With the US economy imploding some humour which is doing the rounds….
US RECESSION
The recession has hit everybody really hard…
My neighbor got a pre-declined credit card in the mail
CEO’s are now playing miniature golf.
Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
I saw a Mormon with only one wife.
If the bank returns your check marked “Insufficient Funds,” you call
them and ask if they meant you or them.
McDonald’s is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America.
Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children’s
names.
My cousin had an exorcism but couldn’t afford to pay for it, and they
re-possessed her!
A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico.
A picture is now only worth 200 words.
When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now have to share a room.
The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates.
Are electorates past their use by date? MSM can’t be bothered with most of them. Many MPs just use them to get publicity for party votes. Is it really time to ditch the electorates?
Or is it media and punditry convenience? A lot of people still complain that list MPs don’t have a proper mandate and see the party list as a major weakness of MMP.
You’ll know all about that one. Have you backed up your accusations? Like CT, Beehive? Try setting an example and newer posters here might follow it. How often does felix substantiate his insinuations? Being “honest” doesn’t seem to be the done thing here, stalking is.
Do you have anything to say about the topic I raised? I think that’s a significant democratic issue. Or are you just trolling again?
I was not going to comment on your proposal because it was really, really silly. You seem to be suggesting we only have list MPs. Also I know all of the Auckland Labour electorate MPs quite well and what you say is a reality free insult to them. They all work their electorates really hard. And there are List MPs who work hard at electorate issues.
Your comment was such a reality free one I was going to ignore it.
But it looks like you are trying to avoid responding to Felix’s request for the links. Where are they Pete Squirrel?
You seem to be ignoring what I actually said and have jumped to incorrect conclusions, again. If you had any clue about what I prefer of electorates you wouldn’t have jumped straight into troll mode.
<i>You seem to be ignoring what I actually said and have jumped to incorrect conclusions, again.</i>
I was actually having trouble understanding what you said. I avoided your link because I did not want to reward link whoring.
You previously said:
<i>Are electorates past their use by date? MSM can’t be bothered with most of them. Many MPs just use them to get publicity for party votes. Is it really time to ditch the electorates?</i>
I took offence at this because you are not acknowledging that many electorate MPs work damn hard. Your comment obviously shows you have not the faintest idea what they do.
You then jumped into agressive mode to avoid Felix’s request for promised links. Why don’t you provide the links to Felix?
Politically, in parliament, electorate MPs don’t really offer much. Conscience votes, when an MP should theoretically reflect their constituency, aren’t that common.
But MPs in electorates are a go-to point for anyone who is being screwed around by The System. This is a vital role that needs to be filled. Electorate MPs are the best way to do it.
If you’re upset with the party list letting people into parliament through a backdoor, and some electorate MPs slacking off and not doing as much as they should, the solution isn’t to get rid of electorate MPs.
One thing that could work is a suggestion I’ve made a few times here: make any incumbent MP who holds an electorate seat ineligible for placement on the party list. This would ensure that those MPs fully represent their electorate, because if they don’t, they’re gone. It would allow the public to vote bad MPs out of parliament, and really give some different weight and dynamics to electorate seats and the party list, rather than the peculiar ‘two shades of grey’ system we have now.
Interesting Idea Lanthanide. Personally I’d just extend it to any candidate that gets in the top 3 still has a chance to come in on the list. Afterall a close second or even a close third in a tight race, would still be a candidate a lot of people support, so perhaps deserves to be considered.
Or make it a percentage thing, any candidate that gets over 23% perhaps of the vote is still eligible to be on the party list. Then if there’s a 25, 23.9, 23.8, 23.7, 2.4 scenario, the fourth candidate which is only a fraction off the elected candidate still gets a chance.
Or perhaps some other formula, like just getting more than 5% of the vote?
Otherwise this would be the end of the green party as we know it and several others!
Oh yeah and what would happen to a party that has received say 10% of the overall party votes but has no eligible members due to missing out on these rules??
An interesting idea tho! Just needs a bit of fine tuning imo. Your current format is pretty much just FPP.
Perhaps… Make it that the MMP list order is determined by the ranking of %age votes that the candidates get! That would make sense imo!
Usually when you run away from a discussion you say you can’t be expected to keep up with all the threads you start. And fair enough I suppose, you do start a lot of them.
But in this instance no-one’s expecting you to keep up. You’ve been gone for a few days so I’ve waited patiently for your return so you can pick up where you left off.
Yet still you take no responsibility for what you wrote previously, saying you “can’t be bothered” with it.
Is there any situation in which a person can expect you to stand by what you say, Pete? Your words don’t evaporate when you close the browser, you know.
I’m not “running away”. I choose not to be continually stalked by trolls and then blamed for the blog being cluttered up with petty and precious off-topic attacks.
PG it was the same under FPP it was worse half the members of parliament slept or were drunk while in the debating chamber. Did bugger all for their constituents usually fobbed them off .Now with mmp we have a choice off several MPs so it keeps them on their toes.Its very hard to cover up scandals nowadays with the many different parties around all chasing the voter.
Riots in England, stock exchanges are crashing throughout the world and France and Germany are now in trouble. In the US the political system is clearly not fit for purpose.
Actually the more I think of it Bored the more I think that the events are linked. Adidas has effectively commandeered our community intellectual property (the All Blacks) and made them into a money maker for their share holders. They then go to the third world and use slave labour to manufacture jerseys with significance for locals for $10 or so, import them, and then set this astronomically high price. We are paying for what was communally owned culture.
They then use the profits to fund the elite (All Blacks themselves), and the rest goes to their shareholders.
And we are bombarded with images of their products and told that we have to buy. And for ordinary people particularly unemployed young this has become impossible.
So they suddenly realise they cannot afford them and the cultural behavioral norms get shattered and then it all breaks down. I am not surprised that the looters have been going for TVs and branded clothing.
We need to seriously change things and get our heads around this.
Yeah, I find it amusing how people pigeon hole events and claim that they are unrelated. Unintended consequences abound. Everything is linked….you then get twerps saying riots are unrelated to poverty, and the poverty is unrelated to the top echelon having all the cash….the denial is immense. Creaming the top off of the elites ill gotten cash are their symbiotic parasites, the Denial Industry (spindoctors, MSM, and most importantly “Brand” marketers). And we “buy” it…….
Yes, they keep buying, and buying, and buying. Label clothes. Label food. Label entertainment. And giving adidas more publicity is buying into it all.
We can choose to ignore Brand” marketers if we want to. I never buy sports clothing, I’m not going to pay a huge premium and be an ongoing “free” advertising billboard. It seems nuts, but there’s a lot of people that freely spend money, to be used by the brands twice.
We can choose to ignore Brand” marketers if we want to.
Indeed it is possible to avoid falling into the consumerism ‘trap’, if you are intelligent and mindful enough about your own behaviour. Unfortunately, advertisers make good use of what is known about human psychology to circumvent rational thinking when it comes to this kind of thing. Unsurprisingly, the result is that many people are convinced that they ‘need’ to have all these things. I am very hesistant to put all the blame on the individuals themselves. Instead, I see it as a societal problem – why do we allow large scale psychological manipulation in this way?
The trouble with our system is that it will fall apart if we do not work harder and harder to buy more and more shiny things that have fancy brandy things on them.
While engaged in this merry go round we have to consume more and more of our earth’s resources. And we have to jetson some humans on the way.
Of course anyone suggesting that this cannot continue are branded as being crazy.
@wtl I bet marketers know more about Pete G’s thinking than he knows himself. Perfect manipulable material to sell some product that is aimed at his category on the values chart. And we all have a place there too.
Bernays started this whole nonsense….he is as culpable as any of the great criminal politicos of the last century in establishing this “consumer” pacification of the population.
I looked up google looking for something that would show the sort of tool that marketers use for dividing society into types so they can be influenced in their thinking to buy or accept something. Pages 16 and 17 are interesting – one has a chart and one refers to Brit politics in 2005 and I think is a case study.
My 3.31 pm comment is useless. I was trying to correct it but the blog won’t let you if there is less than a minute left. So forget it. I havn’t been able to make the point I wanted to.
It is NOT possible to resist this all pervasive marketing psychological manipulation 100%. A jingle plays in the background and you instantly recognise McDonalds or Coke or whatever.
To pretend – like most people do – that you are smarter/better/more resistant/more independent than most is part of the illusion.
IE “I would never fall for something like that”, etc. Every damn fool thinks that, to the very last one.
People don’t try and escape from prison if they think that they are free.
a lot of people made noise about this very threat to the nature of a supporter’s allegiance when Adidas signed on. Some might remember for the 100 year celebrations there was a large banner image where Adidas appropriated the entire history of the All Blacks in one foul swoop. A brilliant arrogant and soul less piece of marketing that showed exactly what Adidas had in mind.
an agreement with Adidas was foretold when the game went professional anyway. their longstanding relationship with the IRB would have had it all tied up years before the ink was signed at the NZRU.. it never has been the same gane since, some good rugger but it’s all so $$$$ focused
( I have spent fifteen minutes trying to source an image of it but i guess that as it was a limited edition print they have locked it down pretty tight. )
@ms The $10 is for the making of the tops/jackets. I thought I heard that Adidas has taken NZ off some internet trading list presumably to stop people using the free market to get better prices than those being charged by a monopoly jackup.
Unfortunately Gareth after spending several days at Manukau District Court last month observing various cases I don’t think this one demonstrates inequalities within the legal system but rather the complete lack of justice that exists within it.
I hope that that staff and supporters of Te Papa make it clear to its management how inappropriate it is to have this person representing it overseas in any sort of official capacity.
have to love the British PM
standing up tall
talking of how ‘actions have consequences’
and ‘people think their rights outweigh their responsibilties’
when will those same words be directed towards the bankers, hedge fund managers, and every other thief that swagger through our streets, secure in the knowledge their riots not only go unpunished, they are usually rewarded with looser laws and easier access to more booty
especially this one
‘There is now a danger that rioting might feed into ethnic conflict.
it has already begun with three deaths last night that have suspcicons of racial undertones that supercede the riot activity. In England racial reactionaries will not be a pretty sight if it develops any more intensity.
There are many racial divides in England although much of the day to day seperatist activity is purely on cultural lines. The hard-nosed rascists in England are predominately of anglosaxon heritage and on the whole, have a level of thuggery that is beyond anyone’s ability to communicate with.
We have an opportunity here, Society is showing its best and its worst and we should all pay attention.
This is not the response to an act of terrorism, a war or a natural disaster. This is the result of complacency and double standards.
On a positive note, for every kid that has smashed a window there seems to be a dozen ready to clean it up. That at least is some consolation that our future still has a chance.
‘affect his mana’? what about the mana of our National Museum which is now dragged into the
quagmire of association with this act. A man with a serious job and according to the report, an arguably even more serious problem, gets released without conviction. The surface of this event is saturated by that blinding glare from the idol we dare not damage, alcohol.
Many readers would know elders of local Iwi who have fallen foul of alcohol and committed similar acts yet i do not recall seeing their mana used as a reason to discharge without conviction. There is a disturbing undercurrent in our justice system that is eroding the riverbed and the change in course this is presenting seems to be cutting through the fair fields and destroying the pathways of impartial judgement.
Booze is the single biggest factor when domestic pressure becomes domestic violence
There are not many options but perhaps we could start with prosecuting the guilty.
Osborne’s lawyer, Chris Pointer, said a conviction for domestic assault could prevent his client from entering some countries as part of his museum work. “This will have a … severe effect on Mr Osborne’s ability to do his job.”
A conviction would also “severely impact on his mana”.
You have $100 to invest. Your bank says: if you invest with us, we will give you 9% interest at the end of the year. Great, you say, I’m in.
11 Months down the track the bank comes back to you and says, sorry, been a bit of a fuck-up. We can only give you 9% on $70 but you will have to wait another couple of years for it, and one day in the future we may be able to give you back your other $30.
The poor bastards who bought bonds in Bluestar Group (Printing – Trans-Tasman) effectively kissed goodbye to their collective $140 Million yesterday by agreeing to a bank demand for restructure which sees overdue interest payments on $67 Million of the investment pushed out til 2013 and the remainder converted to a fancy-sounding ‘Participating Bond’ which accrue no interest and do not even have a confirmed (if any) pay back date.
Is it really about the money?
No.
Why? Because the poor old BNZ is third in line to recoup their $195 Million investment in Bluestar. Champ PE ($175 Million) were second, and who were first? You guessed it, the BOND HOLDERS. So in order to screw these suckers over and get themselves to the top of the queue the good ‘ol BNZ threatened receivership on Bluestar bond holders unless they voted themselves into third place, BNZ into first, Champ into second, and agreed to the financial rape of their investment.
For once, the ordinary investor had the opportunity to tell a bank to just fuck right off and they blew it. There is no way the BNZ would have placed Bluestar into receivership to be third in line for any payout (independent analysis put Bluestars worth at $4 Million – assets less liabilities).
Once again greed wins. These suckers deserve to lose every cent.
the tories dont even know what makes something politically correct. they dont know logic. it is what ever they say it is. and the red queens off her heard, go ask alice what the doormouse said.
Just need to pick up on a pet rankling rant here. The Christchurch City Council new draft plan is out and the foreword is attended to by the Council’s Bob Parker, which is entirely appropriate, and by Ecan, which is also appropriate. But it also attended to by Ngai Tahu, as if that organisation is somehow an equivalent governing body, which it is not. It is a body determined by privilege of birth and race and precludes the vast vast majority of Chch residents. It is not right. Ngai Tahu has a place for sure, but not here. Or many other places it gets placed. Sheesh, I know I always rant about this subject, but I need to because it is fundamentally wrong.
And please do not attach all sorts of assumptions to this – Ngai Tahu are fantastic and are a huge ‘asset’ to the city and its environs. And they will go from strength to strength and I wish them well.
It is just this type of placement of them within the city when it is founded on something so many NZers sought to escape from when immigrating here. They sought to escape because it breaches some fundamental facets of human nature – privilege of birth and race.
@vto – “It is a body determined by privilege of birth and race and precludes the vast vast majority of Chch residents. It is not right. Ngai Tahu has a place for sure, but not here. Or many other places it gets placed. Sheesh, I know I always rant about this subject, but I need to because it is fundamentally wrong.”
No you are fundamentally wrong vto. Ngai Tahu were at Otautahi (Christchurch) before you were and deserve to be present and heard when planning the new landscape.
prism, I fundamentally and very strongly disagree with that approach of “first in first served” for many reasons. But no time today to cover that large and intense issue in detail, sorry.
Though your statement that they “deserve to be present and heard when planning the new landscape” I don’t disagree with. It is the nature and scale of that “presence” to which I was referring.
edit: being a pedant, but how would you know whether they were here before me?
It’s not first in first served – the Treaty was signed between the crown and rangatira vto – equal participants – notwithstanding the lies and disinformation, omissions, cheating and evasions told to rangatira of course. I think most of us want to along and having tangata whenua there, is appropriate, indeed necessary – that is what looking forward is all about.
Yes I realise that mr marty and that is all fine and as it was done (the treaty etc). But you well know my opinion on it, which is, briefly, that it may well have been appropriate back then but the treaty is well past its use-by date. It does not take into account the world as it is today and for that reason alone it is fundamentally flawed and needs re-writing. It is no good holding onto contracts which can be frustrated or fail to take into account all parameters, especially in a political nation type setting. Doing so only leads to failure and frustration by sectors of society having less of a stake in society than others. (And this stakeless nature of some of London’s sectors is imo one of the main things which led to the riots)
Look, in saying that, I do not consider that everything should be thrown out and just forget the lot. I think it should be re-written – and a re-writing does not mean either of the parties has to miss out. Things just need changing.
And with regards to Chch and their input I think I said at the beginning and further on that they do have a place, an important place. I do not want them not to be there, they have one of the best and largest contributions to make in the region. Bring them on.
My point was that their placement alongside the Council and Ecan as if they are on some kind of similar governance footing is not right, based as it is on privilege of birth and race. That is all (even though a good argument can be made for such placement based on the out-of-date treaty).
Just got to add one more bit here. My response “first in first served” above was in response to prism’s point which stated that the reason Ngai Tahu should be there was because they were here first. Prism had no mention of the Treaty.
“Look, in saying that, I do not consider that everything should be thrown out and just forget the lot. I think it should be re-written – and a re-writing does not mean either of the parties has to miss out. Things just need changing.”
The Treaty is definately the Treaty – that’s why I advocate constitutional change (not the illusory one going on now) where Māori partnership and self determination can be entrenched. That is the road to equality. That is the way to ensure all parties are treated fairly with honour.
mr marty, if you’re around … ” that’s why I advocate constitutional change (not the illusory one going on now) where Māori partnership and self determination can be entrenched. That is the road to equality. That is the way to ensure all parties are treated fairly with honour.”
Self-determination for who? Just one group of people in NZ? That is no road to equality. That is a road to different structures for different people – which is inequality, according to the dictionary definition.
There is no harm in treating people fairly with honour, under the treaty, just as long as it is recognised that such treatment is under the treaty and the treaty, as you say, is the treaty, with its severe and unrealistic (in today’s world) expectations.
Do you seriously advocate that a form of self-determination, which is separatism, is sustainable and workable? What do all the other groups in NZ do about their own self-determination? Perhaps muslims would like a bit of self-determination too – under your idea, do they get to have that too? Or is it only for maori, because they are the only ones in the treaty so simply tough titty for the muslims – they just have to suck it up? Because that attitude is completely unsustainable. Feel free to explain in detail because I think your idea is way out of whack with reality.
It is sad that you don’t believe that people have the right to self determination – it isn’t seperatism as I have pointed out previously to you. Why are you so scared of empowering basic human rights – is it because of what you think you will lose. This “oh what about the muslims” leads me to wonder about you. Why can’t you argue your point honestly. Are muslims the indigenous people of this land? nah – didn’t think so. Got another group to analyse? push them up, it won’t take long. And that is the nub of the issue right there vto. Māori are not just another minority group shat on by the system, Māori are tangata whenua and for that and that reason alone Māori should have the opportunity to be true partners to the Crown, as agreed to in the Treaty, and add a unique voice to the solutions we need. That is not looking backwards, it is looking forward. It is not handout or grievance mode it is honestly dealing with the facts. The sooner you can just get over the fact that Māori are not going anywhere and that they are the partners with the Crown, the sooner we can all get on and build a country and society to be proud of.
marty mars, I am just going to ignore the assumptions you made about my beliefs, because you do indeed go right to the heart of issue, as I had asked in my previous post…
” Are muslims the indigenous people of this land? nah – didn’t think so. Got another group to analyse? push them up, it won’t take long. And that is the nub of the issue right there vto. Māori are not just another minority group shat on by the system, Māori are tangata whenua and for that and that reason alone Māori should have the opportunity to be true partners to the Crown,”
So you DO in fact believe that because Maori were here first they have a greater position within NZ. This is what prism said right at the start that I railed against. The attitude of “first in first served” is a poorly one which serves nobody in any setting, be it the dinner table each night, the weekly drop of money into the joint account, the allocation of resources like water under the RMA, and the status of immigrants to a new land. First in first served is a weak and selfish attitude and approach. Not to say it has no bearing on matters, but those matters are limited, especially as time passes.
You and I completely disagree right here at this junction. And it is a fundamental foundation stone from which you step off. It is a bad stone marty mars.
This applies no matter the race or place on earth.
As to the treaty, I have already outlined my view that it is a badly structured document. Ffs, the two versions don’t even say the same thing for a start!
But sure you can hang your hat on the crown entering into a poorly constructed contract. You can force them to follow through on their promises, even though those promises don’t always make good sense. It is worth being aware however that in legislation and in common law many many types of contract can be struck out for a whole bunch of reasons – like the contract makes no sense, mistakes were made in entering into them, or they are simply inequitable. For example, is there not a bill currently passing through Parliament deeming certain financial contracts illegal? Have you read the Contractual Mistakes Act?
While these acts and law deal with the daily machinations of life, they are based on centuries old wide and high principles of fairness and justice which are necessary to foster a good society. These principle apply equally to all aspects of life, including the relationship between different peoples.
You, marty, put the treaty above those principle of fairness and justice. That is clear from you last post. I say the treaty should be subject to those wider and highers principles of fairness and justice. My opinion is that the treaty needs re-writing for this and other reasons previously stated.
So there we have it. Good swap of ideas, but you and I strongly disagree on these two base foundation stones.
see when you say, “and the status of immigrants to a new land” I shake my head – it is not about first in first served – I say again – Māori are the indigenous people of this land – you can argue against that as you have but stop twisting what I am saying.
You are clear that you think Māori are just the first immigrant group and that is no reason for any ‘special’ consideration of them, their culture or beliefs. Have I got that right? If so – why? Why do you think this – that is what I’m after vto – I believe I understand what you think – why do you think it? You have said you have Māori blood – how do you work through that and your position? Of course they are personal questions that you don’t have to answer but I am sincerely interested because we are all in this waka together and we have to work through these issues to get our society sorted.
Well this is a problem. You haven’t explained why you think that because Maori are the indigenous people, the tangata whenua, the first people here, however you want to describe it, that that entitles them to a greater position in society. Why does their indigenous nature so entitle them? You have stated the position but provided no reason for it.
The reasons for me claiming that such first arrival or indigenous nature should have a far lesser status has been explained by me. By way of comparison to the “first in first served” approach. By reason that such privilege of birth and race leads to unfairness and trouble in society. That is why I do not think a society is sustainable with different sets of rules and structures for different peoples. It leads to a sense of frustration for those not so entitled and frustration leads to anger and then further trouble. That is why I do not want such an approach. It is based on birth and race. It is simply unfair. It leads to division. It leads to trouble – that is the reason. It is what many immigrants here escaped from.
And yes, all in NZ arrived as immigrants. Describing Maori as indigenous or something else does not subtract from their immigrant beginnings. As with all other immigrants. How are they not immigrants? Such ideas are not mutually exclusive.
As for my personal ancestry, that is minor but real. It was revealed only later in life, stemming from a time when such was kept hidden generations ago. Anyway, it makes no difference to my arguments in this thread. I am trying to make these arguments from an objective position. Subjective matters can arise once the broader settings are in place.
“You haven’t explained why you think that because Maori are the indigenous people, the tangata whenua, the first people here, however you want to describe it, that that entitles them to a greater position in society. Why does their indigenous nature so entitle them? You have stated the position but provided no reason for it.”
because they fit the description of indigenous people
“Indigenous peoples, or Natives, are ethnic groups who are native to a land or region, especially before the arrival and intrusion of a foreign and possibly dominating culture. They are a group of people whose members share a cultural identity that has been shaped by their geographical region. A variety of names are used in various countries to identify such groups of people, but they generally are regarded as the “original inhabitants” of a territory or region. Their right to self-determination may be materially affected by the later-arriving ethnic groups.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples
That is the simplist search i could do but there are many articles and sources about the nature of indigenous peoples and why they are special and important.
“By reason that such privilege of birth and race leads to unfairness and trouble in society. That is why I do not think a society is sustainable with different sets of rules and structures for different peoples. It leads to a sense of frustration for those not so entitled and frustration leads to anger and then further trouble.”
snap! that’s what is here already and that is why we need to make improvements. You keep playing the ‘not fair’ card – not fair for everyone, not fair for muslims, not fair for me but you are blind to the fact that it is not fair for Māori now.
I don’t think that wikipedia definition states a reason for their special status, it just describes what an indigenous people’s features are, which I don’t dispute. What I dispute is the nature and scale of the special nature. And how it relates to other people living in that same place. Your placement of that special nature differs quite considerably from mine. I guess that is as far as we can get at the moment.
As for things being unfair for Maori now, I am not blind to that and have never suggested otherwise. I don’t disagree and that is why I have suggested in previous posts that Maori should be assisted in righting this situation, but that it should be temporary, and that once that is achieved matters should be righted back to a balanced equality. And that ties in with my view on their special position – their indigenous nature does give them a special position, to protect them perhaps, to assist with the change imposed by worldwide demographic changes, etc, but again it must be temporary. Such a special position has limits and those limits decrease with the passage of time.
As I said, we disagree on the nature and scale of that special position. I have given my reasons and you have given me yours. We just have to disagree I think.
There are a couple of things which you haven’t answered s I recall … The issue of the treaty as a useful document given its hastily scratched together nature resulting in different versions, and its lack of ability to deal with a changing world, etc. The issue of how having different rules and settings for different people in one place leads to civil trouble, and how to deal with that. The issue of how you deal with other people also wanting their own self-determination. The correctness or otherwise of people having a place in society due to privilege, or not, of birth and race.
Don’t know if I will be back here for a while but will check in and see when I can. Good talks. Out for now.
I don’t get you vto – you have the so called privilege of birth and race don’t you?
Why does this get up your nose so much – I hear your ‘we are all one’ line but I cannot reconcile it with my concept of equality. Assimilation is not going to happen – unique valuable cultures will continue and grow because they are important – to the members and all our society. Many indigenous peoples just don’t believe the bullshit anymore – that they are lessor, inferior, lucky. The improvements for indigenous peoples will just keep on coming as momentum builds and it is a good thing because there are many many other ways of looking at the world than the dominant, bland, ‘culture’ most people live within.
I say the more that tangata whenua can be involved in all aspects of the rebuild, the better. And the more visible signs of that the even better too.
“I don’t get you vto – you have the so called privilege of birth and race don’t you?
Why does this get up your nose so much – I hear your ‘we are all one’ line but I cannot reconcile it with my concept of equality. Assimilation is not going to happen – unique valuable cultures will continue and grow because they are important – to the members and all our society. Many indigenous peoples just don’t believe the bullshit anymore – that they are lessor, inferior, lucky. The improvements for indigenous peoples will just keep on coming as momentum builds and it is a good thing because there are many many other ways of looking at the world than the dominant, bland, ‘culture’ most people live within.
I say the more that tangata whenua can be involved in all aspects of the rebuild, the better. And the more visible signs of that the even better too.”
You know, I agree with everything you say there. But what you miss is the fact that one of those cultures is lifted on a pedestal above all other cultures, by law in many many instances, by treaty. It is this that is wrong and which leads to trouble. I don’t think I can say it any simpler than that. It leads to trouble in any society in the world and there are many examples of varying degrees. We are all different, and as the French say vive la differenc, but we are also all equal. Otherwise fail.
It is a particular point only that I make but imo it is big.
Just going to add a prediction … what I suggest above (re-write the Treaty) that should happen, will happen. And it will be led by both Treaty partners, but more by Maori. Not the current generation involved in righting things and aligning things under the Treaty. Not the current young generation growing up into this new strong world for Maori. But perhaps the following generation – a leader with the wisdom of Solomon, or Ghandi, or Nelson Mandela, who will stand up, recognise the imbalance, recognise that the Treaty is no longer appropriate or needed, and suggest a rebalancing.
I can’t and won’t speak for marty, but for me, as Pākehā, I can’t just ignore the treaty.
I get what you are saying, and can see how it just describes a just society, but can’t see how we can get there from here in a just fashion.
The treaty is real. It exists. Wishing it away is pointless, and taking it away would be grave crime no matter what we were trying to do.
The reality is that as Pākehā my only claim to be of this land is via the treaty. The treaty is the thing I can point to and say this is why I have a right to be here. I can’t do that if the treaty is not honoured though.
The fact that it hasn’t been honoured affects my claim to be of here, rather than just living here.
For me to say to Māori that “well nah actually. Screw the treaty, I’m here by virtue of the fact I was born here same as you” I’m claiming what? That the past didn’t happen? That my families history isn’t real?
We can only draw a new picture with the consent of our partners. We haven’t honoured the treaty, they have. We have a hell of a lot of good will to make up and some huge debts of gratitude to pay before we can expect to be able to even start to converse about putting the treaty based relationship aside and forging a new one.
My pre-NZ heritage is celtic. Mostly Irish Catholic and a smattering of Scot. I’m not going to say that this gives me any understanding of Māori experience of colonisation, because it just fucking doesn’t. But I know from my own history that my mob weren’t anything like as forgiving as Māori have been.
And that humbles me greatly. I want to make this shit work.
Well there a few things in there. Firstly, I dont think I said it should be wished away or taken away. Not at all. I guess it could be described as recognising that there was an agreement about how two (see, two. one of the fundamental flaws that does not recognise the future, for a start) peoples could put in place a structure for living together in one place. That is fine. But it is that very structure that is now no longer appropriate because the world is vastly more complicated with more peoples, laws and rights, mobility, cultures, mixed up races (as we are all nealry). In fact, that is exactly it – the Treaty’s structure allowed no room for manouvre (I always spell that wrongue) as the world changed around it. This is a failing of the documenting and structuring put in place in that short and highly volatile moment in these hard lands back in 1840-odd. In that environment it is hardly surprising that they did not get a world class document drawn up, which took into account all the necessary bits such as change.
I don’t agree about your claim to be of here solely because of the treaty. Being born into a place and having ones families ashes thrown to the soils – at least for a generation or three – is enough (to put it crudely and briefly). In fact, Maori have a simialr idea as I recall. Keeping the fires burning it is called I think. Similar to many many cultures. Burying ones dead in a location, in most all human history, provides a link to a place too.
And re the last part and comparing your own ancestors acts and concluding they are lesser – I will just leave that for another day. I don’t think it is true and don’t want to get into an argument about who was the nastiest. Have you read some early accounts of Maori-Pakeha relations? They were as heinous and as heart-lifting as any anywhere.
Yes it will. Such is inevitable and cannot be stopped. Trying to prevent it, which is what you’re doing, is trying to stop the necessary change that will bring us together as one people. Will this mean that some cultural aspects will die out? Of course it does. Others, hopefully better, will emerge to replace them.
Trying to prevent that change will also bring about civil war. This too is inevitable unless the necessary changes are allowed to occur.
humans value difference and uniqueness. There is no assimilation utopia that I can see.
Only within very very narrow boundaries. In olden tribal days or in very conservative hierarchical societies it was barely tolerated.
Today we pretend to value difference and uniqueness. But in reality you don’t have to start acting and thinking too differently and uniquely to start losing friends.
And only a bit more than that, they will probably either lock you up or sedate you (or both).
This discussion is really important and I’m constantly challenged by it, especially since I have 2 grandchildren born a few months apart. One is blond, blue-eyed and is so fair his skin is almost transluscent. He doesn’t know it, but he has Maori ancestry. His cousin, although being brought up in a Pakeha family is clearly Maori – cannot be mistaken for any other ethnicity – and is in close contact with her Maori family. Both, of course, are beautiful, funny and smart, and seeing them together is an absolute delight.
What are their ‘rights’, their likely futures? Will the both get the same advantages, or will one be left behind? Does one deserve more, given the potential for discrimination in jobs, housing etc? Can one not be Maori because it has never been claimed? Or will we have a mixed-race utopia by the time they grow up?
I don’t have any sense of how the treaty, privilege and protection will play out for them, but the more discussions like this, the better IMO.
Change is inevitable alright but not towards your vision.
It’s not my vision – merely what will happen. You can not have two cultures next to each other without the people within them learning from each other especially when they happen to be in the same geographical area. Unless you want to go to an apartheid system of course which, really, is what you actually seem to be proposing.
When you try to put one of those groups above the other then there will be strife.
Whoa, the new draft City Plan for Christchurch looks superb. They have been working hard clearly, and it seems comprehensive, well though out and workable.
Exciting times down here over next decade that be for sure.
There going to be some central city property owners losing out big time methinks, as building heights are squashed from generally between 40m and 80m (12 to 25 stories) down to 4-5 to 7 stories. Big squashing of heights.
While the Christchurch opportunity is unique, what got me thinking was was the wider applicability and apparent value for money offered by some of the better ideas.
Community gardens – $300,000. Wifi $350,000. Covered outdoor markets for local produce and small business $2.2 million. Proper cycle lane network $22 million. Even the light rail system @ $410 million sounds achievable in the medium term.
Then I visit my hometown of Dunedin and I have to look at that ridiculous $198.3 million stadium and reflect on what might have been.
Dunedin screwed itself with that unimaginative monstrosity. I know people all around the South Island laughing at those guys, reading the news of ongoing budget shortfalls and saying “who can possibly act surprised”.
Jim Mora has Muriel Newman on his show this afternoon. She finds that our welfare problems
arise from not having fathers in the home as role models, that everyone should take any job they are offered because ‘once you have your foot on the ladder’ you rise up don’t you!
That woman is such a preachy bitch talking twaddle. She and those like her just repeat comfortable slogans that have been accepted by their set who hold themselves rigidly away from attempts at understanding those who haven’t advanced themselves as they have to comfort and status. Many women have made it good by marrying the right wealthy or high-status professional person but diss others as if they have been high achievers themselves. There is no-one so ignorant as the person who has made up their mind on an emotional basis and from self-satisfaction..
I switched that woman off who was saying the UK riots were caused by too much welfare… a welfare system creating a sense of entitlement, getting consumer goods on welfare … and then all the stupid stuff about absent fathers.
I switched that woman off who was saying the UK riots were caused by too much welfare…
Don’t switch her off, Vicky—do something about it! You should e-mail Jim Mora and tell him how concerned you are that he (or more likely his producer) has chosen someone as vacuous and ill-informed as Muriel Newman to comment on anything, leave alone such a serious topic.
I and several others have protested about Mora’s respectful and deferential treatment of the bloodthirsty S.S. fanatic Garth McVicar and his ghastly henchman Stephen Franks, both of whom should be persona non grata. The more criticism he gets from more decent people, the more likely Mora will be to listen.
Just switching off someone like Muriel Newman is not enough. You have to bring concerted pressure on those who are lazy enough or stupid enough to interview her.
Be polite, but firm and clear: tell him you want him to interview a guest who knows what she is talking about in future. That means NO MORE MURIEL NEWMAN.
I’ve given up on The Panel. To begin with, have you noticed that all of the guests spend the first 10 to 15 minutes telling everybody what exciting lives they lead. They have either been overseas and had a “simply wonderful time hahahahaha” or they’re about to go some place and have a “simply wonderful time haha etc”. As soon as the serious issues are discussed they all run for cover (including Mora with his heavy sighs) and express platitudes that mean bugger all. Occasionally someone calls their bluff (Brian Edwards comes to mind) and tells something like it really is. The collective drawing-in of horrified breath is almost audible. I am rapidly coming to the conclusion this country is now inhabited by a bunch of wankers and really… they deserve the government they’ve got.
@Anne – your desciption would apply to Kerre Woodham if Morrissey recorded her comments about the rioters right. She kept calling them toe-rags. What intelligent analysis.
To begin with, have you noticed that all of the guests spend the first 10 to 15 minutes telling everybody what exciting lives they lead
I certainly have noticed this. It’s deadly dull—in fact, it’s dead air. None of the guests have anything remotely interesting going on in their lives, and the regularity of the guests’ recycling and reappearing means it’s usually exactly the same ten minutes of trivia as the last time.
…Mora with his heavy sighs…
Ah, yes! The baffled sigh to indicate how perplexed yet deeply concerned he is. Unfortunately, it’s become ingrained into his on-air performance, and it’s as much a marker of Jim Mora as the affected, deliberate Oxbridge stammer is with Chris Laidlaw.
…and express platitudes that mean bugger all.
Actually, these seemingly mindless platitudes mean an awful lot. When someone like Barry Corbett or Islay McLeod or Neil Miller or (God save our mortal souls) Garth George says something bland and/or bordering on the moronic, it doesn’t mean “bugger all”, it means that the listeners are being treated with utter contempt.
Occasionally someone calls their bluff (Brian Edwards comes to mind)…
Brian Edwards is occasionally very good—he once humiliated his blithe and woolly-minded fellow-Panelist Deborah Hill Cone after she claimed that she knew all about “working-class people”, even though she didn’t believe they actually existed. However, he is usually teamed up with Michelle Boag, a neighbour of his on Waiheke Island, and so he is usually restrained to the point of being tamed. He seems to bend over backwards to find common ground with her, no matter how extreme her comments. Boag, on the other hand, never makes any concessions at all to him.
I am rapidly coming to the conclusion this country is now inhabited by a bunch of wankers and really… they deserve the government they’ve got.
Come on, Anne! Don’t be discouraged. You’ve written a perfectly lucid and forceful critique for the benefit of readers of this forum, so why don’t you send it off as an email to Jim Mora himself? Here’s that address again… afternoons@radionz.co.nz
Might do just that Morrissey. Sent off an email to Kathryn Ryan after last Monday’s political discussion with Hooton and Bradford. Hooton effectively accused Goff of lying about whether he had seen the SIS briefing papers etc. and Ryan let him get away with it. I supplied her with the Stuff link where Tucker admits he has no signed verification that Goff had seen any papers. No acknowledgement of course.
I think that often she doesn’t know enough. I heard her on this morning’s programme saying how she often takes home lots of reading to prepare for the next show, but there’s precious little evidence of that. She not only routinely lets a notorious liar like Hooton effectively say what he wants each week, she also never challenges her often unreliable and extremely partisan “foreign correspondents”—in particular, the ex-Conservative M.P. Matthew Parris and the ignorant but shameless “middle east correspondent” Irris Makler.
No acknowledgement of course.
You should write to her again and demand an answer. It’s probably just idleness on her part, rather than any desire to silence you.
Morrissey, the whole show is dead air, occasionally punctuated by grossly offensive reptilian grunts and squawks and the distant screams of children being tortured.
I’m extremely grateful for the transcripts of the greatest hits you post here so I don’t have to let the black gas fill my ears.
@ Morrissey – I think you are wrong to think that Jim Mora gives a fart about people criticising him. My take on him is that he is smug and self-satisfied and has a right wing bias. He can ask the questions that the left might ask but only to set up a straw man. He is apparently good natured with a jovial laugh but it sounds hollow.
When I heard Newman was coming on the show, I assumed it was to deliver an apology. But apparently it isn’t 3 decades of neo-liberal economics that has bought us the riots, its the welfare state. What a wally! And to think she used to be the brains of ACT.
Even in the intellectual wasteland that is the far right of New Zealand politics, Muriel Newman is not, and never has been, regarded as any kind of “brains”. The nadir of her obscure and shamefully inept parliamentary career came when she published an advice book for young people, which told (in excruciatingly exhaustive detail) how to boil a jug of water. When she was hauled on television (the Holmes show, actually) to explain why she had written this piece of idiocy instead of attending to her parliamentary duties (whatever parliamentary duties the “brains of ACT” does) she was blitheringly incoherent.
She did, however, provide Pam Corkery her one and only opportunity to do something worthwhile in an otherwise wasted three years: Corkery (in the TV studio with Newman) damned the book as a “joke”, a “waste of time” and “irredeemably condescending” before contemptuously throwing it down on the floor.
Muriel Newman has a doctorate, apparently—from where?
The origin of her doctorate seems to be a closely guarded secret. If the truth were known it’s probably something to do with ‘Business Studies’ from an obscure American university. She is a former employee of Michael Hill, and I understand he originally set her up for a political career in ACT.
math is a real PhD and something I’d normally associate with real intelligence.
True. However, that doesn’t mean that she brings any rigour or even seriousness to her political thinking.
Intelligent people can say some imbecilic things—Richard Dawkins made some foolish and ignorant comments about “the middle east” a while ago, which showed he is about as intelligent a source of commentary on politics as Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck.
As a male there is something reassuring to know that being a RWNJ is not specifically a male trait……bloggers are welcome to reply with who they think is the worst RWNJ woman …I think that American baggage who did the consulting on welfare reform.
I think that American baggage who did the consulting on welfare reform.
Paula Rebstock? Yes, indeed!
And while I am here, listening to 3 News talking about the wonderfulness of Cameron, and the evil of the young criminals who pretend their rioting is about something else…
Off the top of my head add to that list Judith Collins – (thin lipped, arrogant pollie who would have been a hit in 1930/40s Germany.)
Christine Rankin(who came within a whisker of destroying the internationally renowned – and widely copied – welfare system set in place by the 1935-49 Labour Govt.)
Add to list Dame Margaret Bazley
and I have formed an immediate (irrational?) dislike of Kay Giles, new Oz Chief Executive of Christchurch Polytechnic – making a nice strong case for paying the teaching staff below inflation increases etc.
Colonial Viper – By the way did you see the links on Bored at 2.56pm. On the guy that carried brainwashing into commercial use, and is related to Freud. That family made waves.
Ah yes thanks…I watched about 3/4 of that. Scary, society changing stuff. We’re all sheeple to some extent, and those who swear they are not usually more than most.
The old PR guy, the relative of Freud, had obviously lived a wealthy and well connected life. But what was his legacy to the world as a frail old man reflecting on past glories, nothing but a harvest of bitter fruit with a taste undisguisable by any luxuries or excess.
Scoop has Selwyn Manning’s response regarding an OIA request about the SIS Israeli spy issue:
Dear Mr Manning
Official Information Act Request
1. Thank you for your letter dated 5 August 2011 (received 9 August 2011) requesting a copy of any legal advice received in relation to Official Information Act (OIA) requests for briefing papers relating to the Israeli earthquake investigation.
2. I am declining your request on the grounds that to do so is necessary to maintain legal professional privilege.
3. If you are unhappy with my response you have the right to seek a review by the Office of the Ombudsmen under section 28 of the OIA.
I love how senior public servants always thank-you so kindly for your correspondence – even when you’ve just told them what a bunch of @#$^$#@ they are.
Oh, and I’m not necessarily referring to the DoS, Warren Tucker – just senior Pub. Servants in general. 😯
Ah, as predicted, Patrick Gower bashing bennies and showing Key with his concerned face on…
Re sickness beneficiaries, Gower says “Beehive sources say many can work”… What Beehive sources would that be then? And how do they know?
German physicist Harald Haas talks about internet connectivity technology that would make it possible to send data through LED light bulbs instead of via radio waves.
“According to recent polls, Fox News viewers are the most misinformed of all news consumers. They are 12 percentage points more likely to believe the stimulus package caused job losses, 17 points more likely to believe Muslims want to establish Sharia law in America, 30 points more likely to say that scientists dispute global warming, and 31 points more likely to doubt President Obama’s citizenship.
At the height of the healthcare debate, more than two-thirds of Fox News viewers were convinced Obamacare would lead to a “government takeover”, provide healthcare to illegal immigrants, pay for abortions and let the government decide when to pull the plug on grandma.
In fact, a study by the University of Maryland revealed that the ignorance of Fox viewers actually increases the longer they watch the network.”
Spot on, TVOR.
The Nat/ACT etc bloc has gone from 60% down to 55.5% and the Labour/Green etc bloc up to 44.5% from 40%. The same movement again in another two months and it’s level pegging. And Roy Morgan is the most reliable of the polls, as far as that goes.
I predict the first RM poll of November will show that confidence in the Government is down to a pathetic 110 or below (128 now). Quite a lot below if the All Blacks have lost.
After WW2, many leaders and progressive thinkers put their heads together and formulated a plan so that such devastation and atrocities involved in the holocaust would not occur again…
David Cameron is a disgrace and a national embarrassment. I thought that Tony Blair was the most disgusting and dishonest politician produced by Britain in a generation, but Cameron brings something else to the table—sheer, unflappable, incorrigible Public School complacency and dimness.
A lot of people think a dim politician is a good thing, and that relatively smart ones like Blair are more dangerous. Watching Cameron in full graceless flight makes you wonder, though. Maybe a dim politician—Cameron, McCain, Key, Stephen Harper—is just as troubling as a slippery, smart one.
More riot related stuff, but from an unusual source. Joey Barton is a professional footballer with, shall we say, issues. But remarkably sound on the riots and man a of impeccable musical taste as well.
Interdependence, liberal economists believe, furthers peace – a sort of economic mutual assured destruction. If China or the United States were to attack the other, the attacker would suffer grave consequences. But as the US economy deteriorates from the Lost Decade of the 2000s through the post-2008 meltdown into what is increasingly looking like Marx’s classic crisis of late-stage capitalism, internationalisation looks more like a suicide pact.
But you can’t have interdependence when global productivity far exceeds global needs – and there aren’t any resources left anyway.
classic crisis of late-stage capitalism, internationalisation looks more like a suicide pact.
This is what the Euro looks like now.
But you can’t have interdependence when global productivity far exceeds global needs – and there aren’t any resources left anyway.
But there is a bad kind of interdependence left. When no sovereign state is self sufficient any longer because it has transferred away its industries…and can now no longer afford to buy the goods and services it needs from the countries that it used to buy them from…and can’t make do itself.
That is why I do not think a society is sustainable with different sets of rules and structures for different peoples. It leads to a sense of frustration for those not so entitled and frustration leads to anger and then further trouble.
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
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Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
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Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
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What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
With the US economy imploding some humour which is doing the rounds….
US RECESSION
The recession has hit everybody really hard…
My neighbor got a pre-declined credit card in the mail
CEO’s are now playing miniature golf.
Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
I saw a Mormon with only one wife.
If the bank returns your check marked “Insufficient Funds,” you call
them and ask if they meant you or them.
McDonald’s is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America.
Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children’s
names.
My cousin had an exorcism but couldn’t afford to pay for it, and they
re-possessed her!
A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico.
A picture is now only worth 200 words.
When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now have to share a room.
The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates.
Are electorates past their use by date? MSM can’t be bothered with most of them. Many MPs just use them to get publicity for party votes. Is it really time to ditch the electorates?
Elecorate MP’s redundant, party lists rule?
Or is it media and punditry convenience? A lot of people still complain that list MPs don’t have a proper mandate and see the party list as a major weakness of MMP.
Hi Pete. Got any links for me yet or has it all gone down the memory hole again?
No, it’s gone into the “why the hell bother” basket.
Do
What happened there? I meant to say
Don’t you mean the “I don’t have the links” basket?
You’ll know all about that one. Have you backed up your accusations? Like CT, Beehive? Try setting an example and newer posters here might follow it. How often does felix substantiate his insinuations? Being “honest” doesn’t seem to be the done thing here, stalking is.
Do you have anything to say about the topic I raised? I think that’s a significant democratic issue. Or are you just trolling again?
Oh dear, I’m not sure you realise what you just admitted to.
If my standards are so woeful then why are you using them as the benchmark for your own behaviour?
Surely you’re better that that, Pete.
I think that’s a significant democratic issue
I was not going to comment on your proposal because it was really, really silly. You seem to be suggesting we only have list MPs. Also I know all of the Auckland Labour electorate MPs quite well and what you say is a reality free insult to them. They all work their electorates really hard. And there are List MPs who work hard at electorate issues.
Your comment was such a reality free one I was going to ignore it.
But it looks like you are trying to avoid responding to Felix’s request for the links. Where are they Pete Squirrel?
You seem to be ignoring what I actually said and have jumped to incorrect conclusions, again. If you had any clue about what I prefer of electorates you wouldn’t have jumped straight into troll mode.
See what Bryce Edwards says on it:
http://liberation.typepad.com/liberation/2011/08/fake-electorate-candidates.html
Slow down Pete, let’s clear up the discussion already underway before you started this new one. Links, please.
<i>You seem to be ignoring what I actually said and have jumped to incorrect conclusions, again.</i>
I was actually having trouble understanding what you said. I avoided your link because I did not want to reward link whoring.
You previously said:
<i>Are electorates past their use by date? MSM can’t be bothered with most of them. Many MPs just use them to get publicity for party votes. Is it really time to ditch the electorates?</i>
I took offence at this because you are not acknowledging that many electorate MPs work damn hard. Your comment obviously shows you have not the faintest idea what they do.
You then jumped into agressive mode to avoid Felix’s request for promised links. Why don’t you provide the links to Felix?
Politically, in parliament, electorate MPs don’t really offer much. Conscience votes, when an MP should theoretically reflect their constituency, aren’t that common.
But MPs in electorates are a go-to point for anyone who is being screwed around by The System. This is a vital role that needs to be filled. Electorate MPs are the best way to do it.
If you’re upset with the party list letting people into parliament through a backdoor, and some electorate MPs slacking off and not doing as much as they should, the solution isn’t to get rid of electorate MPs.
One thing that could work is a suggestion I’ve made a few times here: make any incumbent MP who holds an electorate seat ineligible for placement on the party list. This would ensure that those MPs fully represent their electorate, because if they don’t, they’re gone. It would allow the public to vote bad MPs out of parliament, and really give some different weight and dynamics to electorate seats and the party list, rather than the peculiar ‘two shades of grey’ system we have now.
Interesting Idea Lanthanide. Personally I’d just extend it to any candidate that gets in the top 3 still has a chance to come in on the list. Afterall a close second or even a close third in a tight race, would still be a candidate a lot of people support, so perhaps deserves to be considered.
Or make it a percentage thing, any candidate that gets over 23% perhaps of the vote is still eligible to be on the party list. Then if there’s a 25, 23.9, 23.8, 23.7, 2.4 scenario, the fourth candidate which is only a fraction off the elected candidate still gets a chance.
Or perhaps some other formula, like just getting more than 5% of the vote?
Otherwise this would be the end of the green party as we know it and several others!
Oh yeah and what would happen to a party that has received say 10% of the overall party votes but has no eligible members due to missing out on these rules??
An interesting idea tho! Just needs a bit of fine tuning imo. Your current format is pretty much just FPP.
Perhaps… Make it that the MMP list order is determined by the ranking of %age votes that the candidates get! That would make sense imo!
Well, because if you were honest you’d back up what you say.
How are you going to win votes if your word can’t be counted on from one day to the next?
You know it’s a funny thing Pete.
Usually when you run away from a discussion you say you can’t be expected to keep up with all the threads you start. And fair enough I suppose, you do start a lot of them.
But in this instance no-one’s expecting you to keep up. You’ve been gone for a few days so I’ve waited patiently for your return so you can pick up where you left off.
Yet still you take no responsibility for what you wrote previously, saying you “can’t be bothered” with it.
Is there any situation in which a person can expect you to stand by what you say, Pete? Your words don’t evaporate when you close the browser, you know.
I’m not “running away”. I choose not to be continually stalked by trolls and then blamed for the blog being cluttered up with petty and precious off-topic attacks.
No, you start conversations and then pretend they never happened when you want to start a new one.
Links please.
He is Gosman mk2
Gosman usually has a point to make, even if it appears to be from another universe.
Pete usually doesn’t say anything, just waffles on. A lot of the time I honestly can’t follow what he’s talking about, so don’t usually reply to him.
PG it was the same under FPP it was worse half the members of parliament slept or were drunk while in the debating chamber. Did bugger all for their constituents usually fobbed them off .Now with mmp we have a choice off several MPs so it keeps them on their toes.Its very hard to cover up scandals nowadays with the many different parties around all chasing the voter.
Riots in England, stock exchanges are crashing throughout the world and France and Germany are now in trouble. In the US the political system is clearly not fit for purpose.
And in New Zealand Adidas has cancelled its black is beautiful party.
Its PR have realized that they cannot spin the charging of something costing ten bucks to manufacture with an exorbitant $220 charge for locals.
The end of the world is nigh …
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/11/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?_r=1&hp
Nice summary MS….its going down, the slippery slide continues as the deck chairs are re arranged on the Titanic.
Actually the more I think of it Bored the more I think that the events are linked. Adidas has effectively commandeered our community intellectual property (the All Blacks) and made them into a money maker for their share holders. They then go to the third world and use slave labour to manufacture jerseys with significance for locals for $10 or so, import them, and then set this astronomically high price. We are paying for what was communally owned culture.
They then use the profits to fund the elite (All Blacks themselves), and the rest goes to their shareholders.
And we are bombarded with images of their products and told that we have to buy. And for ordinary people particularly unemployed young this has become impossible.
So they suddenly realise they cannot afford them and the cultural behavioral norms get shattered and then it all breaks down. I am not surprised that the looters have been going for TVs and branded clothing.
We need to seriously change things and get our heads around this.
Yeah, I find it amusing how people pigeon hole events and claim that they are unrelated. Unintended consequences abound. Everything is linked….you then get twerps saying riots are unrelated to poverty, and the poverty is unrelated to the top echelon having all the cash….the denial is immense. Creaming the top off of the elites ill gotten cash are their symbiotic parasites, the Denial Industry (spindoctors, MSM, and most importantly “Brand” marketers). And we “buy” it…….
And we “buy” it…….
Yes, they keep buying, and buying, and buying. Label clothes. Label food. Label entertainment. And giving adidas more publicity is buying into it all.
We can choose to ignore Brand” marketers if we want to. I never buy sports clothing, I’m not going to pay a huge premium and be an ongoing “free” advertising billboard. It seems nuts, but there’s a lot of people that freely spend money, to be used by the brands twice.
Indeed it is possible to avoid falling into the consumerism ‘trap’, if you are intelligent and mindful enough about your own behaviour. Unfortunately, advertisers make good use of what is known about human psychology to circumvent rational thinking when it comes to this kind of thing. Unsurprisingly, the result is that many people are convinced that they ‘need’ to have all these things. I am very hesistant to put all the blame on the individuals themselves. Instead, I see it as a societal problem – why do we allow large scale psychological manipulation in this way?
The trouble with our system is that it will fall apart if we do not work harder and harder to buy more and more shiny things that have fancy brandy things on them.
While engaged in this merry go round we have to consume more and more of our earth’s resources. And we have to jetson some humans on the way.
Of course anyone suggesting that this cannot continue are branded as being crazy.
@wtl I bet marketers know more about Pete G’s thinking than he knows himself. Perfect manipulable material to sell some product that is aimed at his category on the values chart. And we all have a place there too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ8ZvYNlxiM
http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/1999Q2/bernays.html
Bernays started this whole nonsense….he is as culpable as any of the great criminal politicos of the last century in establishing this “consumer” pacification of the population.
I looked up google looking for something that would show the sort of tool that marketers use for dividing society into types so they can be influenced in their thinking to buy or accept something. Pages 16 and 17 are interesting – one has a chart and one refers to Brit politics in 2005 and I think is a case study.
Your type
My 3.31 pm comment is useless. I was trying to correct it but the blog won’t let you if there is less than a minute left. So forget it. I havn’t been able to make the point I wanted to.
It is NOT possible to resist this all pervasive marketing psychological manipulation 100%. A jingle plays in the background and you instantly recognise McDonalds or Coke or whatever.
To pretend – like most people do – that you are smarter/better/more resistant/more independent than most is part of the illusion.
IE “I would never fall for something like that”, etc. Every damn fool thinks that, to the very last one.
People don’t try and escape from prison if they think that they are free.
a lot of people made noise about this very threat to the nature of a supporter’s allegiance when Adidas signed on. Some might remember for the 100 year celebrations there was a large banner image where Adidas appropriated the entire history of the All Blacks in one foul swoop. A brilliant arrogant and soul less piece of marketing that showed exactly what Adidas had in mind.
an agreement with Adidas was foretold when the game went professional anyway. their longstanding relationship with the IRB would have had it all tied up years before the ink was signed at the NZRU.. it never has been the same gane since, some good rugger but it’s all so $$$$ focused
( I have spent fifteen minutes trying to source an image of it but i guess that as it was a limited edition print they have locked it down pretty tight. )
@ms The $10 is for the making of the tops/jackets. I thought I heard that Adidas has taken NZ off some internet trading list presumably to stop people using the free market to get better prices than those being charged by a monopoly jackup.
But I thought all corporates loved the free market, unhindered globalised trade? 🙄
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5425894/Te-Papa-manager-avoids-assault-conviction
Just another example of the inequalities in our justice system which seek to protect the privledged…
Unfortunately Gareth after spending several days at Manukau District Court last month observing various cases I don’t think this one demonstrates inequalities within the legal system but rather the complete lack of justice that exists within it.
I hope that that staff and supporters of Te Papa make it clear to its management how inappropriate it is to have this person representing it overseas in any sort of official capacity.
As in people that have admitted assualt/domestic abuse are often discharged without conviction? Or they are convicted but given minor sentences?
sorry Gareth, missed your post somehow when i also posted that below.
Nice to see our P.M. getting involved in the All Black -Adidas jersey debate.
As Barak Obama said to Donald Trump…”That’s the kind of decision that would keep me awake all night.”
have to love the British PM
standing up tall
talking of how ‘actions have consequences’
and ‘people think their rights outweigh their responsibilties’
when will those same words be directed towards the bankers, hedge fund managers, and every other thief that swagger through our streets, secure in the knowledge their riots not only go unpunished, they are usually rewarded with looser laws and easier access to more booty
Seamus Milne pulls the discussion together on the London riots quite well here.
I don’t always go along with his analyses but he’s hit a number of nails on the head this time.
especially this one
‘There is now a danger that rioting might feed into ethnic conflict.
it has already begun with three deaths last night that have suspcicons of racial undertones that supercede the riot activity. In England racial reactionaries will not be a pretty sight if it develops any more intensity.
There are many racial divides in England although much of the day to day seperatist activity is purely on cultural lines. The hard-nosed rascists in England are predominately of anglosaxon heritage and on the whole, have a level of thuggery that is beyond anyone’s ability to communicate with.
We have an opportunity here, Society is showing its best and its worst and we should all pay attention.
This is not the response to an act of terrorism, a war or a natural disaster. This is the result of complacency and double standards.
On a positive note, for every kid that has smashed a window there seems to be a dozen ready to clean it up. That at least is some consolation that our future still has a chance.
@freedom 9.46am – Just what I was thinking.
Freedom 9.46 Good comment, but it was well said in his best empathetic Etonian accent.
so then what about a massive depopulation in 2017?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5425657/Te-Papa-manager-avoids-assault-conviction
plead guilty, claim priviledge, get off
‘affect his mana’? what about the mana of our National Museum which is now dragged into the
quagmire of association with this act. A man with a serious job and according to the report, an arguably even more serious problem, gets released without conviction. The surface of this event is saturated by that blinding glare from the idol we dare not damage, alcohol.
Many readers would know elders of local Iwi who have fallen foul of alcohol and committed similar acts yet i do not recall seeing their mana used as a reason to discharge without conviction. There is a disturbing undercurrent in our justice system that is eroding the riverbed and the change in course this is presenting seems to be cutting through the fair fields and destroying the pathways of impartial judgement.
Booze is the single biggest factor when domestic pressure becomes domestic violence
There are not many options but perhaps we could start with prosecuting the guilty.
Too right, we pay taxes to pay this guys slalry, plus keep the Courts running…..it pisses me off.
Nepotism alive in well in NZ, Jokey Hen appoints another incompetent to a big bucks position….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/5427907/Prendergast-to-head-tourism-board
I was unaware Kerry Prendergast was related to the PM.
And some more absolute bollocks from the Courts….read this for PC crap and absolute disdain for the victim.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5425657/Te-Papa-manager-avoids-assault-conviction
Osborne’s lawyer, Chris Pointer, said a conviction for domestic assault could prevent his client from entering some countries as part of his museum work. “This will have a … severe effect on Mr Osborne’s ability to do his job.”
A conviction would also “severely impact on his mana”.
Bollocks, if he were a Honky like me…….
The search function appears to be disabled – nothing is showing in results since 31 July. Does Lyn or anyone know about that?
[lprent: Damn. I do now. Means that the cron job on the new server isn’t running. I will fix tonight. Thanks. ]
Imagine for a minute…
You have $100 to invest. Your bank says: if you invest with us, we will give you 9% interest at the end of the year. Great, you say, I’m in.
11 Months down the track the bank comes back to you and says, sorry, been a bit of a fuck-up. We can only give you 9% on $70 but you will have to wait another couple of years for it, and one day in the future we may be able to give you back your other $30.
How impressed would you be?
Do things like this actually happen?
Weeeeeell, yes they do!
Another group of suckers (investors) take a bath
The poor bastards who bought bonds in Bluestar Group (Printing – Trans-Tasman) effectively kissed goodbye to their collective $140 Million yesterday by agreeing to a bank demand for restructure which sees overdue interest payments on $67 Million of the investment pushed out til 2013 and the remainder converted to a fancy-sounding ‘Participating Bond’ which accrue no interest and do not even have a confirmed (if any) pay back date.
Is it really about the money?
No.
Why? Because the poor old BNZ is third in line to recoup their $195 Million investment in Bluestar. Champ PE ($175 Million) were second, and who were first? You guessed it, the BOND HOLDERS. So in order to screw these suckers over and get themselves to the top of the queue the good ‘ol BNZ threatened receivership on Bluestar bond holders unless they voted themselves into third place, BNZ into first, Champ into second, and agreed to the financial rape of their investment.
For once, the ordinary investor had the opportunity to tell a bank to just fuck right off and they blew it. There is no way the BNZ would have placed Bluestar into receivership to be third in line for any payout (independent analysis put Bluestars worth at $4 Million – assets less liabilities).
Once again greed wins. These suckers deserve to lose every cent.
the tories dont even know what makes something politically correct. they dont know logic. it is what ever they say it is. and the red queens off her heard, go ask alice what the doormouse said.
Just need to pick up on a pet rankling rant here. The Christchurch City Council new draft plan is out and the foreword is attended to by the Council’s Bob Parker, which is entirely appropriate, and by Ecan, which is also appropriate. But it also attended to by Ngai Tahu, as if that organisation is somehow an equivalent governing body, which it is not. It is a body determined by privilege of birth and race and precludes the vast vast majority of Chch residents. It is not right. Ngai Tahu has a place for sure, but not here. Or many other places it gets placed. Sheesh, I know I always rant about this subject, but I need to because it is fundamentally wrong.
And please do not attach all sorts of assumptions to this – Ngai Tahu are fantastic and are a huge ‘asset’ to the city and its environs. And they will go from strength to strength and I wish them well.
It is just this type of placement of them within the city when it is founded on something so many NZers sought to escape from when immigrating here. They sought to escape because it breaches some fundamental facets of human nature – privilege of birth and race.
@vto – “It is a body determined by privilege of birth and race and precludes the vast vast majority of Chch residents. It is not right. Ngai Tahu has a place for sure, but not here. Or many other places it gets placed. Sheesh, I know I always rant about this subject, but I need to because it is fundamentally wrong.”
No you are fundamentally wrong vto. Ngai Tahu were at Otautahi (Christchurch) before you were and deserve to be present and heard when planning the new landscape.
prism, I fundamentally and very strongly disagree with that approach of “first in first served” for many reasons. But no time today to cover that large and intense issue in detail, sorry.
Though your statement that they “deserve to be present and heard when planning the new landscape” I don’t disagree with. It is the nature and scale of that “presence” to which I was referring.
edit: being a pedant, but how would you know whether they were here before me?
It’s not first in first served – the Treaty was signed between the crown and rangatira vto – equal participants – notwithstanding the lies and disinformation, omissions, cheating and evasions told to rangatira of course. I think most of us want to along and having tangata whenua there, is appropriate, indeed necessary – that is what looking forward is all about.
Yes I realise that mr marty and that is all fine and as it was done (the treaty etc). But you well know my opinion on it, which is, briefly, that it may well have been appropriate back then but the treaty is well past its use-by date. It does not take into account the world as it is today and for that reason alone it is fundamentally flawed and needs re-writing. It is no good holding onto contracts which can be frustrated or fail to take into account all parameters, especially in a political nation type setting. Doing so only leads to failure and frustration by sectors of society having less of a stake in society than others. (And this stakeless nature of some of London’s sectors is imo one of the main things which led to the riots)
Look, in saying that, I do not consider that everything should be thrown out and just forget the lot. I think it should be re-written – and a re-writing does not mean either of the parties has to miss out. Things just need changing.
And with regards to Chch and their input I think I said at the beginning and further on that they do have a place, an important place. I do not want them not to be there, they have one of the best and largest contributions to make in the region. Bring them on.
My point was that their placement alongside the Council and Ecan as if they are on some kind of similar governance footing is not right, based as it is on privilege of birth and race. That is all (even though a good argument can be made for such placement based on the out-of-date treaty).
But thanks for keeping me on my toes ..
Just got to add one more bit here. My response “first in first served” above was in response to prism’s point which stated that the reason Ngai Tahu should be there was because they were here first. Prism had no mention of the Treaty.
“Look, in saying that, I do not consider that everything should be thrown out and just forget the lot. I think it should be re-written – and a re-writing does not mean either of the parties has to miss out. Things just need changing.”
The Treaty is definately the Treaty – that’s why I advocate constitutional change (not the illusory one going on now) where Māori partnership and self determination can be entrenched. That is the road to equality. That is the way to ensure all parties are treated fairly with honour.
mr marty, if you’re around … ” that’s why I advocate constitutional change (not the illusory one going on now) where Māori partnership and self determination can be entrenched. That is the road to equality. That is the way to ensure all parties are treated fairly with honour.”
Self-determination for who? Just one group of people in NZ? That is no road to equality. That is a road to different structures for different people – which is inequality, according to the dictionary definition.
There is no harm in treating people fairly with honour, under the treaty, just as long as it is recognised that such treatment is under the treaty and the treaty, as you say, is the treaty, with its severe and unrealistic (in today’s world) expectations.
Do you seriously advocate that a form of self-determination, which is separatism, is sustainable and workable? What do all the other groups in NZ do about their own self-determination? Perhaps muslims would like a bit of self-determination too – under your idea, do they get to have that too? Or is it only for maori, because they are the only ones in the treaty so simply tough titty for the muslims – they just have to suck it up? Because that attitude is completely unsustainable. Feel free to explain in detail because I think your idea is way out of whack with reality.
It is sad that you don’t believe that people have the right to self determination – it isn’t seperatism as I have pointed out previously to you. Why are you so scared of empowering basic human rights – is it because of what you think you will lose. This “oh what about the muslims” leads me to wonder about you. Why can’t you argue your point honestly. Are muslims the indigenous people of this land? nah – didn’t think so. Got another group to analyse? push them up, it won’t take long. And that is the nub of the issue right there vto. Māori are not just another minority group shat on by the system, Māori are tangata whenua and for that and that reason alone Māori should have the opportunity to be true partners to the Crown, as agreed to in the Treaty, and add a unique voice to the solutions we need. That is not looking backwards, it is looking forward. It is not handout or grievance mode it is honestly dealing with the facts. The sooner you can just get over the fact that Māori are not going anywhere and that they are the partners with the Crown, the sooner we can all get on and build a country and society to be proud of.
marty mars, I am just going to ignore the assumptions you made about my beliefs, because you do indeed go right to the heart of issue, as I had asked in my previous post…
” Are muslims the indigenous people of this land? nah – didn’t think so. Got another group to analyse? push them up, it won’t take long. And that is the nub of the issue right there vto. Māori are not just another minority group shat on by the system, Māori are tangata whenua and for that and that reason alone Māori should have the opportunity to be true partners to the Crown,”
So you DO in fact believe that because Maori were here first they have a greater position within NZ. This is what prism said right at the start that I railed against. The attitude of “first in first served” is a poorly one which serves nobody in any setting, be it the dinner table each night, the weekly drop of money into the joint account, the allocation of resources like water under the RMA, and the status of immigrants to a new land. First in first served is a weak and selfish attitude and approach. Not to say it has no bearing on matters, but those matters are limited, especially as time passes.
You and I completely disagree right here at this junction. And it is a fundamental foundation stone from which you step off. It is a bad stone marty mars.
This applies no matter the race or place on earth.
As to the treaty, I have already outlined my view that it is a badly structured document. Ffs, the two versions don’t even say the same thing for a start!
But sure you can hang your hat on the crown entering into a poorly constructed contract. You can force them to follow through on their promises, even though those promises don’t always make good sense. It is worth being aware however that in legislation and in common law many many types of contract can be struck out for a whole bunch of reasons – like the contract makes no sense, mistakes were made in entering into them, or they are simply inequitable. For example, is there not a bill currently passing through Parliament deeming certain financial contracts illegal? Have you read the Contractual Mistakes Act?
While these acts and law deal with the daily machinations of life, they are based on centuries old wide and high principles of fairness and justice which are necessary to foster a good society. These principle apply equally to all aspects of life, including the relationship between different peoples.
You, marty, put the treaty above those principle of fairness and justice. That is clear from you last post. I say the treaty should be subject to those wider and highers principles of fairness and justice. My opinion is that the treaty needs re-writing for this and other reasons previously stated.
So there we have it. Good swap of ideas, but you and I strongly disagree on these two base foundation stones.
…. so what do we do next? …
see when you say, “and the status of immigrants to a new land” I shake my head – it is not about first in first served – I say again – Māori are the indigenous people of this land – you can argue against that as you have but stop twisting what I am saying.
You are clear that you think Māori are just the first immigrant group and that is no reason for any ‘special’ consideration of them, their culture or beliefs. Have I got that right? If so – why? Why do you think this – that is what I’m after vto – I believe I understand what you think – why do you think it? You have said you have Māori blood – how do you work through that and your position? Of course they are personal questions that you don’t have to answer but I am sincerely interested because we are all in this waka together and we have to work through these issues to get our society sorted.
Well this is a problem. You haven’t explained why you think that because Maori are the indigenous people, the tangata whenua, the first people here, however you want to describe it, that that entitles them to a greater position in society. Why does their indigenous nature so entitle them? You have stated the position but provided no reason for it.
The reasons for me claiming that such first arrival or indigenous nature should have a far lesser status has been explained by me. By way of comparison to the “first in first served” approach. By reason that such privilege of birth and race leads to unfairness and trouble in society. That is why I do not think a society is sustainable with different sets of rules and structures for different peoples. It leads to a sense of frustration for those not so entitled and frustration leads to anger and then further trouble. That is why I do not want such an approach. It is based on birth and race. It is simply unfair. It leads to division. It leads to trouble – that is the reason. It is what many immigrants here escaped from.
And yes, all in NZ arrived as immigrants. Describing Maori as indigenous or something else does not subtract from their immigrant beginnings. As with all other immigrants. How are they not immigrants? Such ideas are not mutually exclusive.
As for my personal ancestry, that is minor but real. It was revealed only later in life, stemming from a time when such was kept hidden generations ago. Anyway, it makes no difference to my arguments in this thread. I am trying to make these arguments from an objective position. Subjective matters can arise once the broader settings are in place.
“You haven’t explained why you think that because Maori are the indigenous people, the tangata whenua, the first people here, however you want to describe it, that that entitles them to a greater position in society. Why does their indigenous nature so entitle them? You have stated the position but provided no reason for it.”
because they fit the description of indigenous people
“Indigenous peoples, or Natives, are ethnic groups who are native to a land or region, especially before the arrival and intrusion of a foreign and possibly dominating culture. They are a group of people whose members share a cultural identity that has been shaped by their geographical region. A variety of names are used in various countries to identify such groups of people, but they generally are regarded as the “original inhabitants” of a territory or region. Their right to self-determination may be materially affected by the later-arriving ethnic groups.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples
That is the simplist search i could do but there are many articles and sources about the nature of indigenous peoples and why they are special and important.
“By reason that such privilege of birth and race leads to unfairness and trouble in society. That is why I do not think a society is sustainable with different sets of rules and structures for different peoples. It leads to a sense of frustration for those not so entitled and frustration leads to anger and then further trouble.”
snap! that’s what is here already and that is why we need to make improvements. You keep playing the ‘not fair’ card – not fair for everyone, not fair for muslims, not fair for me but you are blind to the fact that it is not fair for Māori now.
I don’t think that wikipedia definition states a reason for their special status, it just describes what an indigenous people’s features are, which I don’t dispute. What I dispute is the nature and scale of the special nature. And how it relates to other people living in that same place. Your placement of that special nature differs quite considerably from mine. I guess that is as far as we can get at the moment.
As for things being unfair for Maori now, I am not blind to that and have never suggested otherwise. I don’t disagree and that is why I have suggested in previous posts that Maori should be assisted in righting this situation, but that it should be temporary, and that once that is achieved matters should be righted back to a balanced equality. And that ties in with my view on their special position – their indigenous nature does give them a special position, to protect them perhaps, to assist with the change imposed by worldwide demographic changes, etc, but again it must be temporary. Such a special position has limits and those limits decrease with the passage of time.
As I said, we disagree on the nature and scale of that special position. I have given my reasons and you have given me yours. We just have to disagree I think.
There are a couple of things which you haven’t answered s I recall … The issue of the treaty as a useful document given its hastily scratched together nature resulting in different versions, and its lack of ability to deal with a changing world, etc. The issue of how having different rules and settings for different people in one place leads to civil trouble, and how to deal with that. The issue of how you deal with other people also wanting their own self-determination. The correctness or otherwise of people having a place in society due to privilege, or not, of birth and race.
Don’t know if I will be back here for a while but will check in and see when I can. Good talks. Out for now.
I don’t get you vto – you have the so called privilege of birth and race don’t you?
Why does this get up your nose so much – I hear your ‘we are all one’ line but I cannot reconcile it with my concept of equality. Assimilation is not going to happen – unique valuable cultures will continue and grow because they are important – to the members and all our society. Many indigenous peoples just don’t believe the bullshit anymore – that they are lessor, inferior, lucky. The improvements for indigenous peoples will just keep on coming as momentum builds and it is a good thing because there are many many other ways of looking at the world than the dominant, bland, ‘culture’ most people live within.
I say the more that tangata whenua can be involved in all aspects of the rebuild, the better. And the more visible signs of that the even better too.
“I don’t get you vto – you have the so called privilege of birth and race don’t you?
Why does this get up your nose so much – I hear your ‘we are all one’ line but I cannot reconcile it with my concept of equality. Assimilation is not going to happen – unique valuable cultures will continue and grow because they are important – to the members and all our society. Many indigenous peoples just don’t believe the bullshit anymore – that they are lessor, inferior, lucky. The improvements for indigenous peoples will just keep on coming as momentum builds and it is a good thing because there are many many other ways of looking at the world than the dominant, bland, ‘culture’ most people live within.
I say the more that tangata whenua can be involved in all aspects of the rebuild, the better. And the more visible signs of that the even better too.”
You know, I agree with everything you say there. But what you miss is the fact that one of those cultures is lifted on a pedestal above all other cultures, by law in many many instances, by treaty. It is this that is wrong and which leads to trouble. I don’t think I can say it any simpler than that. It leads to trouble in any society in the world and there are many examples of varying degrees. We are all different, and as the French say vive la differenc, but we are also all equal. Otherwise fail.
It is a particular point only that I make but imo it is big.
Just going to add a prediction … what I suggest above (re-write the Treaty) that should happen, will happen. And it will be led by both Treaty partners, but more by Maori. Not the current generation involved in righting things and aligning things under the Treaty. Not the current young generation growing up into this new strong world for Maori. But perhaps the following generation – a leader with the wisdom of Solomon, or Ghandi, or Nelson Mandela, who will stand up, recognise the imbalance, recognise that the Treaty is no longer appropriate or needed, and suggest a rebalancing.
Betcha.
I can’t and won’t speak for marty, but for me, as Pākehā, I can’t just ignore the treaty.
I get what you are saying, and can see how it just describes a just society, but can’t see how we can get there from here in a just fashion.
The treaty is real. It exists. Wishing it away is pointless, and taking it away would be grave crime no matter what we were trying to do.
The reality is that as Pākehā my only claim to be of this land is via the treaty. The treaty is the thing I can point to and say this is why I have a right to be here. I can’t do that if the treaty is not honoured though.
The fact that it hasn’t been honoured affects my claim to be of here, rather than just living here.
For me to say to Māori that “well nah actually. Screw the treaty, I’m here by virtue of the fact I was born here same as you” I’m claiming what? That the past didn’t happen? That my families history isn’t real?
We can only draw a new picture with the consent of our partners. We haven’t honoured the treaty, they have. We have a hell of a lot of good will to make up and some huge debts of gratitude to pay before we can expect to be able to even start to converse about putting the treaty based relationship aside and forging a new one.
My pre-NZ heritage is celtic. Mostly Irish Catholic and a smattering of Scot. I’m not going to say that this gives me any understanding of Māori experience of colonisation, because it just fucking doesn’t. But I know from my own history that my mob weren’t anything like as forgiving as Māori have been.
And that humbles me greatly. I want to make this shit work.
Well there a few things in there. Firstly, I dont think I said it should be wished away or taken away. Not at all. I guess it could be described as recognising that there was an agreement about how two (see, two. one of the fundamental flaws that does not recognise the future, for a start) peoples could put in place a structure for living together in one place. That is fine. But it is that very structure that is now no longer appropriate because the world is vastly more complicated with more peoples, laws and rights, mobility, cultures, mixed up races (as we are all nealry). In fact, that is exactly it – the Treaty’s structure allowed no room for manouvre (I always spell that wrongue) as the world changed around it. This is a failing of the documenting and structuring put in place in that short and highly volatile moment in these hard lands back in 1840-odd. In that environment it is hardly surprising that they did not get a world class document drawn up, which took into account all the necessary bits such as change.
I don’t agree about your claim to be of here solely because of the treaty. Being born into a place and having ones families ashes thrown to the soils – at least for a generation or three – is enough (to put it crudely and briefly). In fact, Maori have a simialr idea as I recall. Keeping the fires burning it is called I think. Similar to many many cultures. Burying ones dead in a location, in most all human history, provides a link to a place too.
And re the last part and comparing your own ancestors acts and concluding they are lesser – I will just leave that for another day. I don’t think it is true and don’t want to get into an argument about who was the nastiest. Have you read some early accounts of Maori-Pakeha relations? They were as heinous and as heart-lifting as any anywhere.
Yes it will. Such is inevitable and cannot be stopped. Trying to prevent it, which is what you’re doing, is trying to stop the necessary change that will bring us together as one people. Will this mean that some cultural aspects will die out? Of course it does. Others, hopefully better, will emerge to replace them.
Trying to prevent that change will also bring about civil war. This too is inevitable unless the necessary changes are allowed to occur.
sorry but your borg logic is flawed – humans value difference and uniqueness. There is no assimilation utopia that I can see.
“Trying to prevent change will bring about a civil war.” Really? Change is inevitable alright but not towards your vision.
Only within very very narrow boundaries. In olden tribal days or in very conservative hierarchical societies it was barely tolerated.
Today we pretend to value difference and uniqueness. But in reality you don’t have to start acting and thinking too differently and uniquely to start losing friends.
And only a bit more than that, they will probably either lock you up or sedate you (or both).
This discussion is really important and I’m constantly challenged by it, especially since I have 2 grandchildren born a few months apart. One is blond, blue-eyed and is so fair his skin is almost transluscent. He doesn’t know it, but he has Maori ancestry. His cousin, although being brought up in a Pakeha family is clearly Maori – cannot be mistaken for any other ethnicity – and is in close contact with her Maori family. Both, of course, are beautiful, funny and smart, and seeing them together is an absolute delight.
What are their ‘rights’, their likely futures? Will the both get the same advantages, or will one be left behind? Does one deserve more, given the potential for discrimination in jobs, housing etc? Can one not be Maori because it has never been claimed? Or will we have a mixed-race utopia by the time they grow up?
I don’t have any sense of how the treaty, privilege and protection will play out for them, but the more discussions like this, the better IMO.
I’ve got a nephew like that. His brother is obviously of Maori descent but he’s pure albino.
No, it’s not my logic that is flawed but yours.
No, they don’t.
It’s not my vision – merely what will happen. You can not have two cultures next to each other without the people within them learning from each other especially when they happen to be in the same geographical area. Unless you want to go to an apartheid system of course which, really, is what you actually seem to be proposing.
When you try to put one of those groups above the other then there will be strife.
Whoa, the new draft City Plan for Christchurch looks superb. They have been working hard clearly, and it seems comprehensive, well though out and workable.
Exciting times down here over next decade that be for sure.
Well done to the people at the Council.
There going to be some central city property owners losing out big time methinks, as building heights are squashed from generally between 40m and 80m (12 to 25 stories) down to 4-5 to 7 stories. Big squashing of heights.
Yeah I was very impressed by most of it.
While the Christchurch opportunity is unique, what got me thinking was was the wider applicability and apparent value for money offered by some of the better ideas.
Community gardens – $300,000. Wifi $350,000. Covered outdoor markets for local produce and small business $2.2 million. Proper cycle lane network $22 million. Even the light rail system @ $410 million sounds achievable in the medium term.
Then I visit my hometown of Dunedin and I have to look at that ridiculous $198.3 million stadium and reflect on what might have been.
Dunedin screwed itself with that unimaginative monstrosity. I know people all around the South Island laughing at those guys, reading the news of ongoing budget shortfalls and saying “who can possibly act surprised”.
Jim Mora has Muriel Newman on his show this afternoon. She finds that our welfare problems
arise from not having fathers in the home as role models, that everyone should take any job they are offered because ‘once you have your foot on the ladder’ you rise up don’t you!
That woman is such a preachy bitch talking twaddle. She and those like her just repeat comfortable slogans that have been accepted by their set who hold themselves rigidly away from attempts at understanding those who haven’t advanced themselves as they have to comfort and status. Many women have made it good by marrying the right wealthy or high-status professional person but diss others as if they have been high achievers themselves. There is no-one so ignorant as the person who has made up their mind on an emotional basis and from self-satisfaction..
I switched that woman off who was saying the UK riots were caused by too much welfare… a welfare system creating a sense of entitlement, getting consumer goods on welfare … and then all the stupid stuff about absent fathers.
I switched that woman off who was saying the UK riots were caused by too much welfare…
Don’t switch her off, Vicky—do something about it! You should e-mail Jim Mora and tell him how concerned you are that he (or more likely his producer) has chosen someone as vacuous and ill-informed as Muriel Newman to comment on anything, leave alone such a serious topic.
I and several others have protested about Mora’s respectful and deferential treatment of the bloodthirsty S.S. fanatic Garth McVicar and his ghastly henchman Stephen Franks, both of whom should be persona non grata. The more criticism he gets from more decent people, the more likely Mora will be to listen.
Just switching off someone like Muriel Newman is not enough. You have to bring concerted pressure on those who are lazy enough or stupid enough to interview her.
That e-mail address is…
afternoons@radionz.co.nz
Be polite, but firm and clear: tell him you want him to interview a guest who knows what she is talking about in future. That means NO MORE MURIEL NEWMAN.
I’ve given up on The Panel. To begin with, have you noticed that all of the guests spend the first 10 to 15 minutes telling everybody what exciting lives they lead. They have either been overseas and had a “simply wonderful time hahahahaha” or they’re about to go some place and have a “simply wonderful time haha etc”. As soon as the serious issues are discussed they all run for cover (including Mora with his heavy sighs) and express platitudes that mean bugger all. Occasionally someone calls their bluff (Brian Edwards comes to mind) and tells something like it really is. The collective drawing-in of horrified breath is almost audible. I am rapidly coming to the conclusion this country is now inhabited by a bunch of wankers and really… they deserve the government they’ve got.
@Anne – your desciption would apply to Kerre Woodham if Morrissey recorded her comments about the rioters right. She kept calling them toe-rags. What intelligent analysis.
your desciption would apply to Kerre Woodham if Morrissey recorded her comments about the rioters right.
I did record it right. Those comments are verbatim. I have lots more by her and her esteemed colleagues, by the way…
To begin with, have you noticed that all of the guests spend the first 10 to 15 minutes telling everybody what exciting lives they lead
I certainly have noticed this. It’s deadly dull—in fact, it’s dead air. None of the guests have anything remotely interesting going on in their lives, and the regularity of the guests’ recycling and reappearing means it’s usually exactly the same ten minutes of trivia as the last time.
…Mora with his heavy sighs…
Ah, yes! The baffled sigh to indicate how perplexed yet deeply concerned he is. Unfortunately, it’s become ingrained into his on-air performance, and it’s as much a marker of Jim Mora as the affected, deliberate Oxbridge stammer is with Chris Laidlaw.
…and express platitudes that mean bugger all.
Actually, these seemingly mindless platitudes mean an awful lot. When someone like Barry Corbett or Islay McLeod or Neil Miller or (God save our mortal souls) Garth George says something bland and/or bordering on the moronic, it doesn’t mean “bugger all”, it means that the listeners are being treated with utter contempt.
Occasionally someone calls their bluff (Brian Edwards comes to mind)…
Brian Edwards is occasionally very good—he once humiliated his blithe and woolly-minded fellow-Panelist Deborah Hill Cone after she claimed that she knew all about “working-class people”, even though she didn’t believe they actually existed. However, he is usually teamed up with Michelle Boag, a neighbour of his on Waiheke Island, and so he is usually restrained to the point of being tamed. He seems to bend over backwards to find common ground with her, no matter how extreme her comments. Boag, on the other hand, never makes any concessions at all to him.
I am rapidly coming to the conclusion this country is now inhabited by a bunch of wankers and really… they deserve the government they’ve got.
Come on, Anne! Don’t be discouraged. You’ve written a perfectly lucid and forceful critique for the benefit of readers of this forum, so why don’t you send it off as an email to Jim Mora himself? Here’s that address again…
afternoons@radionz.co.nz
Might do just that Morrissey. Sent off an email to Kathryn Ryan after last Monday’s political discussion with Hooton and Bradford. Hooton effectively accused Goff of lying about whether he had seen the SIS briefing papers etc. and Ryan let him get away with it. I supplied her with the Stuff link where Tucker admits he has no signed verification that Goff had seen any papers. No acknowledgement of course.
…and Ryan let him get away with it.
I think that often she doesn’t know enough. I heard her on this morning’s programme saying how she often takes home lots of reading to prepare for the next show, but there’s precious little evidence of that. She not only routinely lets a notorious liar like Hooton effectively say what he wants each week, she also never challenges her often unreliable and extremely partisan “foreign correspondents”—in particular, the ex-Conservative M.P. Matthew Parris and the ignorant but shameless “middle east correspondent” Irris Makler.
No acknowledgement of course.
You should write to her again and demand an answer. It’s probably just idleness on her part, rather than any desire to silence you.
“It’s deadly dull—in fact, it’s dead air. “
Morrissey, the whole show is dead air, occasionally punctuated by grossly offensive reptilian grunts and squawks and the distant screams of children being tortured.
I’m extremely grateful for the transcripts of the greatest hits you post here so I don’t have to let the black gas fill my ears.
I’m extremely grateful for the transcripts of the greatest hits you post here so I don’t have to let the black gas fill my ears.
It’s a helluva job, but someone has to do it.
@ Morrissey – I think you are wrong to think that Jim Mora gives a fart about people criticising him. My take on him is that he is smug and self-satisfied and has a right wing bias. He can ask the questions that the left might ask but only to set up a straw man. He is apparently good natured with a jovial laugh but it sounds hollow.
When I heard Newman was coming on the show, I assumed it was to deliver an apology. But apparently it isn’t 3 decades of neo-liberal economics that has bought us the riots, its the welfare state. What a wally! And to think she used to be the brains of ACT.
And to think she used to be the brains of ACT.
Even in the intellectual wasteland that is the far right of New Zealand politics, Muriel Newman is not, and never has been, regarded as any kind of “brains”. The nadir of her obscure and shamefully inept parliamentary career came when she published an advice book for young people, which told (in excruciatingly exhaustive detail) how to boil a jug of water. When she was hauled on television (the Holmes show, actually) to explain why she had written this piece of idiocy instead of attending to her parliamentary duties (whatever parliamentary duties the “brains of ACT” does) she was blitheringly incoherent.
She did, however, provide Pam Corkery her one and only opportunity to do something worthwhile in an otherwise wasted three years: Corkery (in the TV studio with Newman) damned the book as a “joke”, a “waste of time” and “irredeemably condescending” before contemptuously throwing it down on the floor.
Muriel Newman has a doctorate, apparently—from where?
Does anybody know?
The origin of her doctorate seems to be a closely guarded secret. If the truth were known it’s probably something to do with ‘Business Studies’ from an obscure American university. She is a former employee of Michael Hill, and I understand he originally set her up for a political career in ACT.
There shall be daily beatings and half rations for the paupers until morale improves!
Wiki says Rutgers University, the state university of New Jersey, PhD in mathematics.
I’d love to get her on something, but it doesn’t look like a fake degree is it (unless she never completed, of course).
math is a real PhD and something I’d normally associate with real intelligence.
Somebody should be able to search and see if she published any papers from her thesis.
Nothing on a Google Scholar search.
math is a real PhD and something I’d normally associate with real intelligence.
True. However, that doesn’t mean that she brings any rigour or even seriousness to her political thinking.
Intelligent people can say some imbecilic things—Richard Dawkins made some foolish and ignorant comments about “the middle east” a while ago, which showed he is about as intelligent a source of commentary on politics as Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck.
As a male there is something reassuring to know that being a RWNJ is not specifically a male trait……bloggers are welcome to reply with who they think is the worst RWNJ woman …I think that American baggage who did the consulting on welfare reform.
Paula Rebstock? Yes, indeed!
And while I am here, listening to 3 News talking about the wonderfulness of Cameron, and the evil of the young criminals who pretend their rioting is about something else…
Here is a short, hastily assembled list of some of the most vicious right wing women in New Zealand…
1.) Michelle Boag (PR trout, feared and hated National Party eminence grise and ex-squeeze of Murray McCully)
2.) Deborah Coddington (the only woman Lindsay Perigo ever fancied)
3.) Deborah (“Slurp”) Hill Cone (one of the smuggest, most self-satisfied women in New Zealand)
4.) Robyn Langwell (the smuggest, most self-satisfied woman in New Zealand)
5.) Lesley Max (rabid, harsh-voiced, invective-spitting late-night talkshow caller, and merciless scourge of the Palestinians)
6.) “Doctor” Muriel Newman (alarmingly frivolous and lightweight, and so hopeless in parliament she actually made Pam Corkery look good)
7.) Fran (“Um, ah, y’ know”) O’Sullivan (along with the pitiful Karl Du Fresne, perhaps the world’s No. 1 fan of ex-Australian P.M. John Howard)
8,) Ellen Read (charmless and deeply complacent NBR hackette)
9.) Pamela Stirling (clueless, barely literate destroyer of the Listener)
10.) Janet Wilson (Bill Ralston’s horrifying other half)
11.) Kerre Woodham (NewstalkZB chatterbox, fervent admirer of Chinese Communist regime)
Off the top of my head add to that list
Judith Collins – (thin lipped, arrogant pollie who would have been a hit in 1930/40s Germany.)
Christine Rankin(who came within a whisker of destroying the internationally renowned – and widely copied – welfare system set in place by the 1935-49 Labour Govt.)
Judith Collins – (thin lipped, arrogant pollie who would have been a hit in 1930/40s Germany
I’ve always thought she is a dead ringer for the James Bond villainess Rosa Klebb.
Christine Rankin
Of course! How could I forget her?
and you forgot their current queen, though she is oft in absentia
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P4r7dAveA6Q/TjhcMa_jpVI/AAAAAAAAKs4/mEwTHe745hw/s400/bio_img_jenny_shipley.jpg
I tried, thanks so much for bringing back the memory 😛
Add to list
Dame Margaret Bazley
and I have formed an immediate (irrational?) dislike of
Kay Giles, new Oz Chief Executive of Christchurch Polytechnic – making a nice strong case for paying the teaching staff below inflation increases etc.
all fraking sociopaths
Freud would have a field day.
Colonial Viper – By the way did you see the links on Bored at 2.56pm. On the guy that carried brainwashing into commercial use, and is related to Freud. That family made waves.
Ah yes thanks…I watched about 3/4 of that. Scary, society changing stuff. We’re all sheeple to some extent, and those who swear they are not usually more than most.
The old PR guy, the relative of Freud, had obviously lived a wealthy and well connected life. But what was his legacy to the world as a frail old man reflecting on past glories, nothing but a harvest of bitter fruit with a taste undisguisable by any luxuries or excess.
Ruth Richardson …
Scoop has Selwyn Manning’s response regarding an OIA request about the SIS Israeli spy issue:
I love how senior public servants always thank-you so kindly for your correspondence – even when you’ve just told them what a bunch of @#$^$#@ they are.
Oh, and I’m not necessarily referring to the DoS, Warren Tucker – just senior Pub. Servants in general. 😯
Ah, as predicted, Patrick Gower bashing bennies and showing Key with his concerned face on…
Re sickness beneficiaries, Gower says “Beehive sources say many can work”… What Beehive sources would that be then? And how do they know?
German physicist Harald Haas talks about internet connectivity technology that would make it possible to send data through LED light bulbs instead of via radio waves.
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/eng//id/1202
Excellent article in the Guardian about Fox News:
“According to recent polls, Fox News viewers are the most misinformed of all news consumers. They are 12 percentage points more likely to believe the stimulus package caused job losses, 17 points more likely to believe Muslims want to establish Sharia law in America, 30 points more likely to say that scientists dispute global warming, and 31 points more likely to doubt President Obama’s citizenship.
At the height of the healthcare debate, more than two-thirds of Fox News viewers were convinced Obamacare would lead to a “government takeover”, provide healthcare to illegal immigrants, pay for abortions and let the government decide when to pull the plug on grandma.
In fact, a study by the University of Maryland revealed that the ignorance of Fox viewers actually increases the longer they watch the network.”
Stories of the rapid demise of the Labour Party appear premature.
Labour 32%, Greens 7%, NZF 4%.
The gap between the blocs has halved in 2 months and the ‘right direction’ numbers have soured as well. Nice.
Spot on, TVOR.
The Nat/ACT etc bloc has gone from 60% down to 55.5% and the Labour/Green etc bloc up to 44.5% from 40%. The same movement again in another two months and it’s level pegging. And Roy Morgan is the most reliable of the polls, as far as that goes.
I predict the first RM poll of November will show that confidence in the Government is down to a pathetic 110 or below (128 now). Quite a lot below if the All Blacks have lost.
No Human Rights for Rioters
After WW2, many leaders and progressive thinkers put their heads together and formulated a plan so that such devastation and atrocities involved in the holocaust would not occur again…
David Cameron is a disgrace and a national embarrassment. I thought that Tony Blair was the most disgusting and dishonest politician produced by Britain in a generation, but Cameron brings something else to the table—sheer, unflappable, incorrigible Public School complacency and dimness.
A lot of people think a dim politician is a good thing, and that relatively smart ones like Blair are more dangerous. Watching Cameron in full graceless flight makes you wonder, though. Maybe a dim politician—Cameron, McCain, Key, Stephen Harper—is just as troubling as a slippery, smart one.
Sounds like Cameron and Key are birds of a feather.
More riot related stuff, but from an unusual source. Joey Barton is a professional footballer with, shall we say, issues. But remarkably sound on the riots and man a of impeccable musical taste as well.
ps, Spurs/Everton postponed due to riot.
Tied to a drowning man
But you can’t have interdependence when global productivity far exceeds global needs – and there aren’t any resources left anyway.
This is what the Euro looks like now.
But there is a bad kind of interdependence left. When no sovereign state is self sufficient any longer because it has transferred away its industries…and can now no longer afford to buy the goods and services it needs from the countries that it used to buy them from…and can’t make do itself.
To Vto, agreed! 🙂