surprised to hear there are more than two sexes. That's not a "pre-occupation," it's a "reply."
Trans people exist…
No-one, least of all Jill Abigail, is disputing that.
Unfortunately they are a marginalised, stigmatised minority…
Ditto.
Trans-women are women.
However, that's simply untrue for any functional definition of "woman." The fact that "trans-woman" has the prefix "trans" should be a bit of a giveaway about that.
In the complete quote I posted it says sex isn't a binary in human physiology and this is well-known in modern medical science. This has nothing to do with reproduction, nothing to do with biologists so your "reply" was at best a distraction from the topic at hand.
Please provide what you consider to be the 'functional definition of "woman"'.
In the complete quote I posted it says sex isn't a binary in human physiology and this is well-known in modern medical science. This has nothing to do with reproduction…
I've tried parsing the claim that sex has nothing to do with reproduction multiple times, but no matter how I come at it the claim still makes no sense. The term "sex" refers to reproduction, and the term "sex differences" exists exactly because they are differences in the respective reproductive systems (or caused by the reproductive systems.
In my previous experience, references to sex supposedly not being binary are usually based on the existence of intersex people. However, the fact that sexual reproduction isn't 100% perfect and birth defects of the reproductive system can occur the same as they can for any other parts of the body was well-known to ancient medical science, let alone modern. That doesn't alter the fact that sexually-reproducing species have two sexes. Humans are no different in that respect.
Please provide what you consider to be the 'functional definition of "woman"'.
"A" functional definition, not "the." We have dictionaries for that, and the definition is usually "adult female human," or a variation on it. Drop "female" from the definition and it's just a synonym for "person," which would render it non-functional.
The obsession with reproduction as the important part for the definition of sex and gender excludes everyone who is unable to naturally conceive. Are all those infertile cis-gendered people also to be excluded from this gender binary? If not, why not?
Some females were assigned male at birth, it’s not a complicated thing, we agreed this above, it’s in dictionaries. However your example of a functional definition excludes trans-women because evidently you don’t actually consider them to be female. Why would this be?
… reproduction as the important part for the definition of sex and gender excludes everyone who is unable to naturally conceive.
Sex, not gender – gender's a social construct, nothing to do with physiology. And no the definitions of man and woman don't exclude people unable to conceive – the dictionary doesn't qualify the term "female" with "NB: female reproductive system in question must be proven to function correctly", for fairly obvious reasons.
Some females were assigned male at birth, it’s not a complicated thing, we agreed this above, it’s in dictionaries.
We did. However, we're talking about trans-women, not intersex people. The proportion of trans women who are intersex would be tiny.
…your example of a functional definition excludes trans-women because evidently you don’t actually consider them to be female. Why would this be?
First and foremost, because they're not female. I found that a pretty compelling reason.
The dictionary definitions of man and woman don't exclude trans people either, but you seem to think it does
Trans-women were assigned male at birth. That is the definition of a trans-women. Intersexuality isn't relevant here.
So you say trans-women are not female, pray tell, what do you determine them to be?
A bit circular, and well removed from your original comment about reproduction requiring two sexes.
Trans-women were assigned male at birth.
Trans-women were assigned male at conception, by physical reality. If they'd rather live as a woman, all good by me and let's make that as straightforward for them as possible, but there isn't any way for them to become female – which leads to debates like the one Jill Abigail was contributing to (or trying to, at least).
So you say trans-women are not female, pray tell, what do you determine them to be?
Male/female is a matter of sex, not gender. We can fuck with gender every which way we feel like because it's a social construct, but so far no-one's come up with the technology for a person to change their sex.
A bit circular, and well removed from your original comment about reproduction requiring two sexes.
Fair cop, that was a silly answer, but it was a silly question. The answer was also not unrelated from my original comment, because male and female refer to the two sexes. The question of why I'd consider someone with a male body not to be female is self-answering.
um…
You do get that if I have surgery to make me look younger, it hasn't actually made me younger, right?
Luckily sex change surgery merely involves changing organs, rather than resisting the inexorable progression of the universe.
The Greens used to claim to be doing politics differently.
"Used to?" Can you point to the times any mainstream party's had a shitfight over whether it's going to back trans activists or feminists?
i don't think many saw that coming…
"No previous extensions of human rights for new groups have involved taking away the rights of others needing protection."
Really succinct quote.
I'm sure a lot of white folks said that when blacks were suddenly allowed in all sorts of places.
not in the opinion of the author
Hell, they still do. All that "replacement" bullshit.
Upon reading that link it occurred to me that Maggie Thatchers work continues by proxy….or perhaps she was prescient.
Tauranga a ghost town at 5pm, Monday. Lots of vacant prime commercial real estate. Anyone who thinks we will keep seeing prices rise is dreaming & it will get worse despite the GST about to be charged on imported goods.
30 odd units vacant (!) on just two roads.
Check it out what mainstream news won’t be telling you.
The Tauranga auction spy reports that this week out of the 11 residential auctions he attended 8 did not get a single bid.
pretty much any town in nz is suffering from this lack of commercial tenants. Reason one: Leases in Tauranga, Rotorua, Tokoroa, Putaruru, Taupo etc are all the same, namely as in AKL. Meaninch 15-25 grand a year ex gst, ex rates, ex building insurance, ex ex ex ex ex ex
and so as long as that is addressed ( and we have the same issue with residential) people don't rent/lease. Simple as that.
Prices will raise, but it ain't the locals buying. And for those that can't sell, fear not, just write of your loss if you can't find a tenant to pay your exuberant rent / lease demands. The government will look after you 🙂
That is the biggest single failing of the current lot running the show in wellington, they could have closed loopholes that allow property owners to keep buildings, dwelling, residential/commercial spaces empty as they still make money of it. They could have regulated rent demands, they could have regulated air bnb, they could have should have but sadly have done fuck all.
Indeed, A.
With the soaring cost of housing, power, rates, insurance and food it's no wonder people can't afford to go shopping, thus bars and restaurants are struggling and shops are sitting vacant.
The one thing that is growing is queues at the local food bank.
'Murica
https://twitter.com/QasimRashid/status/1170492651638054914
wow – just noticed this – I hope it gets better I really do
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-08-09-2019/#comment-1653159
Hi Everyone,
The East Coast Fire Season, has started about 2mths early than normal. In some parts of the east coast it’s so extreme that some towns have next to no water or are likely to run out water in the coming months and as a result of a lack of water the fire crews have to resort to dry fire fighting techniques which is not a effective, but that’s what they do given the circumstances especially around the Tenterfield area in Northern NSW.
I had drinks with my Bushfire Brigade on Thursday here at Dundee NT, where the talk got around the water supply? The local plumber who also supplies water as everyone is on Tank water or they shallow bores are running out of water and it get worse. The local plumber has had to cut back in the water cart business, so he doesn’t run old of water and the community open water supply has run dry. Due to selfish members of the Dundee community have been using our bushfires outlet which feeds out of the bottom tank and at times has stuffed up the bore feeding the water tank. Where as the community outlet is half way up the tank and it’s going to a point if we have fire we may not have water and this water supply supports people out to a radius of 20-30 km’s.
Some communities in the Darwin Rural Area are about run out of water or they have been trucking in water since Xmas and the scary thing is we are expecting to this fire season to extend out to December and water to be very scarce until the Wet Season breaks if it comes at all?
Its getting despite in a lot of places throughout Australia if this current droughts doesn’t break IRT water, food production and whole communities etc.
For various reasons, agriculture in much of Australia will be near impossible in a few decades.
Drought, salinity inclusions into artesian water, air borne erosion of soil, (Dust bowl affect) warmer temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, and more frequent storms are already having a serious impact.
We may be feeding 15 million Australians, yet.
Yesterday I watched ABC’s Landline as I do most Sunday’s and this weeks episode was entire on Climate Change. There was some interesting stuff from a whole range of people including a former GG who has a special forces background and who also supported the Maj Les Hiddins aka The Bush Tucker Man at a time when the Army thought Les was a bit of a crackpot. Who has an interest in soil carbon capture and he words about CC are the same POV as mine.
The follow links were on yesterday’s Landline and this is the link for Landline as they will do more episodes on CC in the future. https://www.abc.net.au/landline/
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/family-farms:-new-generation-changing-conventional/11490438
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/corporate-farming:-big-business-investment-in/11490444
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/chicken-free-chicken:-meat-less-meat-substitutes/11490424
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/future-in-cloud:-technology-solving-everyday/11490454
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/future-soil:-excess-carbon-regenerating-soils/11490464
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/climate-chaos:-adapting-to-changing-climate/11490434
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-08/dollars-from-dirt-the-farmer-making-money-from-healthy-soil/11486346
Last years Drought summit held in Canberra before the Federal election, raised the possibility that retiring land has to be now considered as a result of CC in the more marginal areas of Australia. But the sticking point was how to give those Farmers some dignity without the banks etc including Government leaving them penny less as most of the farmers wealth is tired up in land etc, management of the land once its retired from farming and those a effected communities that service the farming sector.
Interesting links. Ta.
One of my old friends in Oz, was one of the scientists in charge of Victoria's soil salinity project.
Limited water, and artesian wells drawing salt water into farmland, was already a problem several decades ago.
The old man comes from Broken Hill and to see the massive fish kill at the Menindee Lakes almost brought him to tears as the lake system was meant to hold water during the Drought's and hold water for the fish etc. But somewhere along the line some smart ass lobbied the State government to use all that water for farming/ horticulture, instead of it sitting there when the next drought comes along.
Here's a couple of more interesting links and both them I've had some experience in especially from a military planning/ military research side of things at unit level and group level before I was medical discharge.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-11/government-appears-unprepared-for-climate-change/11492886
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-11/fighting-fires-becoming-impossible-task/11497588
Kia Ora The Am Show.
Aron looks like a national supporter I seen his nihor showing.
Sam the number one cause of suicide is no money. I have seen for my self how professionals lawyers advises accounts and foresters have ripped off people close to me THAT'S CAPTILSIM take all you can from innocent people with their silver TONGUES.
You should have taken the complaints to the police Paula milking it.
BULLSHIT there are deaths from dairydack for years how do we know that you are telling the TRUTH about the numbers and dates. People were making money off the sale of stuff that could kill people this is national mess you are trying to blame others Paul It would never have been a issue if it was stamped out straight away not sold in shops.
There you go America needs to change laws to make tech companies responsible for the content on their platform.
Eric their you go Jacinda is speaking about the haters get exposure on big tech companies sites that will help to highlight the problem and motivate them to take the videos down. It's will be hard when you have old Politicians employed on the big tech companies LOBBYING branches.
I read that colonel sanders was a white supremist I get a sore face when people quote him.
Ka kite Ano
No there is just a small amount of real criminal in New Zealand Mark 2%
Kia Ora Newshub
The Coalition Government new approach ZERO lives lost to suicide every life matters is awesome.
Some people are so cruel how can they do that to a human or even a animal those idiots who torchered that poor Wahine WTF.
There he goes again barking up the wrong tree bridges doe not think very well of course we care about the haters who harm inenecint tangata using the Internet to gain support it must be stop.
Let's hope Otago get a good growing season this year. Im hopeing for some wind from Tawhirimate to get my wind turbine turning I had to design if for strong Tawhirimate as things get blown over were we are.
Mike that's gives Eco Maori A sore face all the Tangata and Tamariki wanting to learn Te Reo it is every one in Aotearoa taonga Ka pai.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I have congratulations for our government move to a goal of zero lives lost to suicide . I agree with Mike suicide is a New Zealand problem
It awesome that Te puni korokiri is tau toko Te tangata with building whare on their own whenua that is what Te puni Korokiri did back in the days of old.
Maori tourism is getting links to boost their business and putea Ka pai
Toronto film Festival Tika Waititi Jojo rabbit will show Maori wit and humour awesome.
Turangi A Kiwa celebrating Te Reo Maori Language week kia kaha Whanau. Tawhirimate was celebrating Te Reo Maori Language week to. Pouho Rawiri Marae
Maunatu taonga their tamariki Ka pai I taonga my tamariki so does Ngāti Porou.
Ka kite Ano