The Tinyfingers Twittertwat is also inspiring awesome political advertising buys in the DC market just to reach him personally. Not because it has any chance of influencing any political outcome; DC is the strongest Dem electorate in the country.
His campaign is buying ads so he sees them on his tv and is mollified that his campaign is actually doing something for him, and the likes of the Lincoln Project are placing ads to drive bunkerboy ever further out of his dysfunctional facsimile of a mind.
What this means is that he is of course a dangerously unsuitable person to be the President of the USA. It doesn't mean he is always wrong, always evil and always to be condemned. In many ways I see the left grossly over-reaching in their reflexive hatred of him. But it does mean we constantly reduce complex issues to idiotic sound bites.
It's seems the pressures of the past few months are going to cause Trump to implode, his re-election that seemed certain in January, is now very much less likely, due not to any Democrat brilliance, but to two random events that have exploded out of control. Whether this all works out well remains to be seen.
But what few tribal left wingers want to do, is ask themselves why so many people pulled the lever for Trump, in at least some knowledge of his manifest unsuitability for the job. And why so many Americans, and by extension much of the democratic world, despairs of being offered little but a choice of two slightly different flavours of unpalatable. It is of course easy and exciting to say "the system is broken" and hand out demolition hammers to it in order to finish it off, but absent the effort to construct what must effectively replace it … at the end all you have is a crew of wreckers left in charge of smoking ruins.
" But what few tribal left wingers want to do, is ask themselves why so many people pulled the lever for Trump, in at least some knowledge of his manifest unsuitability for the job. And why so many Americans, and by extension much of the democratic world, despairs of being offered little but a choice of two slightly different flavours of unpalatable. "
I think there are people asking this question, but as you seem to indicate they are drowned out by the sheer volume of easy to get soundbites, and reactive responses to his actions. (Many of which are atrociously venal, inhumane and destructive.)
There is a deeper problem to solve than making it to the next election and defeating Trump.
… much of the democratic world, despairs of being offered little but a choice of two slightly different flavours of unpalatable.
Hotelling's Law and its application to politics really needs to get more airtime. Two party politics is just a minor variation on why two ice cream carts on the beach are always parked next to each other, or two petrol stations in a town are almost always right next door. Apparently game theory has an explanation why there cannot exist viable solutions with more than two options.
In the US, voter turnout is further complicated by the way it really really is a painful hugely time-wasting process to go out and vote. Furthermore, a large measure of voter apathy does not come from voter perception of lack of differentiation between the two choices on offer, it's simple ignorance or indifference to the impact politics has on their lives.
Efforts to improve the situation are much better directed towards electoral reform such as ranked choice voting for electorates where there can only be one winner (just been adopted in Maine), or other options such as amalgamating multiple electorates into a single multi-member electorate. Here in NZ the adoption of MMP really means the only legitimate topic the whiners have is the ridiculous 5% threshold.
What is clearly not a good answer is simple-minded whining about the state of politics as it is.
Nor is advocating withdrawing from the system by not voting in protest (nobody pays the slightest attention whatsoever to those who choose wilful irrelevance). Or voting for a miniscule fringe option those has zero chance of success (that too is choosing wilful irrelevance).
Nor is apologia for those who knowingly choose the deplorable option in hopes of seeing harm come to others.
Nor is denying that there do in fact exist real differences between the two choices on offer and ignoring the real differences in outcome that result from election of one or the other.
Particularly stupid is the response by extremists of undermining the option that is in fact closest to their position, for whatever reason excites the irrationality rattling in their cranial cavities.
Yup. That last sentence nails it. One thing I'm certain of, is I am not alone in believing I don't have a political home anymore.
That application of Hotelling law makes sense also from an evolutionary perspective, that because humans naturally have temperaments that sit on a spectrum from conservative to progressive, the two dominant players must both evolve to attract as close as possible to 50% of the vote by default. Which in the long run ensures mediocrity and mendacity.
Honestly I'm increasingly convinced that while political parties have served a useful purpose, their downsides, the polarisation and tribalism is becoming more costly than the benefits. Re-imagining our political structures, with a view to building tighter linkages between local, nation and global concerns is where my thoughts have been heading for some time now.
plain old misogny was one of the biggest reasons for people voting for trump. america had just voted (twice) for a black man ,and now the same party had put up a woman.! a step to far for many americans. added to that was his appeal as being NOT a politician. many millions of americans felt betrayed by washington, (they have been) and bought trumps line about draining the swamp. many,if not most of those same voters will now be doubly disallusioned. you can pontificate all day, but they are the two main reasons for trumps election.
plain old misogny was one of the biggest reasons for people voting for trump. america had just voted (twice) for a black man ,and now the same party had put up a woman.! a step to far for many americans.
Since the early 1970s, overwhelming majorities of Americans have told Pollsters they would be happy to vote for a Woman Presidential Candidate. Over the past decade, this has ranged between 92-96% in the Gallup Poll, for instance.
Even way back during the supposedly “ultra-conservative” decade of 1950s 'domesticity', a slight majority of voters were prepared to do so.
In contrast, only a minority in the 50s were prepared to entertain the concept of voting for a Black Presidential candidate (and, until relatively recently, these numbers always trailed well behind the Woman candidate figures).
Perhaps, as an alternative explanation. it was the fact that Hillary couldn't read the Zeitgeist if she fell over it. Her close alignment with an increasingly despised US establishment, her paid Goldman Sachs speeches & murky web of business connections leaving erstwhile Democrats doubting the sincerity of her rhetoric around reform. All reinforced by her tendency to alienate voters the more they get to know her. Few trusted her & many were put off by her arrogance and hubris.
I think most of the reasons people voted for the orange one were tactical rather than any big reason.
HRC went in with 20 years of repug lies on her back. She didn't have a brilliant campaign – it was solid, but no sparks. Would have won against Romney, not a demagogue. And then there was the Comey bullshit a week out which turned out to have been because of fuckboy Weiner rather than anything related to Clinton's email server, but it resonated with the previous slanders.
But HRC also had no idea how to deal with the buffoon in debates because he was such an atypical candidate, and the repugs identified and targeted swing states much better than the dems.
Dolt45 dominated a stage of over a dozen bland characters because he was the only bully.That gave him momentum. His demagoguery played well to crowds compared to a run of the mill HRC, his team targeted states better than the dems did, and their social media game was highly effective (and so was putins). And his visuals and sheer gall got the MSM ratings, so they gave him more publicity.
"But it does mean we constantly reduce complex issues to idiotic sound bites." – excellent observation RL; fits Trump to a tee.
Trump Falsely Targets Buffalo Protester, 75, as ‘Antifa Provocateur’
"The president attacked Martin Gugino even as the activist was in the hospital recovering from a head wound sustained when the police shoved him to the ground."
So, the SIS kept active files not only on Keith Locke, but also on Richard Northey. As an MP Richard Northey (one of the most dedicated and diligent and quietly effective local left activist politicians I’ve seen) had an oversight role of the SIS while in Parliament as Chair of the Justice select committee.
What is white privilege and class bias in action? The Herald running a story where the opinions of white men who run decile ten secondary schools get to dominate the narrative.
There is probably a story here about the emergency delivery of this stuff and issues related to it. But quoting some toff like decile-10 Rangitoto College principal Patrick Gale saying "…The cost of what they are doing is just enormous and I'm concerned by the wastage…," grates. His concern money might be being wasted on a scheme parimarily aimed at the poor is truly, deeply middle class and honestly, a tear sprung to my eye. It is just a pity he doesn't seem to feel the need to burst into print to discuss the anomolies created by the enormous inbuilt privileges his school has on occasions other than concern at this.
I think the point of his comment was that the wastage lay in the fact that this equipment was going to a school which didn't need it, rather than reaching schools which did.
It seems incredible to me that some Principal's decry an over-supply of modems. Boo Hoo. Well organised Principals should send a surplus on to more needy kids. Simon Collins works hard to explore the negatives of a system arranged at short notice to help 70,000 kids in need.
National Party scouring its extensive networks to find negative stories (however lame and ridiculous) that get fed to the Herald.
More revealingly, the guy seems to know so little about the world that he doesn't realise that when you have to rush into a big emergency, the duration of which is unknown with zero advance notice and (quite possibly) poor quality information – all sorts of irritating mistakes are going to happen at the margins. You fix them up and try to be better prepared next time.
Remember when Tory headmasters used to bang on about 'excellence' ('iksullince' in Kiwi) – a sort of disembodied general superiority that they were inculcating in their students by wearing a tie to work and other forms of privilege-signalling? Tiresome bunch. Probably we need to look at breaking up big, powerful schools.
How the ignorant or those with set agendas bend a story to suit their ends perhaps reading the article in full may help
there are other examples of principals decrying the lack of coordination and that their students in need had missed out
“At the other end of the income scale, many students who need computers and access to internet are still waiting for them more than three weeks after all students returned to classes.”
With thanks to the excellent Richard Harman's Politik website, a neat little observation with a very important diplomatic outcome for New Zealand's security positioning between China and our Five Eyes Allies:
"Australian Defence Minister, Linda Reynolds, sees Five Eyes as a bridge to ANZUS. Speaking last year to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), she said Australia’s relationship with the United States mattered a great deal. “Today this relationship is not just about our mutual support obligations, enshrined in the ANZUS Treaty,” she said. “Rather, it is about ensuring the alliance is more focused on, and responsive to, shared challenges in the Indo-Pacific. “As I discussed with key allies at the Shangri-La Dialogue, it is now about co-ordinating the implementation of our respective Indo-Pacific strategies. “And it is about determining where we can have a better combined effect, particularly with our five eyes partners, where we need to develop complementarities, and where we must build self-reliance. “These will be important messages both I and the Minister for Foreign Affairs will be reinforcing not long from now at the next Australia‑United States Ministerial Consultations. “They will help guide how we focus lines of interoperability and where we direct effort to ensure that the alliance’s whole remains greater than the sum of its parts – in terms of the intelligence that guides us, the capability we operate, and the technology that advantages us.”
The executive director of ASPI, Peter Jennings, told “The Australian” that Five Eyes was gaining stronger relevance amid the strategic tensions that had emerged during the pandemic but that the economic crisis was now a paramount security issue. He said Five Eyes had been pointing in this direction. “Now, there is an understanding that we have to address the security implications of the economic relationships in a way we haven’t had to since World War II. “I think, increasingly, that what Five Eyes will do … it will have to evolve into those areas to create a shared approach on how democracies deal with those things. “I think the other point of Five Eyes is that it does bring like-minded democracies together against an authoritarian challenge. Principally, when it was set up after World War II, it was dealing with the Soviets (but) most conversations within Five Eyes now are about China,” he said.
It is the potential for China to see this Five Eyes move as a hostile one aimed at them that poses challenges for New Zealand. New Zealand last week delicately side-stepped being seen to join a Five Eyes anti-China statement opposing China’s imposition of a National Security Law on Hong Kong and instead issued its own.
The two statements were similar but not the same; the New Zealand one repeated some but not all of the language of the Five Eyes statement. It refrained from directly criticising China and omitted a line from the Five Eyes statement which said that:
“allowing the people of Hong Kong to enjoy the rights and freedoms they were promised can be the only way back from the tensions and unrest that the territory has seen over the last year.” Rather than saying that was the only way, the New Zealand statement left a door open for China to implement a National Security Law by saying: “It is important that any national security law respects these fundamental freedoms and has the support of the people of Hong Kong.”
The next day, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, excluded New Zealand from his condemnation of the Five Eyes statement. “The unwarranted comments and accusations made by the relevant countries constitute a flagrant interference in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs,” he said. “China deplores and firmly opposes that and has made stern representations with the relevant countries.”
Thanks for this Ad, a useful morning read. In my view both Australia and New Zealand are making strategic mistakes here:
Australia has been talking about expanding the scope of Five Eyes since the middle of last year, but in doing so, it has linked Five Eyes to the ANZUS partnership. In 1985 the United States suspended its security guarantee to New Zealand which was a key part of the Treaty because of New Zealand’s nuclear ship ban which we have never rescinded and thus have remained outside ANZUS ever since. In the process, New Zealand has developed what the former Prime Minister, Bill English, called “a truly independent” foreign policy. That includes a strategic partnership with China.
Australia will soon find that while it's unlikely the USA will freeze them out altogether, they will nonetheless slide well down their list of priorities. The next US President and administration will be even more hawkish on trade, and even less likely to commit military resources to security outside of NAFTA. The era of US led globalisation is over.
By the same token New Zealand is making a symmetrically opposite mistake in thinking that China will inevitably rise to fill the US vacuum. Of course the CCP have every intention of aggressively doing so, but it's not at all clear they can. I've written to their numerous structural weaknesses, all of which have arrived at a perfect storm right now.
And the idea that NZ, even in alliance with Australia can in any meaningful way be "independent" is not entirely ludicrous, after all our vast oceans ensure some measure of physical security, but we have other avenues of vulnerability that make such a position tenuous at best.
The only decent option both Australia and NZ have is a 'pivot to SE Asia', our immediate neighbours. All of whom are facing their own crisis induced by the same trade order collapse. They are just as motivated to find new arrangements as we would be, in particular NZ and Australia are the best option (along with maybe Argentina) to provide the temperate climate agricultural component of such a network.
Between Japan in the north and Aoteoroa in the south, there is a natural alliance of peoples awaiting it's turn in the tide of human affairs.
During WWII Japan desired a Naval Base in New Zealand to 'split' the Pacific and isolate Australia from the US … that strategic objective is now perhaps a CCP wish?
RL, in the interest of balance it's worth noting (again) that the "Third Island Chain", taking in Hawaii and terminating in NZ, is a US concept and (containment) strategy. Calling it a "CCP strategy" is fearmongering, IMHO.
There is no evidence that NZ is part of a ‘CCP Third Island Chain‘. Try harder!
It seems however the CCP and PLAN have long quietly held the strategic concept of "Island Chains". It's entirely rational and logical that they might.
The First and Second are described in some detail, while the Third is indeed a lot more ambiguous. Possibly because the CCP would quite like it to include Hawaii … and it's premature to be overtly trumpeting that to the Americans.
But we can safely deduce a Third Chain is intended in the Pacific, because the Fourth and Fifth are located off in the Indian Ocean. However vague it might be at present, if any real world version of it came into being, it would inevitably impinge on Australian and NZ interests.
“…that they might.” "Possibly because the CCP would quite like it to include Hawaii…"
Anything's possible, but such qualifications undermine the credibility of your fearmongering, IMHO.
"But we can safely deduce a Third Chain is intended in the Pacific…"
What we both knowis that The Third [Pacific] Island Chain was envisioned by US strategists for the containment of Russia and China. What you are apparently imagining is that The Third Island Chain has been repurposed by the CCP for power projection into the Pacific, but you offer no evidence to support you imaginings.
By all means continue to paint the CCP as an aggressive bogeyman bent on a NZ takeover (such fearmongering has worked before, and might work again!), but for goodness sake when will you realise that continuing to insist ‘The Third Island Chain’ is part of a CCP expansionist strategy/plot is nonsense.
Nevertheless, I encourage you to continue in the hope that you will eventually craft a more realistic strategy for your CCP villain – then you might be able to whip up some real fear in NZ.
Doubt it – We've never seen a RW politician spied on have we?. Time to defund the SIS, send in a small trusted group from across the political spectrum to gather up the institutional knowledge and then start a new group with better rules, institutional oversight and respect for across the spectrum peaceful views.
It's my understanding that the original version of that idiom was 'toe the line'. But language is a living thing, and many people have morphed it into the 'towing a rope' version. Both work, although they have different connotations I think.
Helen Clark's FTA deal with China was the one thing that govt did that I truly believed was a mistake. Asia yes as CT's article presages, but the CCP no. We have not been careful enough to be clear on the difference. The Taiwanese could educate us on this.
Toe – from the Royal Navy I saw when I looked it up – standing with toes against a line on the deck for inspection. I always thought it was a sport expression, but seemingly not!
But but but haven't we been told repeatedly that private enterprise creates jobs and needs a "no rules" environment to do so? So why is Nact now blaming the government for not doing the private enterprise job?
National are polling, they asked for my wife by name, answered negative to questions, especially to: "would you like to receive emails on you phone from Todd Muller" sic
Why emails on your phone? Emails go to any device set up for emails, maybe they just want the email address, and mobile number, they have the landline (actually VOIP).
Tuesday was primary day in Georgia, and things went about as well as you might have expected:
Lines snaked out the doors, some polling locations didn’t open on time and others struggled with new voting machines in Georgia’s primary election Tuesday, a potential preview of how new voting procedures brought on by the coronavirus pandemic could affect the presidential election in November.
Problems were concentrated in Atlanta and surrounding counties, where voters described arriving before polls opened and standing in line for hours, with election officials processing ballots painfully slowly because they couldn’t get new touch-screen machines to work or they had not been delivered in time.
Over the course of the day, state and local officials blamed each other; at least part of the problem stemmed from the fact that the state was using new technology, in which voters make their selections on a touch-screen and then the machine prints out a paper ballot with their choices on it.
That is the correct way to implement the new world-wide technological hegemony; it's logical, cause people to have learned helplessness by ensuring that everything they could do for themselves in a simple action has to be done through using a machine.
I see a Herald headline 'Mike Hosking slams Ministry of Education for 'wastage' as his child makes free modem shortlist.'
He doesn't know why his kid should be identified on a list as one needing help.
Here is the news: Michael, Kate, your child is at a huge disadvantage. It threaten his whole life. There are two main problems. I'll give you a guess what they are.
Of course I read it, and wondered whatever did he do first, reach for his clutching pearls or rattle his jewellery is fake outrage. I guessed a little bit of both at the same time.
The concern was Not who received these, BUT those who were/are in need that have missed out. Better to be caught out with some not in need receiving these than those in need missing out. Pity the article was framed around one of Mikes moments. 😱 and lost a little impact ?
If decile-1 Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate is just under 400 outstanding and decile-2 Aorere College is 370, and those students in other schools, what of them? Hope the Ministry has a plan for these students.
"The concern was Not who received these, BUT those who were/are in need that have missed out. Better to be caught out with some not in need receiving these than those in need missing out. Pity the article was framed around one of Mikes moments"
You're not in the naughty boy punishing business now. At ease private :smirk:
Sure, modems should have been sent to all who needed them, but mistakes happen, and during a deadly pandemic, through a lock down and general social upheaval, if that's the worst thing you can support Hoskins on, then scrape away at that barrel.
Why is it that the first world-transforming protest after Covid has hit is a movement which has nothing to do with us, has eclipsed the 2018-9 gender equality movement and the 2015-9 climate movement, and has overshadowed every other movement?
Because the video was so very graphic and confronting. It played out old fears in a visceral drama. It united all of us that something very wrong had happened here.
But maybe if the news had been showing in full drawn out detail the slow, gasping deaths of just some of the many thousands who have died of COVID 19 on high rotation, there would be fewer people objecting to lockdowns.
Maybe the USA would not be on track for another spike in infections and avoidable deaths within 3 – 5 weeks.
And as Stalin said "the death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions a mere statistic".
"…we've been had." – and not onlyUS, also 114,151 (and counting) ‘Americans’ (yes, they’re disproportionately 'other'). But wait, look over here…
The color of coronavirus: COVID-19 deaths by race and ethnicity in the U.S.
“While we have an incomplete picture of the toll of COVID-19, the existing data reveals deep inequities by race, most dramatically for Black Americans.” https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race [update due 10 June]
Because it is probably more fashionable to get a selfie attending a BLM rally which means zilche to our country than doing one for the little kid in Flaxmere who finally got released from Starship after months and nearly dying and his family not talking on who beat the shit of the poor wee chap?
Eco Maori does not back all Maori News being run by Maori TV. Maori needs A broad range of news not stories controlled by one entity. The more channels that screen Maori stories and views the bigger the audience.
I can see a lot of the students of the Kohanga and Kura Kaupapa and Kapa shining bright.
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Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
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 Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
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 ...
Recent extreme weather events showed the importance of a well-functioning insurance system, says Commerce and Consumer Affairs minister Andrew Bayly. ...
By Jo Moir, RNZ News political editor, and Craig McCulloch, deputy political editor New Zealand’s Labour Party is demanding Winston Peters be stood down as Foreign Minister for opening up the government to legal action over his “totally unacceptable” attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. In an interview on RNZ’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Brakenridge, Postdoctoral research fellow at Swinburne University, Centre for Urban Transitions, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute The Conversation, Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock People have a pretty intuitive sense of what is healthy – standing is better than sitting, exercise is great for overall ...
The Wellington-based Reserve Force soldier is now almost three years into his New Zealand Army career with 5th/7th Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment. ...
"The Government needs to release the review immediately as this reckless approach to change risks disjointed decision making and creates more distress and uncertainty for staff," Fitzsimons said. ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Jeremiah Manele has been elected Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, polling 31 votes to 18 over rival candidate and former opposition leader Mathew Wale with one abstention. The final result of the election by secret ballot was announced by the Governor-General, Sir David Vunagi, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Priestley Habru, PhD candidate, public diplomacy, University of Adelaide Former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele has been elected the next prime minister of Solomon Islands, defeating the opposition leader, Matthew Wale, in a vote in parliament. The result is a mixed bag for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shaun Eaves, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Jamey Stutz, CC BY-SA How often do mountains collapse, volcanoes erupt or ice sheets melt? For Earth scientists, these are important questions as we try ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Flood, Professor of Sociology, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock Most young adult men in Australia reject traditional ideas of masculinity that endorse aggression, stoicism and homophobia. Nonetheless, the ongoing influence of those ideas continues to harm men and the people ...
The NZQA proposal released to staff today would involve a net loss of 35 roles. There are 66 roles being disestablished with 13 of those currently vacant, and 31 new roles proposed, said Fleur Fitzsimons Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga ...
Alex Casey talks to Loren Taylor, the writer, director and star of new film The Moon is Upside Down, about assembling her dream ensemble cast, toilet paper pads and turning literal dreams into reality. There’s a moment in The Moon is Upside Down where frazzled anaesthetist Briar (Loren Taylor) gets ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassy Dittman, Senior Lecturer/Head of Course (Undergraduate Psychology), Research Fellow, Manna Institute, CQUniversity Australia With winter sports swinging into action, adults around the country have volunteered or been volunteered by others (humorously known as being “volun-told”) to coach junior sports teams. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University richardernestyap/Shutterstock Parents are often advised to burp their babies after feeding them. Some people think burping after feeding is important to reduce or prevent discomfort crying, or to ...
Workers at a major ASB contact centre in Auckland have voted to take strike action and withdraw their labour following disappointing pay negotiations with the employer and an "offer" to workers that would leave them worse off than the previous year. ...
As the government tries to get the country back on track with a school phone ban, Tara Ward has an idea for where they should turn their attention to next.New Zealand students returned to school on Monday morning, but their cellphones did not. The government’s new phone ban began ...
The Labour Party is demanding Peters be stood down, saying "he's embarrassed the country" with a "totally unacceptable" attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. ...
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance, whose members were victims of a China-backed cyber attack, is discussing forming a standing committee to deal with foreign influence. ...
The PSA is concerned that the voluntary redundancies being offered to staff by Stats NZ will impact on the agency’s ability to deliver on its core functions. ...
Results ranged from surprisingly yum to soul-destroying. I love cooking. The kitchen is a hearth of culinary creation, of sensory delights, of gastronomic poetry. I also can’t afford anything nice. Why does a pack of instant noodles and some milk cost ten bucks? I love you, Aotearoa, but I miss ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Police in Solomon Islands are on high alert ahead of the election of the prime minister today. The two candidates for the top job are former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele at the head of the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation, which is ...
He’s fine but it feels like I’m losing a friend and it’s making me bitter. How do I say ‘enough is enough’? Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzHey Hera,I’ve recently moved in with a girlfriend, her partner Steve, and his friend. We all live in a lovely little house. ...
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 ...
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It's great to see that Donald Trump is finally getting all the massive public crowds he's been seeking for so long.
The Tinyfingers Twittertwat is also inspiring awesome political advertising buys in the DC market just to reach him personally. Not because it has any chance of influencing any political outcome; DC is the strongest Dem electorate in the country.
His campaign is buying ads so he sees them on his tv and is mollified that his campaign is actually doing something for him, and the likes of the Lincoln Project are placing ads to drive bunkerboy ever further out of his dysfunctional facsimile of a mind.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/9/1951722/-Trump-campaign-tries-to-calm-Trump-s-fear-and-rage-by-wasting-400-000#read-more
Trump is high functioning psychopath. He ticks all the boxes.
What this means is that he is of course a dangerously unsuitable person to be the President of the USA. It doesn't mean he is always wrong, always evil and always to be condemned. In many ways I see the left grossly over-reaching in their reflexive hatred of him. But it does mean we constantly reduce complex issues to idiotic sound bites.
It's seems the pressures of the past few months are going to cause Trump to implode, his re-election that seemed certain in January, is now very much less likely, due not to any Democrat brilliance, but to two random events that have exploded out of control. Whether this all works out well remains to be seen.
But what few tribal left wingers want to do, is ask themselves why so many people pulled the lever for Trump, in at least some knowledge of his manifest unsuitability for the job. And why so many Americans, and by extension much of the democratic world, despairs of being offered little but a choice of two slightly different flavours of unpalatable. It is of course easy and exciting to say "the system is broken" and hand out demolition hammers to it in order to finish it off, but absent the effort to construct what must effectively replace it … at the end all you have is a crew of wreckers left in charge of smoking ruins.
Why pull the levers? MONEY !
" But what few tribal left wingers want to do, is ask themselves why so many people pulled the lever for Trump, in at least some knowledge of his manifest unsuitability for the job. And why so many Americans, and by extension much of the democratic world, despairs of being offered little but a choice of two slightly different flavours of unpalatable. "
I think there are people asking this question, but as you seem to indicate they are drowned out by the sheer volume of easy to get soundbites, and reactive responses to his actions. (Many of which are atrociously venal, inhumane and destructive.)
There is a deeper problem to solve than making it to the next election and defeating Trump.
… much of the democratic world, despairs of being offered little but a choice of two slightly different flavours of unpalatable.
Hotelling's Law and its application to politics really needs to get more airtime. Two party politics is just a minor variation on why two ice cream carts on the beach are always parked next to each other, or two petrol stations in a town are almost always right next door. Apparently game theory has an explanation why there cannot exist viable solutions with more than two options.
https://www.ft.com/content/1188eefe-dd0a-11e4-975c-00144feab7de
In the US, voter turnout is further complicated by the way it really really is a painful hugely time-wasting process to go out and vote. Furthermore, a large measure of voter apathy does not come from voter perception of lack of differentiation between the two choices on offer, it's simple ignorance or indifference to the impact politics has on their lives.
Efforts to improve the situation are much better directed towards electoral reform such as ranked choice voting for electorates where there can only be one winner (just been adopted in Maine), or other options such as amalgamating multiple electorates into a single multi-member electorate. Here in NZ the adoption of MMP really means the only legitimate topic the whiners have is the ridiculous 5% threshold.
What is clearly not a good answer is simple-minded whining about the state of politics as it is.
Nor is advocating withdrawing from the system by not voting in protest (nobody pays the slightest attention whatsoever to those who choose wilful irrelevance). Or voting for a miniscule fringe option those has zero chance of success (that too is choosing wilful irrelevance).
Nor is apologia for those who knowingly choose the deplorable option in hopes of seeing harm come to others.
Nor is denying that there do in fact exist real differences between the two choices on offer and ignoring the real differences in outcome that result from election of one or the other.
Particularly stupid is the response by extremists of undermining the option that is in fact closest to their position, for whatever reason excites the irrationality rattling in their cranial cavities.
Yup. That last sentence nails it. One thing I'm certain of, is I am not alone in believing I don't have a political home anymore.
That application of Hotelling law makes sense also from an evolutionary perspective, that because humans naturally have temperaments that sit on a spectrum from conservative to progressive, the two dominant players must both evolve to attract as close as possible to 50% of the vote by default. Which in the long run ensures mediocrity and mendacity.
Honestly I'm increasingly convinced that while political parties have served a useful purpose, their downsides, the polarisation and tribalism is becoming more costly than the benefits. Re-imagining our political structures, with a view to building tighter linkages between local, nation and global concerns is where my thoughts have been heading for some time now.
Cheers. That was a very welcome comment Andre.
plain old misogny was one of the biggest reasons for people voting for trump. america had just voted (twice) for a black man ,and now the same party had put up a woman.! a step to far for many americans. added to that was his appeal as being NOT a politician. many millions of americans felt betrayed by washington, (they have been) and bought trumps line about draining the swamp. many,if not most of those same voters will now be doubly disallusioned. you can pontificate all day, but they are the two main reasons for trumps election.
.
Since the early 1970s, overwhelming majorities of Americans have told Pollsters they would be happy to vote for a Woman Presidential Candidate. Over the past decade, this has ranged between 92-96% in the Gallup Poll, for instance.
Even way back during the supposedly “ultra-conservative” decade of 1950s 'domesticity', a slight majority of voters were prepared to do so.
In contrast, only a minority in the 50s were prepared to entertain the concept of voting for a Black Presidential candidate (and, until relatively recently, these numbers always trailed well behind the Woman candidate figures).
Perhaps, as an alternative explanation. it was the fact that Hillary couldn't read the Zeitgeist if she fell over it. Her close alignment with an increasingly despised US establishment, her paid Goldman Sachs speeches & murky web of business connections leaving erstwhile Democrats doubting the sincerity of her rhetoric around reform. All reinforced by her tendency to alienate voters the more they get to know her. Few trusted her & many were put off by her arrogance and hubris.
I think most of the reasons people voted for the orange one were tactical rather than any big reason.
HRC went in with 20 years of repug lies on her back. She didn't have a brilliant campaign – it was solid, but no sparks. Would have won against Romney, not a demagogue. And then there was the Comey bullshit a week out which turned out to have been because of fuckboy Weiner rather than anything related to Clinton's email server, but it resonated with the previous slanders.
But HRC also had no idea how to deal with the buffoon in debates because he was such an atypical candidate, and the repugs identified and targeted swing states much better than the dems.
Dolt45 dominated a stage of over a dozen bland characters because he was the only bully.That gave him momentum. His demagoguery played well to crowds compared to a run of the mill HRC, his team targeted states better than the dems did, and their social media game was highly effective (and so was putins). And his visuals and sheer gall got the MSM ratings, so they gave him more publicity.
Best explanation I've seen.
"But it does mean we constantly reduce complex issues to idiotic sound bites." – excellent observation RL; fits Trump to a tee.
And the wall is finished, least the one surrounding the white house is.
So, the SIS kept active files not only on Keith Locke, but also on Richard Northey. As an MP Richard Northey (one of the most dedicated and diligent and quietly effective local left activist politicians I’ve seen) had an oversight role of the SIS while in Parliament as Chair of the Justice select committee.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/the-service/418609/sis-spied-on-labour-mp-richard-northey
I think it's time we ripped open the SIS filing cabinets.
What is white privilege and class bias in action? The Herald running a story where the opinions of white men who run decile ten secondary schools get to dominate the narrative.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12338500
There is probably a story here about the emergency delivery of this stuff and issues related to it. But quoting some toff like decile-10 Rangitoto College principal Patrick Gale saying "…The cost of what they are doing is just enormous and I'm concerned by the wastage…," grates. His concern money might be being wasted on a scheme parimarily aimed at the poor is truly, deeply middle class and honestly, a tear sprung to my eye. It is just a pity he doesn't seem to feel the need to burst into print to discuss the anomolies created by the enormous inbuilt privileges his school has on occasions other than concern at this.
I think the point of his comment was that the wastage lay in the fact that this equipment was going to a school which didn't need it, rather than reaching schools which did.
It seems incredible to me that some Principal's decry an over-supply of modems. Boo Hoo. Well organised Principals should send a surplus on to more needy kids. Simon Collins works hard to explore the negatives of a system arranged at short notice to help 70,000 kids in need.
Agree
National Party scouring its extensive networks to find negative stories (however lame and ridiculous) that get fed to the Herald.
More revealingly, the guy seems to know so little about the world that he doesn't realise that when you have to rush into a big emergency, the duration of which is unknown with zero advance notice and (quite possibly) poor quality information – all sorts of irritating mistakes are going to happen at the margins. You fix them up and try to be better prepared next time.
Remember when Tory headmasters used to bang on about 'excellence' ('iksullince' in Kiwi) – a sort of disembodied general superiority that they were inculcating in their students by wearing a tie to work and other forms of privilege-signalling? Tiresome bunch. Probably we need to look at breaking up big, powerful schools.
The principals interviewed are the leading advocates and beneficiaries of the whole user-pays commodified education system.
They just don't like (poor) people getting free stuff.
How the ignorant or those with set agendas bend a story to suit their ends perhaps reading the article in full may help
there are other examples of principals decrying the lack of coordination and that their students in need had missed out
“At the other end of the income scale, many students who need computers and access to internet are still waiting for them more than three weeks after all students returned to classes.”
With thanks to the excellent Richard Harman's Politik website, a neat little observation with a very important diplomatic outcome for New Zealand's security positioning between China and our Five Eyes Allies:
"Australian Defence Minister, Linda Reynolds, sees Five Eyes as a bridge to ANZUS. Speaking last year to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), she said Australia’s relationship with the United States mattered a great deal. “Today this relationship is not just about our mutual support obligations, enshrined in the ANZUS Treaty,” she said. “Rather, it is about ensuring the alliance is more focused on, and responsive to, shared challenges in the Indo-Pacific. “As I discussed with key allies at the Shangri-La Dialogue, it is now about co-ordinating the implementation of our respective Indo-Pacific strategies. “And it is about determining where we can have a better combined effect, particularly with our five eyes partners, where we need to develop complementarities, and where we must build self-reliance. “These will be important messages both I and the Minister for Foreign Affairs will be reinforcing not long from now at the next Australia‑United States Ministerial Consultations. “They will help guide how we focus lines of interoperability and where we direct effort to ensure that the alliance’s whole remains greater than the sum of its parts – in terms of the intelligence that guides us, the capability we operate, and the technology that advantages us.”
The executive director of ASPI, Peter Jennings, told “The Australian” that Five Eyes was gaining stronger relevance amid the strategic tensions that had emerged during the pandemic but that the economic crisis was now a paramount security issue. He said Five Eyes had been pointing in this direction. “Now, there is an understanding that we have to address the security implications of the economic relationships in a way we haven’t had to since World War II. “I think, increasingly, that what Five Eyes will do … it will have to evolve into those areas to create a shared approach on how democracies deal with those things. “I think the other point of Five Eyes is that it does bring like-minded democracies together against an authoritarian challenge. Principally, when it was set up after World War II, it was dealing with the Soviets (but) most conversations within Five Eyes now are about China,” he said.
It is the potential for China to see this Five Eyes move as a hostile one aimed at them that poses challenges for New Zealand. New Zealand last week delicately side-stepped being seen to join a Five Eyes anti-China statement opposing China’s imposition of a National Security Law on Hong Kong and instead issued its own.
The two statements were similar but not the same; the New Zealand one repeated some but not all of the language of the Five Eyes statement. It refrained from directly criticising China and omitted a line from the Five Eyes statement which said that:
“allowing the people of Hong Kong to enjoy the rights and freedoms they were promised can be the only way back from the tensions and unrest that the territory has seen over the last year.” Rather than saying that was the only way, the New Zealand statement left a door open for China to implement a National Security Law by saying: “It is important that any national security law respects these fundamental freedoms and has the support of the people of Hong Kong.”
The next day, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, excluded New Zealand from his condemnation of the Five Eyes statement. “The unwarranted comments and accusations made by the relevant countries constitute a flagrant interference in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs,” he said. “China deplores and firmly opposes that and has made stern representations with the relevant countries.”
Continue reading at https://www.politik.co.nz/2020/06/10/fancy-footwork-needed-with-five-eyes/?ct=t%28POLITIKToday_07_10_2016_10_6_2016_COPY_05%29&mc_cid=6732d3da14&mc_eid=2879a67368 | Politik
Thanks for this Ad, a useful morning read. In my view both Australia and New Zealand are making strategic mistakes here:
Australia will soon find that while it's unlikely the USA will freeze them out altogether, they will nonetheless slide well down their list of priorities. The next US President and administration will be even more hawkish on trade, and even less likely to commit military resources to security outside of NAFTA. The era of US led globalisation is over.
By the same token New Zealand is making a symmetrically opposite mistake in thinking that China will inevitably rise to fill the US vacuum. Of course the CCP have every intention of aggressively doing so, but it's not at all clear they can. I've written to their numerous structural weaknesses, all of which have arrived at a perfect storm right now.
And the idea that NZ, even in alliance with Australia can in any meaningful way be "independent" is not entirely ludicrous, after all our vast oceans ensure some measure of physical security, but we have other avenues of vulnerability that make such a position tenuous at best.
The only decent option both Australia and NZ have is a 'pivot to SE Asia', our immediate neighbours. All of whom are facing their own crisis induced by the same trade order collapse. They are just as motivated to find new arrangements as we would be, in particular NZ and Australia are the best option (along with maybe Argentina) to provide the temperate climate agricultural component of such a network.
Between Japan in the north and Aoteoroa in the south, there is a natural alliance of peoples awaiting it's turn in the tide of human affairs.
During WWII Japan desired a Naval Base in New Zealand to 'split' the Pacific and isolate Australia from the US … that strategic objective is now perhaps a CCP wish?
Third Island Chain. There isn't a lot of good references to it, but it seems a real CCP strategy.
RL, in the interest of balance it's worth noting (again) that the "Third Island Chain", taking in Hawaii and terminating in NZ, is a US concept and (containment) strategy. Calling it a "CCP strategy" is fearmongering, IMHO.
There is no evidence that NZ is part of a ‘CCP Third Island Chain‘. Try harder!
It seems however the CCP and PLAN have long quietly held the strategic concept of "Island Chains". It's entirely rational and logical that they might.
The First and Second are described in some detail, while the Third is indeed a lot more ambiguous. Possibly because the CCP would quite like it to include Hawaii … and it's premature to be overtly trumpeting that to the Americans.
But we can safely deduce a Third Chain is intended in the Pacific, because the Fourth and Fifth are located off in the Indian Ocean. However vague it might be at present, if any real world version of it came into being, it would inevitably impinge on Australian and NZ interests.
“…that they might.” "Possibly because the CCP would quite like it to include Hawaii…"
Anything's possible, but such qualifications undermine the credibility of your fearmongering, IMHO.
"But we can safely deduce a Third Chain is intended in the Pacific…"
What we both know is that The Third [Pacific] Island Chain was envisioned by US strategists for the containment of Russia and China. What you are apparently imagining is that The Third Island Chain has been repurposed by the CCP for power projection into the Pacific, but you offer no evidence to support you imaginings.
By all means continue to paint the CCP as an aggressive bogeyman bent on a NZ takeover (such fearmongering has worked before, and might work again!), but for goodness sake when will you realise that continuing to insist ‘The Third Island Chain’ is part of a CCP expansionist strategy/plot is nonsense.
Nevertheless, I encourage you to continue in the hope that you will eventually craft a more realistic strategy for your CCP villain – then you might be able to whip up some real fear in NZ.
I wonder if the SIS is looking into the influence of the CCP in the National Party
Doubt it – We've never seen a RW politician spied on have we?. Time to defund the SIS, send in a small trusted group from across the political spectrum to gather up the institutional knowledge and then start a new group with better rules, institutional oversight and respect for across the spectrum peaceful views.
RL
I remember the shock of hearing Jim Bolger say "NZ is an Asian country"
.I thought whaat?
So what happened ?
Then I found this 2015 piece by Chris Trotter. Say what you like , he always has a thought provoking take on things
I think he's changed his tune a little, or maybe he enjoys being the devil's advocate
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/70168276/opinion-china-has-expectations-of-new-zealand
Isn't the thing about China that they don't require you to tow a political line as a quid pro quo for trade?
And is it toe or tow or both?
It's my understanding that the original version of that idiom was 'toe the line'. But language is a living thing, and many people have morphed it into the 'towing a rope' version. Both work, although they have different connotations I think.
Helen Clark's FTA deal with China was the one thing that govt did that I truly believed was a mistake. Asia yes as CT's article presages, but the CCP no. We have not been careful enough to be clear on the difference. The Taiwanese could educate us on this.
Toe – from the Royal Navy I saw when I looked it up – standing with toes against a line on the deck for inspection. I always thought it was a sport expression, but seemingly not!
Thanks Jan and RL
Goldsmith says the govt should end the wage subsidy after businesses want it to continue.
His reasoning is the govt should concentrate on growing the economy.
But his unresearched homespun anti govt rhetoric means destroying more of the economy before trying to rebuild stick to your knit witting Paul.
But but but haven't we been told repeatedly that private enterprise creates jobs and needs a "no rules" environment to do so? So why is Nact now blaming the government for not doing the private enterprise job?
Deputy Leader of National Party annoys National supporters:
Kaye criticises Goldsmith, gets told to zip it, sweetie
I blame Kate Sheppard and the PC brigade of 1892.
National are polling, they asked for my wife by name, answered negative to questions, especially to: "would you like to receive emails on you phone from Todd Muller" sic
Why emails on your phone? Emails go to any device set up for emails, maybe they just want the email address, and mobile number, they have the landline (actually VOIP).
Rest of his natural if it's shown to be a revenge killing.
https://twitter.com/CBSEveningNews/status/1270485898585690112
November election fuckey dry run.
https://twitter.com/brent_peabody/status/1270379173383733249
Georgia debacle shows we’re heading toward an election disaster in November
By
Paul Waldman and
Greg Sargent
June 9, 2020 at 9:01 p.m. UTC
Tuesday was primary day in Georgia, and things went about as well as you might have expected:
Over the course of the day, state and local officials blamed each other; at least part of the problem stemmed from the fact that the state was using new technology, in which voters make their selections on a touch-screen and then the machine prints out a paper ballot with their choices on it.
http://archive.li/2ezYE (wapo)
That is the correct way to implement the new world-wide technological hegemony; it's logical, cause people to have learned helplessness by ensuring that everything they could do for themselves in a simple action has to be done through using a machine.
I see a Herald headline 'Mike Hosking slams Ministry of Education for 'wastage' as his child makes free modem shortlist.'
He doesn't know why his kid should be identified on a list as one needing help.
Here is the news: Michael, Kate, your child is at a huge disadvantage. It threaten his whole life. There are two main problems. I'll give you a guess what they are.
It does sound like a bit of a cluster tbf.
Yeah, it's clearly an outrage, being able to say it's okay I don't need a modem.
Barrel bottom properly scraped. Lol
I take it you didn't actually read the article
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12338660
It is a bit of a hash of a job
Of course I read it, and wondered whatever did he do first, reach for his clutching pearls or rattle his jewellery is fake outrage. I guessed a little bit of both at the same time.
The concern was Not who received these, BUT those who were/are in need that have missed out. Better to be caught out with some not in need receiving these than those in need missing out. Pity the article was framed around one of Mikes moments. 😱 and lost a little impact ?
If decile-1 Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate is just under 400 outstanding and decile-2 Aorere College is 370, and those students in other schools, what of them? Hope the Ministry has a plan for these students.
"The concern was Not who received these, BUT those who were/are in need that have missed out. Better to be caught out with some not in need receiving these than those in need missing out. Pity the article was framed around one of Mikes moments"
Totally agree.
Still think you may not have actually read it. Allan
"Allan" D'oh lol
You're not in the naughty boy punishing business now. At ease private :smirk:
Sure, modems should have been sent to all who needed them, but mistakes happen, and during a deadly pandemic, through a lock down and general social upheaval, if that's the worst thing you can support Hoskins on, then scrape away at that barrel.
Sorry Allan. Can you point out where I have supported Hosking please?
What I said was they made a cluster of the program.
Keep your straw men to yourself.
Why is it that the first world-transforming protest after Covid has hit is a movement which has nothing to do with us, has eclipsed the 2018-9 gender equality movement and the 2015-9 climate movement, and has overshadowed every other movement?
Because the video was so very graphic and confronting. It played out old fears in a visceral drama. It united all of us that something very wrong had happened here.
But maybe if the news had been showing in full drawn out detail the slow, gasping deaths of just some of the many thousands who have died of COVID 19 on high rotation, there would be fewer people objecting to lockdowns.
Maybe the USA would not be on track for another spike in infections and avoidable deaths within 3 – 5 weeks.
And as Stalin said "the death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions a mere statistic".
I get the feeling we've been had.
"…we've been had." – and not only US, also 114,151 (and counting) ‘Americans’ (yes, they’re disproportionately 'other'). But wait, look over here…
The color of coronavirus: COVID-19 deaths by race and ethnicity in the U.S.
“While we have an incomplete picture of the toll of COVID-19, the existing data reveals deep inequities by race, most dramatically for Black Americans.”
https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race [update due 10 June]
“Death rate of black Americans is nearly 2.5-times that of white Americans”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-deaths-us-race-black-white-asian-latino-racism-a9544401.html
Because it is probably more fashionable to get a selfie attending a BLM rally which means zilche to our country than doing one for the little kid in Flaxmere who finally got released from Starship after months and nearly dying and his family not talking on who beat the shit of the poor wee chap?
when are the cameras going on the fishing boats or have labour and nz first been paid off
Kia Ora
The Am Show.
New Zealand is in A better place than most other countries.
It was sad when the 60 million raised for the Australian Bush fires didn't get to the people who needed it the most.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora
Newshub.
Its better to teach a person to fish than it is to give putea to them.
Its good that the back bone of Aotearoa is small businesses.
Cool that our government has invested more money into Manuka hospitals.
That's is great Outrageous fortune's and the West Side a good franchise that has been duplicated around the world.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori Marama.
I agree social media will have a big part to play in the election.
That's a good Wero.
It is a great Wikitoria.
Its great to see Kiwi rail getting more support.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora
The Am Show.
A lot of people will be happy in Aotearoa with the sport resuming this weekend.
That's the way promoting Adventure tourism in Aotearoa.
That's cool people helping free A Whale from rope waste being dump in the Moana.
Ka kite Himi
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora.
That will be good the Americas sailer will be able to come into Aotearoa.
So funny A cyber attack is causing alcohol supply to be slowed down.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Te Ao Marama.
At ta were are the captions.
Eco Maori does not back all Maori News being run by Maori TV. Maori needs A broad range of news not stories controlled by one entity. The more channels that screen Maori stories and views the bigger the audience.
I can see a lot of the students of the Kohanga and Kura Kaupapa and Kapa shining bright.
Ka kite Ano