The failure to investigate 9/11 has bankrupted America financially and morally, and has allowed us to stand idly by while our liberty has been destroyed.
I’m compiling a list of reasons not to sell assets. Some so far:
– like eating your last egg-laying hen
– selling coffee machine to pay mortgage on cafe
– like selling your kidneys to get a blood transfusion
– akin to selling the roof to pay to fix a leak
That will teach you for having too many screens, and too many devices, operating at once Mickey! Maybe you need to hire a half-time staffer to deal with your activist work!
MS there is much more to it than that…Anyone who thinks this is simply a National policy being put into place in silo, needs to understand the intent that drives these people!
It’s optional assistance so it can hardly be called nanny state.
Isn’t family planing assistance a good idea? Especially for young women and girls who have no stable relationship, poor education, insufficient quailifications and little or no work experience.
It should be available for everyone, not just for those in the welfare system.
I think the government a few years back (I think Jenny Shipley) tried to widen the avaliblilty of contraception including having condoms available in schools and having *the pill* sold over the counter, but the god-botherers threw a tantrum, so that was that.
The birth control provision is also a distraction. It is worth a million a year. By these reforms the Government expects to cut social welfare payments and associated costs by $500 million over four years.
It is doomed to fail though. If the jobs are not there it does not matter how well you manage things, people will still rely on benefits.
The Q&A is very optimistic. It reckons that over the past two and a half years 67,000 jobs have been created. This needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The time period is cherry picked and it includes part time jobs.
It would be nice to hear the progressive parliamentarians in the House broaden the discussion. Generating pportunities in terms of jobs, education, community projects, etc would be better use of public money and a more rounded societal approach.
“Long-term reversible contraception would eventually be fully funded for female beneficiaries and their 16 to 19-year-old daughters.”
sounds like tube tying operations are in the works, yet the story is sold with an innocuous picture of contraceptive pills with absolutely no attempt from the journalist to convey any detail, if any details were released of course. One more sound bite policy from this dangerous government that too many in the public will roll over to support, and if the Stuff poll is any indication, NZ already has.
As with most National policy, some details would be a nice to have.
Far cheaper than tubal ligation, much shorter recovery times and reversible. Can be done in an out-patients under local and you’re good to go the next day.
In the states, a lot of health insurance covers tubal ligation but not vasectomies, because TL counts as ‘major surgery’ and so is covered. Yet another example of why the US spends so much on healthcare: perverse incentives are rife in their system.
I wonder if IUDs count as “long term” or not, because that might be what they mean. IIRC some of them are good for 10 years: that’s a very significant chunk of a women’s reproductive years.
Uncommon, but severe like abnormal uterine bleeding due to chronic endometritis (the lining of the uterus gets inflamed and the inflammation can directly or indirectly cause bleeding), Pelvic Actinomycosis is a less common but more severe condition and can be very expensive to treat successfully.
Implants leak a hormone into the blood stream that hampers pregnancy, but can also affect mood, leading to depression.
An option for controlling fertility that I have not seen discussed much in NZ is abortifacients, like the “morning after pill” I have not researched this option lately – there could be good medical reasons for discarding it.
It’s eugenic in that it targets one group of people for whom reproduction is deemed ‘undesirable’. Such ideas (of restricting the breeding of certain groups) were gaining popularity in New Zealand 100 years ago, and led to various policy manifestations including segregated residential confinement, and forced sterilisations of institutionalised people. There is a dark eugenic undertone in much NZ public policy and among certain groups of politicians that has never gone away.
It’s not necessarily “restricting the breeding of certain groups”, it’s helping to plan for the best time to have a family – best for resulting the children anyway.
It *is* selective groups, otherwise they would be making all kinds of contraception available to all women. Or even to all low income women. Contraceptive choice should be something a woman has autonomy over, and if necessary can be discussed with her GP (and partner where that’s appropriate). The state should *not* be dictating what kinds of contraception are made freely available. They should also be providing free health care for women who have side effects from state funded contraception.
I would be heavily in favour of this. For the record, I am in favour of making it available to beneficiaries, but do worry about the potential for a slippery slope. Simply making it available for low income women (tied to community services card?) is better yet.
Hilary, well done for picking up what is in fact plainly obvious, na dhas alwasy been so!
PG – Always looking at things from the most fancical angle. Its for the kiddies, yes lets make sure that certain sectors of society are not able to breed, or at least assisted in constraining the their breeding.
Let’s see how long until benefits are held back until young girls have had the the contraception injection shall we!
It is true that once the free contraception is established as voluntary, conditions can be incrementally introduced to make it more or less compulsory. However, right from the outset it reinforces the economic apartheid that we already have. And we know from history that once that perspective takes hold, those one the “nice” side of the divide come to see a lesser standard of citizenship as applying to those other people. Its very introduction bears the utter presumption of treating one’s fellow humans like noxious pests on a farm.
Love the way she quotes Sandel, especially this one
“According to Sandel, the most fateful change of the past three decades was not the growth of greed but the reach of markets and market values into every aspect of our lives.
Which is fine if we’re happy to live in the moral-free zone of the market.”
Which is exactly where the current government seems to live.
Not just the current government. Other parties are tainted by this infiltration of market values into politics. How is it that even the Labour Party leader doesn’t see anything wrong with the cronyist netowrk of powerful business interests:
Sky TV chief executive John Fellet was also present at a private dinner party attended by Opposition leader David Shearer at the home of Sky lobbyist Tony O’Brien, the pay-TV company has confirmed.
[..]
Acknowledging he and his wife attended the dinner, Shearer did not discuss whether Fellet was present. He insisted there was no discussion of Labour’s broadcasting policy.
“I regularly attend dinners, lunches, breakfasts and meetings with chief executives of companies and many other organisations,” he said yesterday.
Social media commentators argue that politicians should meet with business people socially, to get a rounded view of issues. Sky TV is 44 per cent owned by News Limited, which is chaired by Rupert Murdoch.
How is it that the wealthy and powerful corporates get their power supported and extended by regular meetings with key politicians, while the poor, unemployed and powerless people are left to deal with the fallout of the self-serving policies and actions that eventuate?
And yet, I don’t see politicians lining up for dinners with beneficiaries, union bosses, anti-poverty activists, environmentalist groups etc.
How is it that politicians across the spectrum have lost touch with some basic ethics of democracy in general, and haven’t a clue about participatory democracy?
Can’t agree Carol. Party leaders of all persuasions have to schmooze accross the spectrum. My guess is that Shearer is also chatting to the unions, Susan St John etc as well. It’s just not news.
lol, good spotting. When most on the Left heard that speech, they interpreted that image as a comment on the inequalities and desperation of people. It now seems that Shearer’s moment was actually in realising he could rule over desperate people by throwing a few scraps.
My guess is that Shearer’s “schmoozing” with the poor and disadvantaged and their representatives, along with ordinary people works out at being about one hour to a hundred hours schmoozing with the wealthy and powerful.
I totally agree that it’s a disgusting measure to target beneficiaries with the birth control measures. It is fully eugenics. I’ve blogged on it. It’s disgusting for the message it puts out about all women not just the invasion of personal liberty.
MW, I just read your post, complete with the ‘long cold socialist winter’ and how those national party MP’s are quite lovely people…Hilarious, surely you are jesting….if these guys think they can get away with something they will try it….I’m thinking we’re about to bask in the gentle warmth of the national socialist autumn. I don’t see any Marilyn Warings in this National Party.
Free contraception on offer for one group in society looks very much like discriminating against that one group, (we don’t want your sort breeding) so why not free contraception on offer for anyone regardless of income?
And why is the responsibility dumped on to the Women? Introducing birth control hormones into the body can really muck up the bodys’ natural order and there are medical risks associated with homonal birth control. Wheres the condoms for the blokes? Everyone should have free access to the contraception of their choice, regardless of who they are.
The reasoning behind National’s contraception for the poor is ill advised. Mainly because there’s no requirement for New Zealand to currently limit its population growth and the money saved from having less dependent children on welfare will be negligible.
There’s also a growing body of evidence that shows depo provera causes cancer, so personally I don’t want the government to fund such contraception.
The problem is that money isn’t a good indicator of suitability for parenthood and rich people are not more deserving of having children. This is because the financial system is corrupted. Putting more emphasis on financial attraction instead of physical attraction is ultimately detrimental to the species.
Creating inequality through enforceable contraception for the poor will cause further problems that National has not considered. It’s also incorrect that poor people are having huge families… when most are not having families at all.
John Key can take it further and he should be spoilt for policy choice to deal to his former colleagues – either female hormone shots for his banking mates and speculators to cool them down, or a dose of testosterone to “focus more clearly and exude confidence on the job”:
“… the financial crisis hit Wall Street and a strange thing happened: a stream of financial executives and traders began coming to him in the hope of being turned into alpha males….”
The methods of contraception suggested for the beneficiaries are costly.
The companies that produce them will sell them at a cost that covers production, profit margin, risk of sueing due to side effects, funding future research. I am not an economist or business person so correct this if necessary.
So the suggested methods are NOT FREE.
Borrowed money and taxes from income earners and people who buy stuff are to be used to fund a programme to reduce the fertility of a section of the community the present Government wants to behave differently.
Some people will vote for candidates for membership of the NZ House of Representatives who will support this.
“The AP learned about the thwarted plot last week but agreed to White House and CIA requests not to publish it immediately because the sensitive intelligence operation was still under way”
What a load of complete nonsense!
Cant recall there being much coverage of the court case in the USA about the orignal underwear bomber case, which was carried out right in front of attorney Kurt Haskell, who was on the flight.
J90 – Yeah I would expect that it is yet another “made up plot”. Ive seen that article before, but your link seems to want a user details etc. Do you still have that full text anywhere?
“The AP learned about the thwarted plot last week but agreed to White House and CIA requests not to publish it immediately because the sensitive intelligence operation was still under way”
What a load of complete nonsense!
Too right! I fair pissed myself laughing when I heard the story on RNZ this morning. They expect people to believe this story?
Nah they dont give a shit, what are people actually going to do about it anyway. People have shown they will do approximately nothing but roll over in the hope that it might not land on their head…referring to the western world nations…
The system just keeps pumping out articles, and the global media networks relay the signal…see the follow up article below, which was put online only hours after my original link, actually about 5 hours, so the articles are already written , and ready for a controlled release…
The real disgrace is that people not getting very concerned about such carry on, and visibly showing it, are walking into who knows what , and consigning their offspring to who knows what in future!
The real disgrace is that people not getting very concerned about such carry on, and visibly showing it, are walking into who knows what , and consigning their offspring to who knows what in future!
Exactly. It makes me sad that the average Joe and Joanne don’t give a toss…
The next installment on the BBC is that the new ‘underwear bomber’ was a brave, heroic super cool double agent, who spent time amongst the ‘enemy’, found out their plans, and then went to his CIA handlers with it all, and is now ‘safe’ in Saudi Arabia. Unbelievable!
It’s not only the loss of TVNZ7… free to air has lost SBS one, SBS two, Stratos Television, Australia Network Pacific and BBC World News. That means there has been a reduction of free to air broadcasting by a third since the start of National’s second term in power.
A discussion began yesterday about the three strikes law. It was claimed:
It was a cop out. It does not kick in for about 10 years or so. Then after that the Californian “stole a piece of pizza and then gets life imprisonment” cases start to kick in.
Apart from the absurdity of the pizza claim (theft is not included in three strikes applicable offences) the time frame of “kicking in” is also erroneous.
To date over 1200 offenders have had their first warning so will be aware of the risks of further violent offending.
There are already three “second strikers” serving their full sentence without parole.
It has already “kicked in” and may be going some way towards preventing some people from having their heads kicked in by recidivist thugs.
“It has already “kicked in” and may be going some way towards preventing some people from having their heads kicked in by recidivist thugs.”
Yawn.
Why do focus so much attention on physical violence, but then reward the perpetrators of economic violence? I would be happy to have my head kicked in every now and then if I was also allowed to educate myself without becoming economically crippled.
Tighten up the economic loopholes, then add tax avoidance, fraud and money laundering to the three strikes. If we targeted economic thugs, then physical thuggery would become less of an issue.
The reference to the Californian case which was mine was a reference to how three strikes type laws can result in minor offenses attracting very heavy sentences. It was not suggesting the NZ law applies to thefts.
This was pointed out to you yesterday. But still you insist on perpetrating a myth. Why is that?
Three second strikers being without parole is hardly the legislation kicking in. They would be in jail anyway. There is no practical effect being felt as yet.
I would be happy to debate this in more detail with you but:
a. You would continue to misrepresent the situation
b. You would not understand
c. You are not interested in having a debate.
It was not suggesting the NZ law applies to thefts.
You said Then after that the Californian “stole a piece of pizza and then gets life imprisonment” cases start to kick in.
“Stole” does suggest “theft” to me, an offence totally excluded from our three strikes law, so you’re the one who seems to have been “perpetrating a myth”.
a. You appear to be the one trying to misrepresent the New Zealand situation.
b. You either don’t understand or you are doing a.
c. You can’t debate so think of every excuse you can to avoid it.
There is no practical effect being felt as yet.
That’s highly debatable. Can you show that the giving of three strikes warnings to 1200 offenders is having no effect?
If 1200 have had their first warning and only three progressed to stage 2 that suggests several possibilities, inluding:
– 1997 of the first strikers are still in prison from their first offence (unlikely)
– something could be effecting the recidivism rate
Several candidates opposed to austerity measures were making a strong showing in early projections from Italy’s local elections – the first nationwide test for Premier Mario Monti since he was named to save Italy from its debt crisis.
Well. There’s a surprise. Keynes would be yet hopeful. Austerity makes things worse.
Berkshire Hathaway at least is debt averse – Buffett said he expected to bequeath his successor a company committed to staying so conservatively funded that it would not go broke even “if the Federal Reserve were hit by a nuclear bomb”
He is reputed to put low emphasis on tax efficient investment too.
Sounds to me like good old fashioned capitalist thinking and squarely at odds with the philosophy behind Liam Dunn’s claim that “Western democracies can’t keep living indefinitely on credit – at least if they expect to maintain the kind of freedoms and standard of living to which they are acccustomed”
Prime Minister John Key has disagreed with claims that providing free long-acting contraception to beneficiaries was interfering in their reproductive lives, saying it was “pragmatic and common sense.”
-Herald.
Just as well that such a good idea wasn’t around way back then – or the nice Mr Key would never have been born!
Some silly fools lent money to people who are now unable to repay. They knew that risk existed and it has come to pass. Suck it up moneylenders – don’t you understand the risk in lending money?
Uh ooh trouble for the Socialists in France already
Or that could be trouble for the Euro.
German chancellor Angela Merkel says the fiscal package already agreed on by the region’s leaders, is not negotiable.
Of course it’s negotiable. Germany could become wise and drop the debt or France could drop out of the Euro and so could all the other countries that Germany is telling to pay up to the banksters who took the risk.
Well spotted. Poor old Jimmy and all the other RWNJ apologists have not stopped to ask a basic question: who is at risk with the debt?
In France, Greece, Spain and Ireland the people are coming to a conclusion very quickly: debt to banks is not sacrosanct. Their liberty, their social systems and their future are not negotiable as a trade against bank debt. They are stating that the risk taken with the loan belongs as much to the bank as to those loaned to. And the people are saying with their democratic votes that enough austerity is enough.
The experience these countries have faced is more money being created by the banks to be loaned to the country “owing” the money to pay the interest on the money “owed”. The newly created cash never goes near the country, it goes directly to the bank as credit against “debt” “owed” by that country, creating more “debt”. It is a digital transaction.
In effect debt is being inflated because there is no ability to pay and the banks don’t want to admit that the debt not repayable. If the banks admitted this did they would have to declare the debt a liability and admit that they are insolvent.
Coming back to Hollande and Merkel this is the scenario: Hollande can threaten to withdraw from the Euro / withhold payment / create Eurobonds etc all of which expose the emperors clothes worn by Merkel. The crisis could then go ballistic as banks fail, markets lose all confidence, economies stop. This is deemed to be a bad thing by those who “own” the debt of others, the very same people who control the money markets, media, corporations etc. It is a threat to their “sovereignty” as opposed to the “sovereignty ” of the people. The people are already in deep proverbial, they might see it very differently.
Should Hollande not act the people will renege for him and the above scenario will play out of its own volition. The old paradigms are bankrupt, real ideas and leadership are needed.
Well Bored here is the real problem for France and the Socialists where are they going to borrow money from for all of their big spending plans?
What happens when all the people they intend to tax at 75% decide either to lower their income or leave the country? Thus causing the tax take to plummet dramatically. This is the issue for Socialism you can only wastefully spend other people money for so long, you can only tax so much for so long, but sooner or later you have to generate income in this area they don’t have a clue.
Watch this space the Socialist will go on a money printing spree ,and drive up inflation accordingly. Will be a very short-term government as there are no silver bullets, and wastefully spending your way out of a recession is not a good choice
Oh Really wealthy people contribute nothing to a society only those on welfare are real people in you opinion!
Where will the money come from Draco you havent answered?
You are assuming that everyone in higher income brackets love the top bit of their money more than they love their homes, families, friends and country.
Not everyone is as big a tool as you, jimmie the turd..
Mcflogger
I think that only receiving 25 cents in the Dollar for every dollar earned is not a good pay back for a hardworking business person who has done well in life. You will find that everyone in France suddenly earns 999,000 then they wont pay the envy tax. But where will the money come from to fund their spending because Germany wont be lending it to them. Who is going to pay for their extra 60,000 teachers? another case of over promising ,and under delivering Mcflogger
yes, that’s what they’ll do. They’d be so upset at masking 1.25mil in a single year, rather than 2mil, that they won’t even bother “earning” the additional quarter million. /sarc
Talk about cutting off your income to spite your tax bracket…
It’ll come from where it’s always come from – the printers it’s just that the printers should be government owned rather than privately controlled by the banksters.
And, yes, most rich people contribute nothing to society – they take from it. They’re what causes the poverty that we see.
No, but it’s probably fair to say the ones who would up and leave their home country if they had to pay more tax on the tip of their income to help pay for the society that enabled them to earn such a fabulous income in the first place might be a wee bit inclined toward selfishness.
I am a high income earner and I wouldn’t mind paying a little more tax. But I would leave if I had to pay 75% not because I am selfish but because I work damned hard and want to see the reflected in my salary.
Contrain
So true but those on The Standard want you to lay down and be raped a little more for the good of man kind or wealth redistrbution as they like to call it
Wtf do you think the current settings which allow wealth to accumulate as it does, courtesy of existing laws and regs, is, if not wealth redistribution itself you egg?
Employment laws, banking system, tax arrangements, provision of infrastructure, mothers giving birth to new workforce, all these things allow the current wealth distribution patterns. All it means is that the existing distribution is replaced with an amended distribution.
Or better yet, go read up on the accounts of rape victims, then try and comprehend why your use of rape here is so utterly pathetic and downright indefensible. Though since you’ve shown you’re an idiot who can’t think critically to save their life, and have less empathy than an ASD person, it might very well be rather beyond your means.
FYI
Rape can refer to: an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation;violation: the rape of the countryside. the act of seizing and carrying off by force.
So it is completely correct to use it in the way James did
Contrarian – do you really think that James111 has shown such skills in vocabulary that it’s a fair assumption he’d be familiar with shall we say “more classical” uses of the word?
Even as an allusion to plunder his usage was somewhat … shrill.
Even viewed charitably, no it’s not a “completely correct use of the word”. And given the fact that his complete phrasing was ” want you to lay down and be raped a little more”, coupled with his previous demonstrations of idiocy, I think you’re trying to spin the truth in favour of an ugly, stupid little scrote.
Next you’ll be saying he was referring to “…Any of the six administrative districts into which Sussex was formerly divided…”.
It is a completely correct word to use in this context. He was using it in the right way.
So paying taxes is like being forcibly sexually assaulted? Because that is the analogy james is making and it’s fairly obvious.
Oh and remember that argument you had with lprent over rational arguments? Welcome to the joys of judgement value clashes, where one persons association of the word rape with rather fucking horrible violation of another persons body doesn’t fucking jell with using it to describe paying taxes. And all this happens because you don’t hold rape to be used to describe solely the above*
Not to mention I have seen it used on TheStandard to describe Key’s policies in the past
And I don’t scan the comments constantly to cluebat this shit, which if I do sight, I do cluebat, as with any other bigoted bullshit or anti-feminist crap.
That’s if I have enough teaspoons to deal with it, which thanks to depression, some days I don’t.
______________________
*note- Nick is tired due to trying to wrestle crap sleep patterns, so I may be a mite jumbled here, but the general gist of the argument should be clear enough. Hopefully.
It should fairly obvious from even the short time you’ve been commenting here that james is more than a bit stupid, the climate change threads are a particularly rich display of wanton wilful ignorance and their inability to sanity-check their own arguments for contradictions and down-right impossibilities. Which since we’re talking about science, are rather easy to notice and rather difficult to disagree rationally over, as long as you accept teh science and/or understand it.
__________________
And with this, I’m off to blob and not get side tracked
You know, I’ve always felt it says a hell of a lot about a person when they demonstrate they will twist anything in order to defend the use of the word “rape”.
A scary, creepy, don’t-be-alone-with-this-person lot.
Don’t let our illiterate and innumerate mate Jimmy fool you, Contrarian. It’s income above $1m that’s taxed at that rate. I imagine that won’t cause you any difficulty at all, because it applies to a tiny percentage of earners.
If I were earning 1 million per annum here in NZ I wouldn’t mind paying more than the currnet top tax rate but I would leave if I had to pay 75% not because I am selfish but because I work damned hard and want to see the reflected in my salary.
Really?
If you earned $3million in one year, did you work a hundred times harder than someone who earned $30k?
Doubt it.
It isn’t the effort that’s rewarded, it’s the ability to persuade someone that having you in the job is worth that much, or good luck with investments, or good luck at making contacts.
That’s why there’s no relationship between the quality of manager and the size of the paycheck.
Maybe you did work hard. You’d still have a million or so to play with. And other people have it a lot more hard than you – that’s where the money goes.
‘If you earned $3million in one year, did you work a hundred times harder than someone who earned $30k?”
Never suggested that, don’t believe it anyway.
Fact is I work damned now in order to secure my future. And if all my work at this stage in my life is to be taken off me later I would leave.
“will you be refusing NZ Superannuation when you hit retirement age seeing as low tax rates are helping you secure your future?”
I don’t want to have to rely on it so yes I would. If I can afford to live without it then why not? I don’t accept a student loan and when I did (in the past) I didn’t take the allowance or other things I qualified for because I didn’t need it.
@TheContrarian I don’t want to have to rely on it so yes I would
Good to know, despite the mingling of different entitlements – you don’t accept a student loan – you apply for it as you do for student allowances, nor are allowances universal whereas super is – so there is a bit of difference in decision-making processes.
Now it would be interesting if you’ve had a little tot-up of how many of your fellow high income earners would do exactly the opposite to what you suggest you would do i.e. take loans, allowances and super, and also check out how much tax they are ‘minimising’ under the current system.
Maybe you might understand why a lot of people have no sympathy at all for people who are doing this and then screaming unfairness when there is talk of increasing tax for the highest (by a long shot) income-earners. Especially when low-income earners total tax burden was increased under the ‘tax switch’.
Because I like my job, because I am in a fast paced industry, because I am setting myself up so I don’t have to work so hard in the future. Hard work now for long term benefit. Because I want to be a leader in what I do.
I don’t live in fear of the future at all. I work hard mainly because I am motivated and I enjoy my job. When I get home I work even harder on my uni studies and it has nothing to do with fear – I like what I do.
“Working hard for yourself to secure your future, TheContagion? That’s meant to be admirable?”
Working hard in your youth to make sure you, your family and your loved ones can life a happy life is not a good thing anymore? Paying all your taxes and living a good life wherein you treat others with respect and kindness (at least attempt to where possible, at all times) is suddenly not admirable because you assume I am selfish and am working purely out of personal interest?
You’re an awful person (this is directed at Carol below – buggered up somehow).
I am a high income earner and I wouldn’t mind paying a little more tax. But I would leave if I had to pay 75% not because I am selfish but because I work damned hard and want to see the reflected in my salary.
Can we clone the parts of your brain that grok that pay taxes is a good thing?
Anyhow, the 75% bracket will likely not end up being implemented, though France could very well get away with a 40% tax bracket for very high incomes, and crack down on the usual loop-holes certain corporations like exploiting to avoid paying their taxes.
Working hard for yourself to secure your future, TheContagion? That’s meant to be admirable?
Many people work hard for long hours to try to secure the future of many others, and for the society they live in….. usually doesn’t earn a lot. Sometimes it involves a lot of unpaid work.
But then, as said elsewhere on this site today, the contagion of self-serving, money-focuses, neoliberal non-ethics has permeated our society. And look where it’s brought us? It’s time to encourage the more community-spirited in their aims.
Ask not what you can do just for yourself, but what we all can do for the society we live in (and need in order to thrive)?
Income before the new tax rate kicks in? 1 million Euro’s.
That’s 1, followed by 6 zeros. If the average French millionaire can’t rub along on that, well, they aren’t the economic geniuses they’d have us believe.
Contrain
Your arent meant to think that way the Socialists just want you to work hard and hand you money over. By the way notice they only mention working harder nothing about working smarter wonder why that could be?
Jimmy, the real problem is not as you describe: read my diagnosis above and you will realise that terms such as capitalist / socialist or whatever no longer have relevance. The debt crisis is actually that: “debt” can no longer be owed nor owned for the benefit of either party.
The bankers are technically insolvent, their only hope is if debt can be repayed by any method (hence derivatives, austerity etc etc, any mechanism to keep the reckoning at bay until “growth” saves their bacon). The people and the debtor economies cant generate any money to repay…Catch 22.
Taxing the rich wont help, austerity solutions will only make people go to extreme measures. There will be no growth sufficient to pay debt or for future investment, that game is over.This is a true klusterfuck and nobody has any real solution hence my comment re new ideas.
For the record the only “socialism” I have seen is the banks socialising the losses( and privatising the gains): Frances electorate just signaled an end to that.
“Well Bored here is the real problem for France and the Socialists where are they going to borrow money from for all of their big spending plans?”
Same place as currently – the printing presses. Only difference is that maybe instead of the printing presses being owned by private enterprise they will be owned by state enterprise.
“What happens when all the people they intend to tax at 75% decide either to lower their income” If they lower their income then that money will go elswhere obviously.
” or leave the country?”
Really? Where will al these wealthy go? Not any other country with high taxes. Maybe they can all squeeze into the Isle of Wight and put all of their capital to good use on that island. If they can get their capital out in the first place – ha ha ha.
” This is the issue for Socialism you can only wastefully spend other people money for so long”, but its not other peoples money it is printing press money. And most of the spending has been done by capitalists, such as here in NZ where the public debt has spiralled since Key came in.
“Watch this space the Socialist will go on a money printing spree ,and drive up inflation accordingly”
But that is exactly what the capitalists have been doing silly jimmy. And it hasn’t worked. You have not been paying attention.
“Will be a very short-term government as there are no silver bullets”
You show your ignorance again because there is one bullet the shade of gold and that is the money printing system we live under. It needs a bomb under it. Right fucking now.
wake up jimmy – ignorarses like you stop mankind progressing.
Same place as currently – the printing presses. Only difference is that maybe instead of the printing presses being owned by private enterprise they will be owned by state enterprise.
Uhh no as Germany has already signaled it wont lend to them they have been lending to France until now, next cab of the rank then? Where will the money come from?
So James, what happened to the 1Trillion Euros that the ECB dished out in two half trillion euro tranches?
Oh yeah, it went to the banks who are using it to cover the losses, they “dont have” on their balance sheets, while using the “funds” to destroy nations in bond attacks etc!
Austerity is genocide, are you in favour of Genocide?
Yep, NACT have the economy going really well and Treasury is proving just how accurate their economic theory is.
The government took in $1.57 billion less tax than expected in the first nine months of the fiscal year, reflecting a tepid economy, Treasury figures show – reflecting what the Finance Minister says has been a ‘difficult year’.
Gee, wasn’t there some people around who predicted that this BS would happen? Like, you know, the people who are neither in government nor the governments sycophants?
Wonder what else we could have taken away under the the guise of “Climate Change”
Wonder if carbon credits might be used as the global currency sometime…or if they will try to be used!
Note: This I am not debating CC one way or another, this is an observation on how NZ and other countries will be taken, using the CFC/CC combo!
Question 11 today in the House from Trevor Mallard re Banks, could be interesting. It is one of the fullest primary question I have seen. Relates to the detail of Bank’s responses and connection or otherwise with Cabinet Manual and a PM’s action..
Hon TREVOR MALLARD to the Prime Minister: Does he believe Hon John Banks when he said on Friday, 27 April 2012 that he could not remember a helicopter trip to the Dotcom mansion, and if not, was Mr Banks’ comment consistent with clause 2.53 of the Cabinet Office Manual which states “… at all times, Ministers are expected to act lawfully and to behave in a way that upholds, and is seen to uphold, the highest ethical standards. Ultimately Ministers are accountable to the Prime Minister for their behaviour.”?
Concentrating on the important things again I see. Is Hon TREVOR MALLARD the Labour expert on “highest ethical standards”?
Mallard
Should be kept in a dark hole and fed scraps. He should be hidden from all media, and is the greatest reason why people will continue to vote for the Right
Mallard seems to be either convinced that Simon Lusk is the centre of all skulduggery, or he has some sort of vendetta against him. Lusk is a friend of Slater so maybe he’s trying to attack Whale through Lusk.
That Mallard tried to attack Banks not through some great political misdeed but fudging over the chopper ride suggests to me that Mallard is flailing around for anything he thinks will taint Banks further.
Who would know? Doesn’t sound like Mallard’s working hard for the good of the country though. How much parliamentary funded resources go towards petty political squabbling I wonder.
Do you think Banks has been honest and upfront and behaving like a Minister of the Crown ought to?
Is his behaviour – not just the stuff before the police, but the very obvious lying and obfuscating afterward and continuing – the sort of thing you imagine as helpful to your “new way of doing politics”?
If you answered no to either of those, do you think the voting public have a right to see this behaviour exposed? Is it “for the good of the country” that the country is now much better informed about the disgraceful behaviour and character of a Minister of the Crown? And if not, why not?
If you answered yes to the above, are you glad that someone has done that work and ensured that the public are informed, even if you personally dislike the person responsible?
Anne: TV3 News 6pm did a piece on what did John Key know of National concerns about Simon Lusk’s big influence on Nat MPs. Mr Key denied any concerns. He knew nothing about it. But after more questions by Media and Minutes from a March Meeting perhaps he admitted that he did know about concerns which suggests that he lied to earlier questions.
So that is what Trevor was after. Tomorrow it will crop up again. It also suggests that Mr Key may have mislead the House today in his answer or non answer to Trevor’s last question.
Charter Schools. Native Affairs did 30 minutes on this last night. They played the Hawaii Charter Schools, then discussion with Lauras Parks NZEI, and Catherine Issacs who is heading the Charter School plan for ACT. Repeats 10:30 Wednesday.
Interesting to see/hear Catherine Isaacs who must have a hell of a job sorting the make-up of the NZ version given that there are hundreds of types to choose from. We will see! http://www.maoritelevision.com/default.aspx?tabid=636&pid=212
Trust all of you watched close up and the Talley Family last night showed how they arrived in Motueaka ,and built their empire up from nothing but hard work. Was really great to see the people of Motueaka interviewed ,and supporting them to the hilt saying how much they give back to the community. Great to have business owners like that.
Was also very interested to see the bongs and drug utensils that Talleys had found at their freezing works as well as tinnies. Talleys of course want to bring in Drug testing ,and the union is dead against it (to many may get caught out i guess) I would have thought that the union would have supported this move as people on drugs have impaired reaction times ,and this creates a OSH problem in the works.
“and built their empire up from nothing but hard work”.
And all the socialistic tax breaks, subsidies and handouts like export incentives handed out prior to 80’s and no doubt continued with further tax avoidance schemes through trusts etc.
So the National Party board talked about what a dick Lusk is, and how they’d be wise to stay clear of said dick, and that he’s running a school for future National party dicks, and John Key is a member of the National Party Board, but he was away that day and no one told him about it.
What’s negative about borrowing? Greece have done a bit of it and are going to be doing a bit more by the look of it, and they aren’t having any problems.
That is a “when did you last think about killing your mother” question. Of course everyone will say frugal – even when most would spend more, and a few would cut to the bone to get a flat rate tax base and they would all describe it as being frugal.
Pointless trigger word laden statements are useless as polls unless you put some figures on it (and then you are likely to get opposite results).
For instance if you asked “should we cut education spending to secondary schools by 5% to get a frugal budget” you will get the opposite answers.
And that is what I am picking the effective cut will be as they aren’t raising the budget as much as either inflation or the population bulge in the numbers of secondary school kids requires.
There’s been a bit of discussion around about a comment made by Andrew Little on Facebook.
I asked him to clarify and promised to post it across a range of blogs, this is what he said:
No, I wasn’t referring to all employers. It was a reference to those employers who do so exploit. There are plenty who don’t but there are those who do. Unlike the proprietors of Kiwiblog and Whaleoil I have worked with literally hundreds of employers and their workforces, and I’ve seen great employers (a couple of weeks ago, one of those employers reminded me of how I had spoken publicly of their qualities as an employer; I had described them as one of the best in NZ) and I’ve seen the truly appalling employers. The latter are disrespectful of workers and their rights, and of their representatives.
David Farrar is up to his increasingly more common mischief. He has previously commented on my ability to forge good quality relationships with employers, so any conclusion he draws that I am hostile to employers takes an extraordinary leap on his part.
I’d have to agree with Andrew Little – he describes it rather well.
I come from a management family. I worked as several different types of manager for a decade, and even picked up a MBA from down your way when I was still interested in it as a vocation. Eventuslly I discovered PC’s and programming and largely abandoned the joys of being a servant to my employees as soon as I could wangle my way into hardcore programming.
On the way through I have been around and observing from the inside of a lot of companies, especially when I was doing business computing support, consulting or contract work. It won’t be as many as Andrew Little, but it would be more than most people ever see. I know how to hook IT to businesses informal systems and a lot of that requires quite a lot of discussion finding out what the actual systems (rather than the theoretical formal) are.
While the overall quality of kiwi employers isn’t that high, most are well meaning and take pride in how they deal with their employees – something that gets usually gets reciprocated. But there are some quite distinct splits between the usual run of employers and some who could only be described as evil arseholes. There are also some that are just hopelessly incompetent and shouldn’t have people working directly for them. And there are the usual new broomers who simply screw things up from a blithe optimism about everything working perfectly.
The latter groups are why there are formal procedures in company policies, legal structures, and why unions are required. While it’d be nice if the employers would run the fools, ideologues, and arseholes out of the profession, I don’t think it will happen any time soon.
Leaked documents show National Party board members have raised concerns about party supporter Simon Lusk.
Earlier this year, the Labour Party tried to link Mr Lusk to the controversy over leaks at the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC).
During a board meeting in March, National’s whip Michael Woodhouse raised concerns about an alternative school Mr Lusk is running for potential National Party candidates, which is unsanctioned by the party.
Mr Lusk has held official party roles in the past, including on local electorate campaigns.
The board was told Mr Lusk has a negative agenda, which poses a serious risk to National.
Prime Minister John Key has a place on the board, but was absent from the meeting in March.
Mr Key says he is unaware of any criticism of Mr Lusk at board level, although he says people hold a range of views.
“I’m sure there are one or two people who might have concerns, but I don’t have any great concerns.”
I like how Key didn’t know anything about him, then did.
And how when asked about Lusk’s plans, (which v.senior Nat figures describe as ‘negative’), said that some people like Lusk’s ideas and some don’t. He doesn’t have a problem with Lusk himself though.
Note near the beginning… Key sticks his tongue out and licks his lip…. just as he answers two questions about Lusk. My understanding is that is a well known sign the person is lying!
Ahahahaha my favourite bit was when his instincts threw him straight into a whopping lie “I don’t know him actually” and then caught himself as he was saying it, realised it was a road to pain and added “terribly well”.
Which isn’t really a sentence, is it? “I don’t know him actually terribly well”.
It’s funny how many stories about Key – ever since he entered politics – start out with “he says he doesn’t know anything about this and that and what-not” and then it turns out that he kind of really does know.
That sound you can hear is various clockwork brains in the national party recalculating the chances that Mallard has a believable source in the National party that knows a thing or two about Lusk.
neologisms ‘r us.
from felix, : “pedoing”.
apparently its what nutbar rightwing fundamentalist christians with gun-nut sideburns do.
If it it wasn’t so awful it would be bloody funny.
lets innovate and call it torpedoing and get it made an olympic sport!
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
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Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
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You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
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Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
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Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
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…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
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It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
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Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
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The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Chartres, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine & Health, University of Sydney shutterstockAhmet Misirligul/Shutterstock You go to the gym, eat healthy and walk as much as possible. You wash your hands and get vaccinated. You control your health. This is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacqueline Hendriks, Research Fellow and Lecturer, Curtin University Children and young people may be seeing news headlines about men murdering women or footage of people rallying to call for action. Perhaps they or their friends have even gone to the protests. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Balanzategui, Senior Lecturer in Media, RMIT University ABC “Bluey mania” shows no sign of abating. Bluey’s season finale, The Sign, was the most viewed ABC program of all time on iView. A “hidden” follow-up episode, aptly named The Surprise, created ...
Labour market figures came in softer than the Reserve Bank had forecast, but they won’t be enough to move the needle on interest rates, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Unemployment ...
The campaign will engage the community and encourage submissions on the bill to the New Zealand government by the closing submission deadline of Friday 31st of May 2024 4pm. ...
The paper raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand's political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency plays in that. ...
The Urban Habitat Collective was an attempt to built an innovative new form of apartment building in Wellington. Here’s why it failed, and why the idea could still work, writes co-founder Bronwen Newton. When we started the Urban Habitat Collective in November 2018, we thought we were starting a revolution, ...
Two decades ago this week, a controversial law that attempted to define ownership of the foreshore and seabed prompted a formidable display of outrage and kōtahitanga as 15,000 marched to parliament. Jamie Tahana looks back.‘Hīkoi, hīkoi,” they chanted by the thousands as the biggest Māori march in a generation ...
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, Thursday 2 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Why has New Zealand slipped from third to 12th on Quality of Death Indexes over the past decade or so? Hospice New Zealand Chief Executive Wayne Naylor has a list of reasons. “We don’t have a current national strategy – the Government hasn’t renewed our 2001 strategy, so we don’t ...
While women’s sport is exploding in Aotearoa and around the world, you still don’t hear a lot of talk about athletes and their periods, RED-S, breastfeeding and visible panty-lines. SASS (Suze and Sez Sports)Talk isn’t afraid to have that kōrero.LockerRoom founder Suzanne McFadden and Olympian broadcaster Sarah ...
On an unusually hot night in January 2019, a little boy’s lifeless body was found face up in a small town’s sewage oxidation pond. To the police, it was an open and shut case: three-year-old Lachlan Jones had run away from his home in the Southland town of Gore, climbed ...
A Labour Party Member’s Bill aims to plug a culpability gap between manslaughter and health and safety breaches The post New push for corporate killing laws appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Terence O’Brien had the rare and no doubt undesired distinction of rising to one of the most exalted positions in New Zealand diplomacy, then being unceremoniously recalled to Wellington without explanation just when his career was at its zenith. What is perhaps more surprising is that he appears to have ...
Rongotai MP Julie Anne Genter has apologised in Parliament after National accused her of intimidating and attacking one of its ministers in the House. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Prime Minister and state and territory leaders met on Wednesday as the national cabinet to discuss a crisis gripping Australia – the horrific number of women murdered this year. The killings have shocked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Radhika Raghav, Teaching Fellow, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Otago Netflix Indian director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is known for his big-budget Bollywood production, featuring grand sets, star casts, meticulously choreographed dance sequences and lavish costumes, jewellery and furnishings. ...
Sir Robert devoted his life to disability rights after living in institutions in his younger years, says Kaihautū Tika Hauātanga | Disability Rights Commissioner Prudence Walker. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University Violence against women is not a women’s problem to solve, it is a whole of society problem to solve; and men in particular have to take responsibility. Those were the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Allen, Senior Lecturer in Chemical and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of Newcastle Snapshot freddy/ShutterstockPlans to revive an old coal-fired power station using bioenergy are being considered in the Hunter region of New South Wales. Similar plans for the station ...
Responding to the long-awaited release of judges’ special allowances, including free air travel and hotels for spouses, generous sabbaticals, and access to limousines, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Alex Murphy said: “In what world does your employer ...
Analysis - The United States has unveiled plans to boost the weapons trade with Australia and the UK, on the same day that Winston Peters is expected to sketch NZ's position on AUKUS. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Carson, Professor of Political Communication, Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, La Trobe University Since Australia’s First Nations Voice to Parliament referendum in October 2023, diverse commentaries have sought to explain why it failed. But what does an analysis of media ...
Lawyers representing two iwi as well as the Māori Women’s Welfare League on Wednesday asked the Court of Appeal to overturn last week’s High Court decision on the Waitangi Tribunal’s decision to summons Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Tribunal is currently investigating the Government’s decision to repeal section 7AA of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will introduce legislation to ban deepfake pornography and provide more funding for the eSafety Commission to pilot age-assurance technologies. The contribution of internet sites to gender-based violence was one major issue ...
Average ordinary time hourly earnings, as measured by the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), increased 5.2 percent in the year to the March 2024 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. Annual wage cost inflation, as measured by the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dimitrios Salampasis, FinTech Capability Lead | Senior Lecturer, Emerging Technologies and FinTech, Swinburne University of Technology Clem Onojeghuo/Unsplash In the digital era, the job market is increasingly becoming a minefield – demanding and difficult to navigate. According to the Australian Bureau ...
As of the March 2024 quarter, we can now look back on 20 years of data related to youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET), as collected by the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS), according to figures released by Stats NZ today. "The ...
Thousands of workers attended public events in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch today to celebrate International Workers’ Day (May Day), but union representatives are urging caution and vigilance over the Government’s blatantly "anti-worker" ...
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in the March 2024 quarter, compared with 4.0 percent in the previous quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. ...
The PSA is warning the Government that the sensitive information of New Zealanders held by various agencies will fall into the wrong hands if the latest round of proposed cuts goes ahead. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Talitha Best, Professor of Psychology, CQUniversity Australia Victoria Rodriguez/Unsplash How do sugar rushes work? – W.H, age nine, from Canberra What a terrific question W.H! Let’s explore this, starting with some of the basics. What is sugar? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karinna Saxby, Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne MART PRODUCTION/Pexels Increasing income support could help keep women and children safe according to new work demonstrating strong links between financial insecurity and domestic violence. ...
ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark A Gregory, Associate Professor, School of Engineering, RMIT University The telecommunications industry faces a major shakeup following the release of the post-incident report on last November’s 12-hour Optus outage. Telecommunications companies will have to share more information with customers during future ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Eden Denyer, bookseller at Unity Books Auckland.Weirdest question/request you’ve had on the shop floorA mother came in looking for anything we might have on Alaskan bison as that was her little boy’s ...
NZCTU Economist Craig Renney said new data released by Statistics New Zealand shows the need for Government to act now, with unemployment rising from 3.4% to 4.3%. ...
The outpouring of anger over Maiki Sherman’s hyperbolic presentation of this week’s ‘nightmare’ poll is itself an overreaction, argues Stewart Sowman-Lund. Politicians love nothing more than to pretend they don’t care about polls. This week, deputy prime minister Winston Peters said he didn’t give a “rat’s derriere” about a TVNZ ...
Asia Pacific Report Ngāti Kahungunu in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay region has become the first indigenous Māori iwi (tribe) to sign a resolution calling for a “ceasefire in Palestine”, reports Te Ao Māori News. Reporter Te Aniwaniwa Paterson talked to Te Otāne Huata, who has been organising peace rallies ...
By Dale Luma in Port Moresby “We want grants and not concessional loans,” is the crisp message from Papua New Guinea businesses directly affected by the Black Wednesday looting four months ago. The businesses, which lost millions after the January 10 rioting and looting, say they need grants as part ...
Happy May Day. Join a union. Q: What’s worse than a staff break room where the only place to sit and have a cup of tea is on a teetering stack of old pornography magazines? A: Your boss replacing the magazine stacks with chairs that are “heartily encrusted with ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Former opposition leader Matthew Wale has been announced as the second prime ministerial candidate ahead of the election in Solomon Islands tomorrow. He will face off against former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele, who was announced by the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation ...
We get but one birthday a year – why not make it last as long as possible by scheduling as many meals with friends and family as you can? This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. How do you celebrate your birthday? Do you celebrate at ...
A Koi Tū discussion paper released today proposes sweeping changes to New Zealand’s media industry. The principal’s key author, Gavin Ellis, explains how journalists have a key role to play in making others value their role in society. This is an abridged version of a piece first published on knightlyviews.com ...
The Government’s spending cuts are again targeting support for Māori with proposed reform of the agency charged with advising on Māori wellbeing and development. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Douglas, Honorary Senior Lecturer, UNSW Aviation., UNSW Sydney The history of budget jet airlines in Australia is a long road littered with broken dreams. New entrants have consistently struggled to get a foothold. Low-cost carrier Bonza has just become the industry’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosalind Dixon, Director, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, UNSW Sydney Australia is finally having a sustained conversation about violence against women and what we can do about it. It is more than time. Australian women and girls continue to experience ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne stockfour/Shutterstock Preliminary bulk billing data released this week shows a 2.1% rise in bulk billing up to March. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Schulz, Senior Lecturer, University of Adelaide Australia is once again grappling with how we can stop gendered violence in our country. Protests over the weekend show there is enormous community anger over the number of women who are dying and National ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University AnastasiaDudka/Shutterstock What if the government was doing everything it could to stop thieves making off with our money, except the one thing that could really work? That’s how it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin Harrington, Senior Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies, University of Canterbury The Conversation It seems to be a time of old favourites. This month our experts have recommended two new seasons – the second season of Alone Australia (although ...
The failure to investigate 9/11 has bankrupted America financially and morally, and has allowed us to stand idly by while our liberty has been destroyed.
lol
there’s a serious deficiency in the assignment of effect and cause in your comment.
I’m compiling a list of reasons not to sell assets. Some so far:
– like eating your last egg-laying hen
– selling coffee machine to pay mortgage on cafe
– like selling your kidneys to get a blood transfusion
– akin to selling the roof to pay to fix a leak
Any more?
Selling your policies to get into parliament
Get to stay another term or 2 as its clearly reckless, irresponsible and financially the wrong thing to do.
Maybe even help a fellow party member win a second seat with this stand the electorate will reward you for.
Selling the family home, then renting it back, because home ownership is not a family’s ‘core business’.
Oops wrong place. damn iPad …
That will teach you for having too many screens, and too many devices, operating at once Mickey! Maybe you need to hire a half-time staffer to deal with your activist work!
Haha Ad if only I could make political activism profitable …
To make money that way you would be better off in the National party, or ACT.
But National and ACT don’t do politics, they do deals.
Politics to Shipley, Key, Smith, et al is business pure and simple.
The “great” thing about policies such as free birth control for beneficiaries, is that its so nasty in its core, but yet most people will see it as a bloody good idea!
The ultimate in Nanny State but it deals with beneficiaries so who cares …
MS there is much more to it than that…Anyone who thinks this is simply a National policy being put into place in silo, needs to understand the intent that drives these people!
It’s optional assistance so it can hardly be called nanny state.
Isn’t family planing assistance a good idea? Especially for young women and girls who have no stable relationship, poor education, insufficient quailifications and little or no work experience.
But will there be consequences to not accepting the offer – like refusal of support if the beneficiary has another child.
It should be available for everyone, not just for those in the welfare system.
I think the government a few years back (I think Jenny Shipley) tried to widen the avaliblilty of contraception including having condoms available in schools and having *the pill* sold over the counter, but the god-botherers threw a tantrum, so that was that.
The birth control provision is also a distraction. It is worth a million a year. By these reforms the Government expects to cut social welfare payments and associated costs by $500 million over four years.
It is doomed to fail though. If the jobs are not there it does not matter how well you manage things, people will still rely on benefits.
The Q&A is very optimistic. It reckons that over the past two and a half years 67,000 jobs have been created. This needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The time period is cherry picked and it includes part time jobs.
“Distraction” – indeed.
It would be nice to hear the progressive parliamentarians in the House broaden the discussion. Generating pportunities in terms of jobs, education, community projects, etc would be better use of public money and a more rounded societal approach.
“Long-term reversible contraception would eventually be fully funded for female beneficiaries and their 16 to 19-year-old daughters.”
sounds like tube tying operations are in the works, yet the story is sold with an innocuous picture of contraceptive pills with absolutely no attempt from the journalist to convey any detail, if any details were released of course. One more sound bite policy from this dangerous government that too many in the public will roll over to support, and if the Stuff poll is any indication, NZ already has.
As with most National policy, some details would be a nice to have.
How about vasectomies for men?
Far cheaper than tubal ligation, much shorter recovery times and reversible. Can be done in an out-patients under local and you’re good to go the next day.
In the states, a lot of health insurance covers tubal ligation but not vasectomies, because TL counts as ‘major surgery’ and so is covered. Yet another example of why the US spends so much on healthcare: perverse incentives are rife in their system.
Reversible but high fail rate and requires more expert surgery than the vasectomy.
An option for those who can afford it is to store sperm prior to vasectomy.
Never know, in the future a woman might agree to IVF with the stored sperm, also expensive.
I wonder if IUDs count as “long term” or not, because that might be what they mean. IIRC some of them are good for 10 years: that’s a very significant chunk of a women’s reproductive years.
IUDs and implants have side effects.
Uncommon, but severe like abnormal uterine bleeding due to chronic endometritis (the lining of the uterus gets inflamed and the inflammation can directly or indirectly cause bleeding), Pelvic Actinomycosis is a less common but more severe condition and can be very expensive to treat successfully.
Implants leak a hormone into the blood stream that hampers pregnancy, but can also affect mood, leading to depression.
An option for controlling fertility that I have not seen discussed much in NZ is abortifacients, like the “morning after pill” I have not researched this option lately – there could be good medical reasons for discarding it.
It’s eugenic in that it targets one group of people for whom reproduction is deemed ‘undesirable’. Such ideas (of restricting the breeding of certain groups) were gaining popularity in New Zealand 100 years ago, and led to various policy manifestations including segregated residential confinement, and forced sterilisations of institutionalised people. There is a dark eugenic undertone in much NZ public policy and among certain groups of politicians that has never gone away.
It’s not necessarily “restricting the breeding of certain groups”, it’s helping to plan for the best time to have a family – best for resulting the children anyway.
It *is* selective groups, otherwise they would be making all kinds of contraception available to all women. Or even to all low income women. Contraceptive choice should be something a woman has autonomy over, and if necessary can be discussed with her GP (and partner where that’s appropriate). The state should *not* be dictating what kinds of contraception are made freely available. They should also be providing free health care for women who have side effects from state funded contraception.
“Or even to all low income women.”
I would be heavily in favour of this. For the record, I am in favour of making it available to beneficiaries, but do worry about the potential for a slippery slope. Simply making it available for low income women (tied to community services card?) is better yet.
Hilary, well done for picking up what is in fact plainly obvious, na dhas alwasy been so!
PG – Always looking at things from the most fancical angle. Its for the kiddies, yes lets make sure that certain sectors of society are not able to breed, or at least assisted in constraining the their breeding.
Let’s see how long until benefits are held back until young girls have had the the contraception injection shall we!
It is true that once the free contraception is established as voluntary, conditions can be incrementally introduced to make it more or less compulsory. However, right from the outset it reinforces the economic apartheid that we already have. And we know from history that once that perspective takes hold, those one the “nice” side of the divide come to see a lesser standard of citizenship as applying to those other people. Its very introduction bears the utter presumption of treating one’s fellow humans like noxious pests on a farm.
That is scarily likely…
I’d go one further and say it’s inevitable if we follow this course.
Yes it would be a certainty…
Amazing that people still can’t or don’t want to see the conditioning involved!
Not only eugenic, but undemocratic.
Instead of the people deciding who represents them, we now have the representatives deciding who the people will be.
Very thoughtful piece by Tapu Misa in yesterdays Herald.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10803915
Love the way she quotes Sandel, especially this one
“According to Sandel, the most fateful change of the past three decades was not the growth of greed but the reach of markets and market values into every aspect of our lives.
Which is fine if we’re happy to live in the moral-free zone of the market.”
Which is exactly where the current government seems to live.
Not just the current government. Other parties are tainted by this infiltration of market values into politics. How is it that even the Labour Party leader doesn’t see anything wrong with the cronyist netowrk of powerful business interests:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10804137
How is it that the wealthy and powerful corporates get their power supported and extended by regular meetings with key politicians, while the poor, unemployed and powerless people are left to deal with the fallout of the self-serving policies and actions that eventuate?
And yet, I don’t see politicians lining up for dinners with beneficiaries, union bosses, anti-poverty activists, environmentalist groups etc.
How is it that politicians across the spectrum have lost touch with some basic ethics of democracy in general, and haven’t a clue about participatory democracy?
Can’t agree Carol. Party leaders of all persuasions have to schmooze accross the spectrum. My guess is that Shearer is also chatting to the unions, Susan St John etc as well. It’s just not news.
Look, Shearer has thrown mango peelings to the poor, what more do you want?
lol, good spotting. When most on the Left heard that speech, they interpreted that image as a comment on the inequalities and desperation of people. It now seems that Shearer’s moment was actually in realising he could rule over desperate people by throwing a few scraps.
My guess is that Shearer’s “schmoozing” with the poor and disadvantaged and their representatives, along with ordinary people works out at being about one hour to a hundred hours schmoozing with the wealthy and powerful.
It’s a problem.
Great article btw
Carol you’re 100% correct.
Yes, she was excellent as always..
I totally agree that it’s a disgusting measure to target beneficiaries with the birth control measures. It is fully eugenics. I’ve blogged on it. It’s disgusting for the message it puts out about all women not just the invasion of personal liberty.
http://nowoccupy.blogspot.com/2012/05/go-back-to-work-uterus-i-mean-woman.html
I thought you were all anti-welfare and all, MW….
It’s possible she could be pro-“leaving women’s bodies the hell alone” too though.
MW, I just read your post, complete with the ‘long cold socialist winter’ and how those national party MP’s are quite lovely people…Hilarious, surely you are jesting….if these guys think they can get away with something they will try it….I’m thinking we’re about to bask in the gentle warmth of the national socialist autumn. I don’t see any Marilyn Warings in this National Party.
Free contraception on offer for one group in society looks very much like discriminating against that one group, (we don’t want your sort breeding) so why not free contraception on offer for anyone regardless of income?
And why is the responsibility dumped on to the Women? Introducing birth control hormones into the body can really muck up the bodys’ natural order and there are medical risks associated with homonal birth control. Wheres the condoms for the blokes? Everyone should have free access to the contraception of their choice, regardless of who they are.
I agree. Contraception should be free.
The choice to use it, should also be free.
The reasoning behind National’s contraception for the poor is ill advised. Mainly because there’s no requirement for New Zealand to currently limit its population growth and the money saved from having less dependent children on welfare will be negligible.
There’s also a growing body of evidence that shows depo provera causes cancer, so personally I don’t want the government to fund such contraception.
The problem is that money isn’t a good indicator of suitability for parenthood and rich people are not more deserving of having children. This is because the financial system is corrupted. Putting more emphasis on financial attraction instead of physical attraction is ultimately detrimental to the species.
Creating inequality through enforceable contraception for the poor will cause further problems that National has not considered. It’s also incorrect that poor people are having huge families… when most are not having families at all.
John Key can take it further and he should be spoilt for policy choice to deal to his former colleagues – either female hormone shots for his banking mates and speculators to cool them down, or a dose of testosterone to “focus more clearly and exude confidence on the job”:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/68015bb2-51b8-11e1-a99d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1uEUSgWNX
“… the financial crisis hit Wall Street and a strange thing happened: a stream of financial executives and traders began coming to him in the hope of being turned into alpha males….”
Absolutely! Not to mention the deleterious effect it has on a woman’s future fertility.
The methods of contraception suggested for the beneficiaries are costly.
The companies that produce them will sell them at a cost that covers production, profit margin, risk of sueing due to side effects, funding future research. I am not an economist or business person so correct this if necessary.
So the suggested methods are NOT FREE.
Borrowed money and taxes from income earners and people who buy stuff are to be used to fund a programme to reduce the fertility of a section of the community the present Government wants to behave differently.
Some people will vote for candidates for membership of the NZ House of Representatives who will support this.
It looks like Chris Trotter has now changed allegiance from David Shearer to David Cunliffe.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/quiet-sunday-afternoon-in-blockhouse.html
Is he uncertain or wanting to create uncertainty? The Shearer leadership thing had been settling down.
Rodney Hide can’t stay away from the limelight, seems to have earned himself a spot in the Herald commentaries;
“Rodney Hide: God defend our citizens – the Government won’t”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10803744
He’s making a complete arse of himself fawning over Dotcom, as are his fan club. Surely people aren’t that gullible or naive.
Really going on the narrative offensive now with these fantastical articles
“The AP learned about the thwarted plot last week but agreed to White House and CIA requests not to publish it immediately because the sensitive intelligence operation was still under way”
What a load of complete nonsense!
Cant recall there being much coverage of the court case in the USA about the orignal underwear bomber case, which was carried out right in front of attorney Kurt Haskell, who was on the flight.
Always possible that it’s another terrorist plot hatched by the F.B.I.
J90 – Yeah I would expect that it is yet another “made up plot”. Ive seen that article before, but your link seems to want a user details etc. Do you still have that full text anywhere?
The authors own site.
http://shiplerreport.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/terrorist-plots-hatched-by-fbi.html
Too right! I fair pissed myself laughing when I heard the story on RNZ this morning. They expect people to believe this story?
Nah they dont give a shit, what are people actually going to do about it anyway. People have shown they will do approximately nothing but roll over in the hope that it might not land on their head…referring to the western world nations…
The system just keeps pumping out articles, and the global media networks relay the signal…see the follow up article below, which was put online only hours after my original link, actually about 5 hours, so the articles are already written , and ready for a controlled release…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10804338
The real disgrace is that people not getting very concerned about such carry on, and visibly showing it, are walking into who knows what , and consigning their offspring to who knows what in future!
Exactly. It makes me sad that the average Joe and Joanne don’t give a toss…
The next installment on the BBC is that the new ‘underwear bomber’ was a brave, heroic super cool double agent, who spent time amongst the ‘enemy’, found out their plans, and then went to his CIA handlers with it all, and is now ‘safe’ in Saudi Arabia. Unbelievable!
Free to air channels cut by 33%
It’s not only the loss of TVNZ7… free to air has lost SBS one, SBS two, Stratos Television, Australia Network Pacific and BBC World News. That means there has been a reduction of free to air broadcasting by a third since the start of National’s second term in power.
The state will have to be more powerful than the power to post on this site and others.
It will do this by defining the issues discussed and monitoring contributors (look up Carnet B).
I’m pissed as usual – so anyone reading this please make allowancs.
I wouldn’t worry about it, Jackal. You were the only person who watched those channels.
Yes only* person.
http://www.3news.co.nz/TVNZ7-replaced-with-delayed-TV1-feed/tabid/1607/articleID/252955/Default.aspx
* with a margin of error of 1,399,999 individuals right?
A discussion began yesterday about the three strikes law. It was claimed:
Apart from the absurdity of the pizza claim (theft is not included in three strikes applicable offences) the time frame of “kicking in” is also erroneous.
To date over 1200 offenders have had their first warning so will be aware of the risks of further violent offending.
There are already three “second strikers” serving their full sentence without parole.
It has already “kicked in” and may be going some way towards preventing some people from having their heads kicked in by recidivist thugs.
“It has already “kicked in” and may be going some way towards preventing some people from having their heads kicked in by recidivist thugs.”
Yawn.
Why do focus so much attention on physical violence, but then reward the perpetrators of economic violence? I would be happy to have my head kicked in every now and then if I was also allowed to educate myself without becoming economically crippled.
Tighten up the economic loopholes, then add tax avoidance, fraud and money laundering to the three strikes. If we targeted economic thugs, then physical thuggery would become less of an issue.
And now you are really into troll mode Petey.
The reference to the Californian case which was mine was a reference to how three strikes type laws can result in minor offenses attracting very heavy sentences. It was not suggesting the NZ law applies to thefts.
This was pointed out to you yesterday. But still you insist on perpetrating a myth. Why is that?
Three second strikers being without parole is hardly the legislation kicking in. They would be in jail anyway. There is no practical effect being felt as yet.
I would be happy to debate this in more detail with you but:
a. You would continue to misrepresent the situation
b. You would not understand
c. You are not interested in having a debate.
You said Then after that the Californian “stole a piece of pizza and then gets life imprisonment” cases start to kick in.
“Stole” does suggest “theft” to me, an offence totally excluded from our three strikes law, so you’re the one who seems to have been “perpetrating a myth”.
a. You appear to be the one trying to misrepresent the New Zealand situation.
b. You either don’t understand or you are doing a.
c. You can’t debate so think of every excuse you can to avoid it.
That’s highly debatable. Can you show that the giving of three strikes warnings to 1200 offenders is having no effect?
If 1200 have had their first warning and only three progressed to stage 2 that suggests several possibilities, inluding:
– 1997 of the first strikers are still in prison from their first offence (unlikely)
– something could be effecting the recidivism rate
Well. There’s a surprise. Keynes would be yet hopeful. Austerity makes things worse.
Berkshire Hathaway at least is debt averse – Buffett said he expected to bequeath his successor a company committed to staying so conservatively funded that it would not go broke even “if the Federal Reserve were hit by a nuclear bomb”
He is reputed to put low emphasis on tax efficient investment too.
Sounds to me like good old fashioned capitalist thinking and squarely at odds with the philosophy behind Liam Dunn’s claim that “Western democracies can’t keep living indefinitely on credit – at least if they expect to maintain the kind of freedoms and standard of living to which they are acccustomed”
“Western democracies can’t keep living indefinitely on credit ”
Whenever that half-arsed line is trotted out it maketh me scream. It should describe the full situation ….
“No society can live indefinitely under a privately owned fractional reserve banking ponzi scheme system”
That is the problem. Nothing else. And this was known from the very beginning. We are now at its end-game.
-Herald.
Just as well that such a good idea wasn’t around way back then – or the nice Mr Key would never have been born!
“Just as well that such a good idea wasn’t around way back then – or the nice Mr Key would never have been born!”
That thought just gave me a boner, don’t worry, my girlfriend is employed
Uh ooh trouble for the Socialists in France already
France’s new President is being given a very strong message from Europe.
German chancellor Angela Merkel says the fiscal package already agreed on by the region’s leaders, is not negotiable.
UK correspondent Gavin Grey says Socialist Francois Hollande was elected on the basis of policies that back away from that agreement.
Good. No negotiation necessary.
Some silly fools lent money to people who are now unable to repay. They knew that risk existed and it has come to pass. Suck it up moneylenders – don’t you understand the risk in lending money?
And don’t lend anymore if you don’t want to.
Germany should stop crying like a sook
Or that could be trouble for the Euro.
Of course it’s negotiable. Germany could become wise and drop the debt or France could drop out of the Euro and so could all the other countries that Germany is telling to pay up to the banksters who took the risk.
Well spotted. Poor old Jimmy and all the other RWNJ apologists have not stopped to ask a basic question: who is at risk with the debt?
In France, Greece, Spain and Ireland the people are coming to a conclusion very quickly: debt to banks is not sacrosanct. Their liberty, their social systems and their future are not negotiable as a trade against bank debt. They are stating that the risk taken with the loan belongs as much to the bank as to those loaned to. And the people are saying with their democratic votes that enough austerity is enough.
The experience these countries have faced is more money being created by the banks to be loaned to the country “owing” the money to pay the interest on the money “owed”. The newly created cash never goes near the country, it goes directly to the bank as credit against “debt” “owed” by that country, creating more “debt”. It is a digital transaction.
In effect debt is being inflated because there is no ability to pay and the banks don’t want to admit that the debt not repayable. If the banks admitted this did they would have to declare the debt a liability and admit that they are insolvent.
Coming back to Hollande and Merkel this is the scenario: Hollande can threaten to withdraw from the Euro / withhold payment / create Eurobonds etc all of which expose the emperors clothes worn by Merkel. The crisis could then go ballistic as banks fail, markets lose all confidence, economies stop. This is deemed to be a bad thing by those who “own” the debt of others, the very same people who control the money markets, media, corporations etc. It is a threat to their “sovereignty” as opposed to the “sovereignty ” of the people. The people are already in deep proverbial, they might see it very differently.
Should Hollande not act the people will renege for him and the above scenario will play out of its own volition. The old paradigms are bankrupt, real ideas and leadership are needed.
Well Bored here is the real problem for France and the Socialists where are they going to borrow money from for all of their big spending plans?
What happens when all the people they intend to tax at 75% decide either to lower their income or leave the country? Thus causing the tax take to plummet dramatically. This is the issue for Socialism you can only wastefully spend other people money for so long, you can only tax so much for so long, but sooner or later you have to generate income in this area they don’t have a clue.
Watch this space the Socialist will go on a money printing spree ,and drive up inflation accordingly. Will be a very short-term government as there are no silver bullets, and wastefully spending your way out of a recession is not a good choice
France will be better off due to not having to cater to a bunch of egomaniacs.
Oh Really wealthy people contribute nothing to a society only those on welfare are real people in you opinion!
Where will the money come from Draco you havent answered?
You are assuming that everyone in higher income brackets love the top bit of their money more than they love their homes, families, friends and country.
Not everyone is as big a tool as you, jimmie the turd..
I don’t think Jimmy knows how the brackets work.
Mcflogger
I think that only receiving 25 cents in the Dollar for every dollar earned is not a good pay back for a hardworking business person who has done well in life. You will find that everyone in France suddenly earns 999,000 then they wont pay the envy tax. But where will the money come from to fund their spending because Germany wont be lending it to them. Who is going to pay for their extra 60,000 teachers? another case of over promising ,and under delivering Mcflogger
lol
yes, that’s what they’ll do. They’d be so upset at masking 1.25mil in a single year, rather than 2mil, that they won’t even bother “earning” the additional quarter million. /sarc
Talk about cutting off your income to spite your tax bracket…
It’ll come from where it’s always come from – the printers it’s just that the printers should be government owned rather than privately controlled by the banksters.
And, yes, most rich people contribute nothing to society – they take from it. They’re what causes the poverty that we see.
Wealthy people are as real as those on benefits and both contribute to society.
When crisis looms, like before the Battle of the Marne, the wealthy could pay drivers to get them out of Paris, the poor could not.
Socialists aim for a society where the risk of harm is more evenly borne and where well-being is more evenly shared.
You probably believe it is up to each individual to cope as best they can.
What you might not have picked up on yet is that individual well-being ultimately depends on the well-being of other individuals.
I believe that the wider group of individuals includes more than just my peers.
Casting an extremely wide net there. Not all rich people are egomanics/selfish bastards.
No, but it’s probably fair to say the ones who would up and leave their home country if they had to pay more tax on the tip of their income to help pay for the society that enabled them to earn such a fabulous income in the first place might be a wee bit inclined toward selfishness.
I am a high income earner and I wouldn’t mind paying a little more tax. But I would leave if I had to pay 75% not because I am selfish but because I work damned hard and want to see the reflected in my salary.
Contrain
So true but those on The Standard want you to lay down and be raped a little more for the good of man kind or wealth redistrbution as they like to call it
“raped”?
Idiot.
“…wealth redistrbution as they like to call it”
Wtf do you think the current settings which allow wealth to accumulate as it does, courtesy of existing laws and regs, is, if not wealth redistribution itself you egg?
Employment laws, banking system, tax arrangements, provision of infrastructure, mothers giving birth to new workforce, all these things allow the current wealth distribution patterns. All it means is that the existing distribution is replaced with an amended distribution.
think jimmy think.
Fuck off and die.
Or better yet, go read up on the accounts of rape victims, then try and comprehend why your use of rape here is so utterly pathetic and downright indefensible. Though since you’ve shown you’re an idiot who can’t think critically to save their life, and have less empathy than an ASD person, it might very well be rather beyond your means.
FYI
Rape can refer to: an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation;violation: the rape of the countryside. the act of seizing and carrying off by force.
So it is completely correct to use it in the way James did
@TheContrarian
Still doesn’t make it right, especially in the context of what he’s arguing.
Especially from a feminist perspective.
Contrarian – do you really think that James111 has shown such skills in vocabulary that it’s a fair assumption he’d be familiar with shall we say “more classical” uses of the word?
Even as an allusion to plunder his usage was somewhat … shrill.
It is a completely correct word to use in this context. He was using it in the right way.
Not to mention I have seen it used on TheStandard to describe Key’s policies in the past
Even viewed charitably, no it’s not a “completely correct use of the word”. And given the fact that his complete phrasing was ” want you to lay down and be raped a little more”, coupled with his previous demonstrations of idiocy, I think you’re trying to spin the truth in favour of an ugly, stupid little scrote.
Next you’ll be saying he was referring to “…Any of the six administrative districts into which Sussex was formerly divided…”.
Well, whatever. I don’t know James at all and have no beef with him so am not going to automatically assume the worst of him for no reason whatsoever.
Ah well – that’s because you haven’t been around him much yet. And the mods here are pretty quick at deleting his more piquant musings.
So paying taxes is like being forcibly sexually assaulted? Because that is the analogy james is making and it’s fairly obvious.
Oh and remember that argument you had with lprent over rational arguments? Welcome to the joys of judgement value clashes, where one persons association of the word rape with rather fucking horrible violation of another persons body doesn’t fucking jell with using it to describe paying taxes. And all this happens because you don’t hold rape to be used to describe solely the above*
And I don’t scan the comments constantly to cluebat this shit, which if I do sight, I do cluebat, as with any other bigoted bullshit or anti-feminist crap.
That’s if I have enough teaspoons to deal with it, which thanks to depression, some days I don’t.
______________________
*note- Nick is tired due to trying to wrestle crap sleep patterns, so I may be a mite jumbled here, but the general gist of the argument should be clear enough. Hopefully.
/sigh
It should fairly obvious from even the short time you’ve been commenting here that james is more than a bit stupid, the climate change threads are a particularly rich display of wanton wilful ignorance and their inability to sanity-check their own arguments for contradictions and down-right impossibilities. Which since we’re talking about science, are rather easy to notice and rather difficult to disagree rationally over, as long as you accept teh science and/or understand it.
__________________
And with this, I’m off to blob and not get side tracked
You know, I’ve always felt it says a hell of a lot about a person when they demonstrate they will twist anything in order to defend the use of the word “rape”.
A scary, creepy, don’t-be-alone-with-this-person lot.
Don’t let our illiterate and innumerate mate Jimmy fool you, Contrarian. It’s income above $1m that’s taxed at that rate. I imagine that won’t cause you any difficulty at all, because it applies to a tiny percentage of earners.
If I were earning 1 million per annum here in NZ I wouldn’t mind paying more than the currnet top tax rate but I would leave if I had to pay 75% not because I am selfish but because I work damned hard and want to see the reflected in my salary.
Really?
If you earned $3million in one year, did you work a hundred times harder than someone who earned $30k?
Doubt it.
It isn’t the effort that’s rewarded, it’s the ability to persuade someone that having you in the job is worth that much, or good luck with investments, or good luck at making contacts.
That’s why there’s no relationship between the quality of manager and the size of the paycheck.
Maybe you did work hard. You’d still have a million or so to play with. And other people have it a lot more hard than you – that’s where the money goes.
Its $1.6 million in our money. Per year. And its a club so small, we know most of them by name.
‘If you earned $3million in one year, did you work a hundred times harder than someone who earned $30k?”
Never suggested that, don’t believe it anyway.
Fact is I work damned now in order to secure my future. And if all my work at this stage in my life is to be taken off me later I would leave.
Off you go then.
There is no need for me to leave, I am happy with my tax rate and would still be happy if Key’s cuts were reversed.
I would leave if I had to pay 75% not because I am selfish but because I work damned hard and want to see the reflected in my salary
75 cents tax on euros earned above 1,000,000… So if you earn 1,100,000 you’ll pay an extra 30 cents per euro on 100,000 and that’s too much for you.
btw – quick question – will you be refusing NZ Superannuation when you hit retirement age seeing as low tax rates are helping you secure your future?
“will you be refusing NZ Superannuation when you hit retirement age seeing as low tax rates are helping you secure your future?”
I don’t want to have to rely on it so yes I would. If I can afford to live without it then why not? I don’t accept a student loan and when I did (in the past) I didn’t take the allowance or other things I qualified for because I didn’t need it.
@TheContrarian
I don’t want to have to rely on it so yes I would
Good to know, despite the mingling of different entitlements – you don’t accept a student loan – you apply for it as you do for student allowances, nor are allowances universal whereas super is – so there is a bit of difference in decision-making processes.
Now it would be interesting if you’ve had a little tot-up of how many of your fellow high income earners would do exactly the opposite to what you suggest you would do i.e. take loans, allowances and super, and also check out how much tax they are ‘minimising’ under the current system.
Maybe you might understand why a lot of people have no sympathy at all for people who are doing this and then screaming unfairness when there is talk of increasing tax for the highest (by a long shot) income-earners. Especially when low-income earners total tax burden was increased under the ‘tax switch’.
And I’d be happy to see you go. You’re not that important.
Right back at ya
Contrarian, why do you work so damned hard ?
Because I like my job, because I am in a fast paced industry, because I am setting myself up so I don’t have to work so hard in the future. Hard work now for long term benefit. Because I want to be a leader in what I do.
You already answered my question – you work damned hard now to secure your future.
Me too.
This is the kind of society we have to live in.
I don’t see a realistic choice.
I boils down to “I am afraid of the future”.
I live in fear and I am not the only one.
I don’t live in fear of the future at all. I work hard mainly because I am motivated and I enjoy my job. When I get home I work even harder on my uni studies and it has nothing to do with fear – I like what I do.
“Working hard for yourself to secure your future, TheContagion? That’s meant to be admirable?”
Working hard in your youth to make sure you, your family and your loved ones can life a happy life is not a good thing anymore? Paying all your taxes and living a good life wherein you treat others with respect and kindness (at least attempt to where possible, at all times) is suddenly not admirable because you assume I am selfish and am working purely out of personal interest?
You’re an awful person (this is directed at Carol below – buggered up somehow).
Can we clone the parts of your brain that grok that pay taxes is a good thing?
Anyhow, the 75% bracket will likely not end up being implemented, though France could very well get away with a 40% tax bracket for very high incomes, and crack down on the usual loop-holes certain corporations like exploiting to avoid paying their taxes.
Working hard for yourself to secure your future, TheContagion? That’s meant to be admirable?
Many people work hard for long hours to try to secure the future of many others, and for the society they live in….. usually doesn’t earn a lot. Sometimes it involves a lot of unpaid work.
But then, as said elsewhere on this site today, the contagion of self-serving, money-focuses, neoliberal non-ethics has permeated our society. And look where it’s brought us? It’s time to encourage the more community-spirited in their aims.
Ask not what you can do just for yourself, but what we all can do for the society we live in (and need in order to thrive)?
Hmmmm, some number crunching:
Citizens of France? 65 million.
Citizens affected by the tax change? 10,000.
Income before the new tax rate kicks in? 1 million Euro’s.
That’s 1, followed by 6 zeros. If the average French millionaire can’t rub along on that, well, they aren’t the economic geniuses they’d have us believe.
Contrain
Your arent meant to think that way the Socialists just want you to work hard and hand you money over. By the way notice they only mention working harder nothing about working smarter wonder why that could be?
Jimmy, the real problem is not as you describe: read my diagnosis above and you will realise that terms such as capitalist / socialist or whatever no longer have relevance. The debt crisis is actually that: “debt” can no longer be owed nor owned for the benefit of either party.
The bankers are technically insolvent, their only hope is if debt can be repayed by any method (hence derivatives, austerity etc etc, any mechanism to keep the reckoning at bay until “growth” saves their bacon). The people and the debtor economies cant generate any money to repay…Catch 22.
Taxing the rich wont help, austerity solutions will only make people go to extreme measures. There will be no growth sufficient to pay debt or for future investment, that game is over.This is a true klusterfuck and nobody has any real solution hence my comment re new ideas.
For the record the only “socialism” I have seen is the banks socialising the losses( and privatising the gains): Frances electorate just signaled an end to that.
“Well Bored here is the real problem for France and the Socialists where are they going to borrow money from for all of their big spending plans?”
Same place as currently – the printing presses. Only difference is that maybe instead of the printing presses being owned by private enterprise they will be owned by state enterprise.
“What happens when all the people they intend to tax at 75% decide either to lower their income” If they lower their income then that money will go elswhere obviously.
” or leave the country?”
Really? Where will al these wealthy go? Not any other country with high taxes. Maybe they can all squeeze into the Isle of Wight and put all of their capital to good use on that island. If they can get their capital out in the first place – ha ha ha.
” This is the issue for Socialism you can only wastefully spend other people money for so long”, but its not other peoples money it is printing press money. And most of the spending has been done by capitalists, such as here in NZ where the public debt has spiralled since Key came in.
“Watch this space the Socialist will go on a money printing spree ,and drive up inflation accordingly”
But that is exactly what the capitalists have been doing silly jimmy. And it hasn’t worked. You have not been paying attention.
“Will be a very short-term government as there are no silver bullets”
You show your ignorance again because there is one bullet the shade of gold and that is the money printing system we live under. It needs a bomb under it. Right fucking now.
wake up jimmy – ignorarses like you stop mankind progressing.
VTO says
Same place as currently – the printing presses. Only difference is that maybe instead of the printing presses being owned by private enterprise they will be owned by state enterprise.
Uhh no as Germany has already signaled it wont lend to them they have been lending to France until now, next cab of the rank then? Where will the money come from?
Your sentences make no sense, surprisingly.
So James, what happened to the 1Trillion Euros that the ECB dished out in two half trillion euro tranches?
Oh yeah, it went to the banks who are using it to cover the losses, they “dont have” on their balance sheets, while using the “funds” to destroy nations in bond attacks etc!
Austerity is genocide, are you in favour of Genocide?
Yep, NACT have the economy going really well and Treasury is proving just how accurate their economic theory is.
Gee, wasn’t there some people around who predicted that this BS would happen? Like, you know, the people who are neither in government nor the governments sycophants?
Don’t worry, even though Treasury forecasting has been proven wrong yet again, they’ve forecast a 400 million boost that will make it less bad.
Rumpel English perfects the art of spinning gold into hay.
Meanwhile, mad alchemist wizard Bill ‘Gargamel’ English continues his quest to find enough Smurfs to turn gold into lead.
Oh look, we are being merged with Australia. Its for the earth though that we will lose our sovereignty for, so thats ok!.
Wonder what else we could have taken away under the the guise of “Climate Change”
Wonder if carbon credits might be used as the global currency sometime…or if they will try to be used!
Note: This I am not debating CC one way or another, this is an observation on how NZ and other countries will be taken, using the CFC/CC combo!
Question 11 today in the House from Trevor Mallard re Banks, could be interesting. It is one of the fullest primary question I have seen. Relates to the detail of Bank’s responses and connection or otherwise with Cabinet Manual and a PM’s action..
Concentrating on the important things again I see. Is Hon TREVOR MALLARD the Labour expert on “highest ethical standards”?
Ad hom – FLUNK.
You must be on the glass pipe, Pete. Or OCD. Or, maybe, you’re on a piece-work income formular. Something’s odd, anyway.
Hi ianmac:
Assuming you have been watching Question Time… that was an odd supplementary question from Trevor Mallard to John Key:
To the Prime Minister:
When he spoke to John Banks, did he tell him that speaking with Simon Lusk was not desirable?
It would seem Mallard is leading up to something. Do you agree?
Mallard
Should be kept in a dark hole and fed scraps. He should be hidden from all media, and is the greatest reason why people will continue to vote for the Right
Wouldn’t say much for the right’s policies, candidates, or philosophies if that were case.
Shove off brat. I wasn’t asking you.
Edit: talking to the mindless fool j3. Is he kiwiteen123 under another handle?
[lprent: Nope. Kt123 was never that dogmatic and from what i can see is less so now that he is getting to be less of a teen. ]
I think kt123 was a bit more eloquent, although just as obtuse.
Certainly seems so.
Mallard seems to be either convinced that Simon Lusk is the centre of all skulduggery, or he has some sort of vendetta against him. Lusk is a friend of Slater so maybe he’s trying to attack Whale through Lusk.
That Mallard tried to attack Banks not through some great political misdeed but fudging over the chopper ride suggests to me that Mallard is flailing around for anything he thinks will taint Banks further.
Who would know? Doesn’t sound like Mallard’s working hard for the good of the country though. How much parliamentary funded resources go towards petty political squabbling I wonder.
More political patheticism.
Do you think Banks has been honest and upfront and behaving like a Minister of the Crown ought to?
Is his behaviour – not just the stuff before the police, but the very obvious lying and obfuscating afterward and continuing – the sort of thing you imagine as helpful to your “new way of doing politics”?
If you answered no to either of those, do you think the voting public have a right to see this behaviour exposed? Is it “for the good of the country” that the country is now much better informed about the disgraceful behaviour and character of a Minister of the Crown? And if not, why not?
If you answered yes to the above, are you glad that someone has done that work and ensured that the public are informed, even if you personally dislike the person responsible?
Did PG just make a claim about “political patheticism”? At least that is something he is a bona fide expert on.
the evil of banality…
Yeah Petey you are so in the loop. There is absolutely nothing in the Simon Lusk story. It is all a bunch of unplaced rumours with absolutely no substance. There are no leaks of any sort.
Go on Petey, say you are right.
Yes agreed Anne. Trevor usually has a reason for such things. Mr Key looked puzzled. We might see something interesting out of that -tomorrow?
Anne: TV3 News 6pm did a piece on what did John Key know of National concerns about Simon Lusk’s big influence on Nat MPs. Mr Key denied any concerns. He knew nothing about it. But after more questions by Media and Minutes from a March Meeting perhaps he admitted that he did know about concerns which suggests that he lied to earlier questions.
So that is what Trevor was after. Tomorrow it will crop up again. It also suggests that Mr Key may have mislead the House today in his answer or non answer to Trevor’s last question.
gotta go away and cultivate my gun-nut sideburns…
seeyalater.
Caption contest: Little-Mana
(If you’re easily offended by political juxtapositions don’t click)
And you’d be wasting your time, folks. So, no change there, then.
I don’t get it.
Not your prob, felix. Pete hasn’t quite grasped the concept of a caption contest having humorous outcomes. He thinks he’s Making A Point.
But I wonder what point that is? I reckon if you were to ask Pete he’d probably say he didn’t have one in mind.
I think the point is that some protesters wear red shirts and sing songs. Perhaps?
Charter Schools. Native Affairs did 30 minutes on this last night. They played the Hawaii Charter Schools, then discussion with Lauras Parks NZEI, and Catherine Issacs who is heading the Charter School plan for ACT. Repeats 10:30 Wednesday.
Interesting to see/hear Catherine Isaacs who must have a hell of a job sorting the make-up of the NZ version given that there are hundreds of types to choose from. We will see!
http://www.maoritelevision.com/default.aspx?tabid=636&pid=212
Trust all of you watched close up and the Talley Family last night showed how they arrived in Motueaka ,and built their empire up from nothing but hard work. Was really great to see the people of Motueaka interviewed ,and supporting them to the hilt saying how much they give back to the community. Great to have business owners like that.
Was also very interested to see the bongs and drug utensils that Talleys had found at their freezing works as well as tinnies. Talleys of course want to bring in Drug testing ,and the union is dead against it (to many may get caught out i guess) I would have thought that the union would have supported this move as people on drugs have impaired reaction times ,and this creates a OSH problem in the works.
What about the booze and nibbles and maybe fags and cigars for the Board Meetings ?
The hard work of OTHER people. And now this $300M family continue to take take take from their workers.
“and built their empire up from nothing but hard work”.
And all the socialistic tax breaks, subsidies and handouts like export incentives handed out prior to 80’s and no doubt continued with further tax avoidance schemes through trusts etc.
Lol.
So the National Party board talked about what a dick Lusk is, and how they’d be wise to stay clear of said dick, and that he’s running a school for future National party dicks, and John Key is a member of the National Party Board, but he was away that day and no one told him about it.
No one tells John Key anything.
Take this with a grain of salt, online poll and all that, but on Stuff:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6871609/Key-Europe-shows-zero-Budget-wisdom
Pretty stupid question, but doesn’t look good for a government that recklessly cut taxes does it?
Would you describe this government’s tax policy as frugal, or borrow and spend?
I found it an unanswerable question! Very stupid and badly worded…
Yeah, it’s awful.
Really, really, bad.
Of course, being “frugal” has positive moralistic overtones to it, while “borrowing” has negative moralistic overtones to it.
What’s negative about borrowing? Greece have done a bit of it and are going to be doing a bit more by the look of it, and they aren’t having any problems.
So you agree about the moralistic undertones there?
That is a “when did you last think about killing your mother” question. Of course everyone will say frugal – even when most would spend more, and a few would cut to the bone to get a flat rate tax base and they would all describe it as being frugal.
Pointless trigger word laden statements are useless as polls unless you put some figures on it (and then you are likely to get opposite results).
For instance if you asked “should we cut education spending to secondary schools by 5% to get a frugal budget” you will get the opposite answers.
And that is what I am picking the effective cut will be as they aren’t raising the budget as much as either inflation or the population bulge in the numbers of secondary school kids requires.
There’s been a bit of discussion around about a comment made by Andrew Little on Facebook.
I asked him to clarify and promised to post it across a range of blogs, this is what he said:
Details and links.
I’d have to agree with Andrew Little – he describes it rather well.
I come from a management family. I worked as several different types of manager for a decade, and even picked up a MBA from down your way when I was still interested in it as a vocation. Eventuslly I discovered PC’s and programming and largely abandoned the joys of being a servant to my employees as soon as I could wangle my way into hardcore programming.
On the way through I have been around and observing from the inside of a lot of companies, especially when I was doing business computing support, consulting or contract work. It won’t be as many as Andrew Little, but it would be more than most people ever see. I know how to hook IT to businesses informal systems and a lot of that requires quite a lot of discussion finding out what the actual systems (rather than the theoretical formal) are.
While the overall quality of kiwi employers isn’t that high, most are well meaning and take pride in how they deal with their employees – something that gets usually gets reciprocated. But there are some quite distinct splits between the usual run of employers and some who could only be described as evil arseholes. There are also some that are just hopelessly incompetent and shouldn’t have people working directly for them. And there are the usual new broomers who simply screw things up from a blithe optimism about everything working perfectly.
The latter groups are why there are formal procedures in company policies, legal structures, and why unions are required. While it’d be nice if the employers would run the fools, ideologues, and arseholes out of the profession, I don’t think it will happen any time soon.
Here’s that story about that (other) thing that no-one told the PM about:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/105374/concern-over-national-supporter,-documents-show
Leaks everywhere. Leaky leaky leak leak leaked. Right out of the top levels of the National Party.
And now on TV3 news… with questions to Key being dinimic.
I like how Key didn’t know anything about him, then did.
And how when asked about Lusk’s plans, (which v.senior Nat figures describe as ‘negative’), said that some people like Lusk’s ideas and some don’t. He doesn’t have a problem with Lusk himself though.
And fuck he looked shifty.
Oops. Wrote about this before seeing Pascal’s Post. Mine @20.4.5
Sweet as 🙂
Key caught out on TV3 @ 6pm.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Secret-minutes-reveal-split-in-Nationals-ranks/tabid/370/articleID/253481/Default.aspx
Note near the beginning… Key sticks his tongue out and licks his lip…. just as he answers two questions about Lusk. My understanding is that is a well known sign the person is lying!
He was completely and utterly lying. It occurred a couple of times. Clear as a bell – ding dong.
Betcha plenty of all sorts of people were noticing his snakeiness…
watch it and start-pause through his answers …. seething also visible ….
No need to start pause.
Anyone who’s had, or been, a teenager knows the score with that effort.
‘Right, you’re grounded, and no, I don’t know exactly why, but you bloody do.’
Ahahahaha my favourite bit was when his instincts threw him straight into a whopping lie “I don’t know him actually” and then caught himself as he was saying it, realised it was a road to pain and added “terribly well”.
Which isn’t really a sentence, is it? “I don’t know him actually terribly well”.
It’s funny how many stories about Key – ever since he entered politics – start out with “he says he doesn’t know anything about this and that and what-not” and then it turns out that he kind of really does know.
That sound you can hear is various clockwork brains in the national party recalculating the chances that Mallard has a believable source in the National party that knows a thing or two about Lusk.
neologisms ‘r us.
from felix, : “pedoing”.
apparently its what nutbar rightwing fundamentalist christians with gun-nut sideburns do.
If it it wasn’t so awful it would be bloody funny.
lets innovate and call it torpedoing and get it made an olympic sport!
As far as I know it’s a Mitchell & Webb neologism, from Peep Show I think.
Financial Times London – Iran is accepting renminbi as payment for its oil and spending the proceeds on goods and services from China.
Those goods and the oil could go by sea, but a long vulnerable route.
By land:
China – China Afghanistan border – Afgahanistan Iran border – Iran – Indian ocean (then that vulnerable sea route back to China).
Conniptions ahoy!.
http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/new-communism-resurrecting-utopian-delusion
Key on Len Brown regarding Casino deal.”I’ve seen him numerous times and I’m confident we’ll get him over the line” What does that mean?
Means: We have noticed what a weak push-over Len is, hell he loves the humiliation and even slaps himself around for kicks.