Grant Hobbs seems to see the tragedy here as being in the loss of a potentially good rugby player, not in Pora’s loss of his life and liberty. Even when they try to say something worthwhile, these sort of people just make me shake my head.
Why is Hurley a jonolist ? Because Collins did NOT add her name to the list of people calling into question the convictions which have had this boy a murderer and a rapist for the past 20 years.
One comment that he “could be innocent…..” does not qualify Bevan. You misrepresent Collins’ demeanour. At the very best her position has softened to “Oh well we’ll see……..not boverred really.”
The comments of Peter Williams QC are more to the point – Teina Pora could be out of prison now were our justice system not the fiefdom of Justice Sow who doesn’t actually give a stuff.
She might be seen to give a stuff in time but that will be according to how she will do out of the issue – forget about Teina the boy now the man.
Where does one get the “Free Teina Pora” teeshirts ?
http://www.illicit.co.nz is where TDB says you can get a “Free Teina” T-shirt. I’d get one myself except it’s rare that I have a spare $28, though at least $8 of that goes into a trust for the Pora family.
“…Mr Key’s superstitious habit of repeating “white rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits”, on the first of each month. The early morning ritual is believed to bring luck, he said yesterday. Mr Key admits he has visibly aged over the past five years as prime minister. It “comes with the job”. ”
I commented on this yesterday (in the; “What a Dick”, post), it doesn’t seem to be satire; just very peculiar coming, as it does, from Fearfacts. Also, I tried to link this particular compulsion with ShonKey’s compulsive; lying & gambling, by way of OCD, but in retrospect that didn’t really work.
“If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear”
The above statement first attributed to Joseph Goebbels and recently resurrected by those calling for more powers for the GCSB and the NSA is a lie.
You may have nothing to hide, but what about your neighbors and your friends?
What about your work colleagues?
At least one of them, will have something that they don’t want you, or others to know about. This makes them vulnerable to those who seek to know everyone’s secrets. This is how the surveillance state of East Germany worked. The Stasi exploited the foibles of the vulnerable. The Stasi were able to get friend to spy on friend. They were able to get neighbor to smear and spread gossip against neighbor. At work they were able to block your promotion and the progress of your career if they didn’t like your political views.
How? The Stasi knew all the secrets of your managers and indeed of the company itself.
Do we really want to give our secret security forces these powers?
Do we really trust them that much?
Are the anonymous and secretive men and women who run our own secret agencies of such high moral standing and trustworthiness to have access to the secrets of a whole population that metadata spying will give them? Do we really trust them to hold that much power over us?
The East German secret police, the Stasi were able to spread fear and paranoia and suspicion and keep under subjection a whole population for 40 years.
Through mass surveillance the Stasi were able to intimidate everybody. How?
They knew everybody’s secrets.
Do we really want to give our secret agencies this power?
Are we really sure that they won’t abuse them?
Recent events seem to say no.
“If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear”
You may have nothing to hide. But you have everything to fear from those who do.
Apart from your friends, neighbors and colleagues who may have secrets….
At the top of the list are the most fearsome of those with something to hide.
Who guard their own secrets most obsessively.
Who are prepared to go to extreme lengths to protect their secrets from any who dare threaten to expose theim.
These people are the secret security services themselves.
If the supporters of the NSA and GCSB truly believed, “If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear”. Then they would release Bradly Manning. They should drop their persecution of Julien Assange and abandon their international manhunt against Edward Snowden.
First Lavabit, now a second US-based encryption-based secure email company founder ethically chooses to close rather than offer up all its customers to surveillance … his comments are a must read ..
RSA cryptography, based on the products of huge prime numbers, is practically uncrackable. There are two routes that are being followed by the US and allied governments to get around this. One is that they will persecute anyone offering it, and perhaps even make it illegal. The other is research into quantum computing. Using Shor’s algorithm, quantum computers, which don’t really exist yet, can factorise the products and break the codes. The US and Australian governments spend hundreds of millions (at least) on the research, which as far as I can see is directly designed to let them spy on us. I do not work on it, but have colleagues who do. Some of them even consider themselves to be socialist warriors in the struggle for a better world. My opinion of them is not quite so high.
Quantum cryptography, on the other hand, is completely unbreakable. In fact, you can tell if someone has even had a look. It is used commercially by some Swiss financial institutions. It would be difficult, but not impossible, to set it up for normal use. I suspect it would be made illegal as soon as someone looked like doing that, so it’s likely to remain the preserve of governments and corrupt financial institutions for a while yet.
I’d like to add that Stasi was continuing the great tradition of German governments spying on its own people and German citizens – neigbours, friends, family members spying on each other, starting with the Nazi Germany where any dissenters and critics of the regime were disposed of promptly and permanently.
Are the anonymous and secretive men and women who run our own secret agencies of such high moral standing and trustworthiness to have access to the secrets of a whole population that metadata spying will give them?
Nope.
The content of the communications is secondary. The primary is peoples social and business networks. The collection of metadata will expose those networks and once exposed they can be broken. This is, IMO, why the government wants to collect the metadata and so it should not be allowed.
No protection from self incrimination under duress.
A few slaps, a couple of kicks.
From there but a small step to the almost 100% police conviction rate in Communist China’s Orwellian court system.
All it needs to complete the picture is a compliant media automatically and covertly monitored 24/7 by the state, too intimidated to speak up, all their phone calls and movements traced and recorded for later reference.
Peter Dunne, said inquiry head David Henry had detailed to him the movements of Fairfax journalist Andrea Vance in and out of the parliamentary precinct.
The conversation related to Vance’s movements the day before the leaked report was published.
It appeared to be based on Henry having access to records of when she entered and left the building using her security swipe card.
The New Zealand military received help from US spy agencies to monitor the phone calls of Kiwi journalist Jon Stephenson and his associates while he was in Afghanistan reporting on the war.
Stephenson has described the revelation as a serious violation of his privacy, and the intrusion into New Zealand media freedom has been slammed as an abuse of human rights.
Is this why most of our MSM journalists give this overbearing and intrusive right wing administration such a free ride when in comparison the same journalists publicly and unrelentedly caned the Clark administration for weeks for trying to regulate energy efficient lightbulbs over incandescent lamps. Until they forced Labour to drop it?
Hey how’s the Arab Spring going in Libya? I heard the country is disintegrating into armed tribal factions, the western corporations are looting Libya’s gold, oil and other natural resources, while the advanced healthcare and education systems Gadaffi set up for his people are being run down.
With such gems as the following…
“But as ministers turned the lights out on a week of endless Beehive crisis meetings and headed for Nelson and the party’s annual conference, there was a sense the situation was at least under control.”
Then quoting Judith Collins and not questioning in any way this outrageous statement.
“We’ve learnt to be very upfront and straight out fronting issues.”
This government ..upfront about issues?
Actually, a lapdog media is one of the biggest reasons why this government continually escapes crisis after crisis. ‘Jonolists’ like Tracy Watkins do the 4th estate a disservice. They do the work of big corporates very well.
yes, its interesting how the media are treating The National Party Conference versus how they treated The Labour Party Conference in November.
Peter Goodfellow (President of National) and family own a huge slice of Sanford fishing (via Amalgamated Dairies Ltd), perhaps the media should be digging to see whether the recreational snapper limit cuts have something to do with him and more National cronyism. I would think so.
its interesting how the media are treating The National Party Conference versus how they treated The Labour Party Conference in November.
Has any accredited journo sighted any media harassment and intimidation of a Nat. MP with a view to forcing them to say something that could be misconstrued by others as a challenge to the leader? You know… walking backwards around the conference venue with a camera lens permanently shoved in their face and asking the same question over and over again until they got something… then behaving like school yard pimps by running off to the leadership telling petty tales out of school?
Joyce wasn’t the only senior Nat indulging their naughty side at this weekend’s Nelson event. The simmering unofficial leadership struggle between Joyce and justice minister Judith Collins will take a new turn this morning as the matriarch appears on TVNZ alongside Key.
While outward appearances were of a rigorously choreographed agenda, delegates were furiously whispering about her decision yesterday.
The party and her senior minister colleagues were spitting tacks about the brazen move. Given the policy announcements carefully lined-up by party strategists, it should have been a moment for Joyce to shine, alongside housing minister Nick Smith and environment minister Amy Adams.
For whatever the talk show topic, the appearance raises the spectre of Collins’ ambitions to take charge of the party.
National don’t have the same leadership woes currently plaguing Labour. The question of who will succeed John Key is a perennial curiosity.
But it’s largely academic, for now. …
G.. help us all if Collins gets the leadership. OTH, I cannot see her having the blind faith followers that Key has had.
In reference to Nationals RMA tampering, especially with relevance to Auckland, speeding up the building consents process, looks very problematic. There are a lot of powerful people opposed to moves of allowing multi level dwellings being built in urban areas of the City. All worried their swanky suburbs are going to be down valued with affordable apartments popping up everywhere.
Concerns of views being blocked and commoner tenants inhabited their posh streets. Interesting to see how many switch to ACT?
I don’t think the New Zealand public will view the rise of ACT in the polls positively if that’s the case. National would not like the bad perception that brings. Which of course we on the Left, promote as a third term Nact Government is going to reveal their true nasty right-wing ideological master plans.
Collins will have her followers. The sort of troglodytes who write in the sewer blogs worship her with a sexual passion. On the positive side, I think she’d take NAct back to its core voters, with the same percentages that Brash got, those who like their racism and bigotry strident rather than casual. I don’t think even Crosby Textor could sell her to a much wider audience.
Yep, she’ll only ever be a hit with the extremists. She’ll never make it with the ordinary apolitical bbq dickheads that have won the last two elections for Key.
Ideologically and morally I don’t think the two of them are far apart, one just seems to be better at hiding it.
And that’s the nub. To quote Chris Trotter, Key is the greatest political salesman this country has ever seen. With Key gone, the current National Party ideology has much the same shelf-life as NZ1 without Winston.
Beardy, last night on 3 news it looked like he had fallen asleep at the speakers table and then blearily woke up and had that “What?! Where I am I? What am I doing?!” look about him.
My view on Nationals next leader, once Key decides to call it a day.
Collins – next National Leader, has the drive and ambition and presence
natural leader.
Joyce – not interested can achieve more as number 2
Paula Bennett – maybe in another 10 years, if still around
Brownlee – been around long enough, knows his strengths and weakness,realizes he doesn’t have the drive or enthusiasm to be leader.
Much better being in the top echelon rather than running the show.
Must admit there was a hint of sarcasm in the outfits I [claim] he was texting, but take your point RedLogix. I saw Helen Clark last Sunday at a function and she looked stunning – 20 years younger.
These sociopaths in power are undeniably deviously tricky, every now and then I refer back to chapters of the book Hollow Men, just to refresh my memory. The smoke & mirrors game playing really is shocking.
Government in control over milk powder crisis, mooted reduction in recreational fishers quota, squashed. Sense distraction over GCSB bill, smelter subsidy to prop up power shares/float, Housing crisis ( major spin announced later today). And that Stuff article highlights the start of an attack to wipe Winston Peters out for good in 2014.
How? John Key has started publicly stalking Winston Peters (Key’s principles when it comes to Peters remain-don’t be fooled).
Last elections late supporters, (& the way Key is flaunting a welcome mat) some loyal supporters are not willing to gamble Peters will join a coalition with Labour/Green, they want certainty. All this is increasing the negative effect on NZF’s support.
Key the smiling assassin will be grinning at NZF currently polling down on 3%. But it will be a ‘nervous’ smile. Winston earlier in the week rubbed Key’s nose in it, with fresh allegations of illegal spying of him during the cup of tea saga, which got NZF back into parliament.
Wonder if Key has nightmares of Peters speech opposing the GCSB bill the other day, which was classic “spy’s lies and alibis.”
Tracy Watkins has consistently shown herself to be a cheerleader and apologist for the National Government. In particular, in the past she has written articles about Key, and barely been able to contain her gushing admiration for the slime ball. Maybe in years to come she will look back on them with deep embarrassment and see that she sounded like a 15 year school girl with her first big crush. I kind of feel sorry for her. She needs an aunty in her life to tell her about bad men.
“In order to currently qualify for Government assistance of a $5000 deposit, the most a couple may jointly earn is $100,000. That threshold will be increased to $120,000.”
“The house price caps will be adjusted upwards as well, with the Auckland cap of $400,000 rising to $485,000.”
So under the heading “Government Tackles Affordability”, the government has merely provided assistance to slightly wealthier people…is this for real? How the hell does this tackle affordability…come on Audrey Young, do some analysis. Couldnt she just pick up the phone and call Twyford to see what his view was…or would that wreck it for her? (I think her father was a National Party MP?)
Brilliant, a boost to the first home vendors scheme. Now every property flipper can boost their asking price up another $5K of tax payer funded largesse.
Yes, Venn Young, the author of the first homosexual law reform measure to come before Parliament – late 70s early 80s (?). MP for one of the Taranaki electorates (?).
Can’t remember how far it went before it foundered. Seem to recall that his bubbling, vivacious wife was particularly energised about it, more than him. Wasn’t a bad fulla for a Tory which was true akshully of a number of them in the day. Peter Gordon for example, Minister of Transport at some point. Even old Talboys, whose alleged affair he with “yards and yards of anonymous cloth hanging between his legs….” as characterised by Chris Wheeler, the hilariously subversive stirrer behind the sinful libel sheet “Cock”.
Quite unlike the digusting crooks, Tea Party-ish backwoodmen and scabs comprising today’s National /Act obscenity.
Young’s Bill legalising homosexuality was defeated on 4 July 1975, 34 – 29 with an abstention of 23.
Had the bill gone through there would have been no inquiry into an alleged breach of confidentiality of the police file on the Honourable Colin James Moyle, MP.
The full police evidence has not seen the light of day and I would like to see it in my life time for many reasons.
Employment lawyers and unions should start asking for bosses and managers facebook records if they are going to regularly sink as low as Air NZ has in this case. One of the times it is good to be a freelancer–I only have myself to sack.
The key quote from the article.
“”Because while this is best evidence . . . doesn’t it creep you out a bit? It feels intrusive and just, frankly, wrong.”
That’s a peculiar demand from the ERA, because they are usually called on to determine whether the decision made at the conclusion of the disciplinary process was correct. And that decision is made with the facts known at that time. ie, knowing what they knew, did the boss make a reasonable decision?
It looks like the ERA is saying it’s ok to dismiss based on suspicion alone, if there’s a vague possibility of proving it correct if other information comes to hand later on.
Yes it is a worry TRP, fair and discernible process in such settings has always bugged the torys so any chance to deal with such cases by applying fear and loathing will be taken if their record such as 90 day “fire at will” is any indication. The ERA was not originally set up to operate on that basis so would be interesting to get a practitioners view.
….and then Stuff whacks up an ancient Tory Standards piece complete with comments from 323 days ago! The Shonkey Python show continues for the masses while the cream attend their annual orgy.
I’m against Tasers anyway; but if our overlords really need their goons to carry electric whips, then surely they should be trained to use them properly. Of those UK police forces that could be arsed replying to a freedom of information request (18 out of 45), 57% shot tasers at the chests of suspects.
“There is evidence to suggest that shots to the chest are more dangerous because they can result in cardiac arrest. The manufacturer’s own training guidance states: “When possible, avoid targeting the frontal chest area near the heart to reduce the risk of potential serious injury or death.”.”
The NZ coppers have used tasers as a compliance device since introduction rather than the touted “substitute for lethal force” and if aimed at the chest could (and have internationally) constitute lethal force anyway.
Why negotiate with citizens annoying as some of them can be, or use other methods, when you can just zap ’em.
Thrust of the article is that the powder is being removed under precautionary measures (after being requested to by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health).
However, the paragraphs that caught my eye are below:
Earlier this year, Fonterra hit headlines in Sri Lanka after the country’s Atomic Energy Authority claimed in Colombo’s Sunday Times it had been put under pressure from New Zealand officials to suspend testing of New Zealand milk powder samples.
At the time, the Ministry for Primary Industries took over damage control reassuring all overseas consumers milk powder from New Zealand was safe.
If true, why would we be putting pressure on another government to suspend testing? And who was/were these overseas officials?
As far as I can ascertain, two New Zealand government officials from the Ministry of Primary Industries travelled to Sri Lanka in May this year to pressure their Atomic Energy Authority to stop testing New Zealand milk powder samples for radiation.
The only reason they would do this is because the government knew that Fonterra’s milk powder was contaminated with radioactive chemicals. Why else would they suddenly demand Sri Lanka stop testing?
Was it all Fonterra NZ sourced milk powder or also Fonterra Chinese sourced milk powder?
I ask because it appears that TEPCO has been lying through the teeth about contaminated water from Fukushima, and hundreds of tons a day of radioactive water have been leaking into the Pacific.
Sri Lanka has halted all Fonterra milk powder imports from New Zealand. I’ve seen no reports saying that they’ve halted imports from China as well?
It’s unlikely that radiation from Fukushima that is leaking into the Pacific Ocean would get into the dairy process in China. It is however likely that it is getting into fish stocks around Japan.
The radiation contamination in Fonterra’s milk products has likely come from landfarming in Taranaki, of which there are around a dozen sites. Six of these landfarming operations supply milk to Fonterra, the other six to other dairy companies. Fonterra is probably not the only supplier affected.
Did anybody just hear “The New Entrepreneurism” on RNZ forming today’s “ideas” segment?
I’d be interested in hearing/seeing Standard contributors thoughts.
I’m in two minds :p
In some ways I’m thinking more of a new buzz, an exercise in commodification of “social enterprise”, yet there are one or two good aspects to it.
Social enterprise – the brits have got into it for about two years I think and have been closing down welfare for about the same time.
If that was the one referring to social enterprises they seem to have been going on this for about two years I think. That would fit with their observable timetable of cutting welfare wouldn’t it?
If so they are taking a dump people in the water to see if they can swim. It could be better than old hate filled government approach time will tell, the program is on the roll – could be as much of a failure as when brit withdrew supplies after the first irish food crop failure.
yea well – at the risk of outing myself to RNZ staff, I offered the following hastily written:
The New Entrpreneuism
Chris,
I was interested in today’s “Ideas” segment, and I’m left wondering whether I must be part of “The New Curmudgeon” sector.
I’m not knocking it at all, it’s just that it occurred to me that many of these admirable initiatives once evolved naturally, as a result of a fully functioning, well (or at least, adequately) educated, egalitarian society – one where its citizens (both public and corporate) got involved and participated.
It concerns me that we must now market it all and turn it into a business in order for it to be part of our consciousness.
… etc
and then a PS later, when Wayne Brittendon and guests did a piece on NeoLiberalism:
PS!!!! ‘The NEW ENTREPRENEUISM” I should have waited
My concerns are being answered as I type: NEOLIBERALISM
…. etc.
in response to this:
11:40 Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint
The Guardian reports that in 2012, the world’s 100 richest people became $241 billion richer, and the rich-poor gap continues to spiral. Wayne takes a critical look at the prevailing global economic orthodoxy of neo-liberalism and Chris follows up with Professor Michael Peters, from Waikato University. http://www.radionz.co.nz/sunday
Btw …. it’s also why I’ll never vote Labour again UNTIL they clearly and unambiguously give one of the most insidious ideologies the flik!! So far they’ve only ever half-heartedly apologised for Roger and his ilk.
Another Conspiracy theory bites the dust as it becomes reality.
When the Tsunami hit Japan and Fukushima I was called an alarmist and conspiracy nut when I stated that Fukushima was an ongoing disaster with global implications. Today I can say: “I told you so”.
While it is understandable given the amount of fear/ego based abuse issues in certain directions, that as more conspiracies become realities, there is a natural tendency to feel relief, when shown to not be nut jobs, or similar!
Unfortunately, the seriousness of the majority of the former, conspiracies, is such that the I told you so call, can be seen as a bit of an own goal, for mine.
Oh don’t worry, I’m saying the I told you so really angry and not a gloat in my mind. This is I told you so as in: wake the fuck up and smell the plutonium! (Third reactor has a couple of tons of MOX fuel in a “cooling” pool with steam coming out of the building around about the spot where it should be cool)
I remember one gentleman in particular, Lanthanide I think he calls himself who couldn’t ridicule my assertions enough at the time!
not really.
All that’s happened is that if you predict the worst outcome for every event that happens in the world, sooner or later you’ll be right – especially if one ignores whether the timing is wildly off.
Not necessarily. If I said “Mandela is dead” every day for the next five years, sooner or later I will probably be correct. That does not mean I was correct when I first said it.
Might pay to be a little more circumspect with the insults, because those timelines have been very short, and will grow increasingly shorter between the revelations!
An as for choosing the worst possible outcome, don’t fool yourself laddy, that’s simply another insult for those who have bothered to take time to understand and learn enough, to get a little closer to reality, while others sit back in the largess lobbing insults.
That’s nice.
At least when I hit the pearly gates I’ll be able to say that I gave joy to simple-minded fools. Might offset some of my misdeeds a touch. And just to make it obvious enough for even you to understand, yes, you are indeed one of those simpleminded fools.
might be like that poor raccoon from Ice Age : The Meltdown; reach all those acorns, then the really big Acorn, only to receive resusc. from a sloth.
Oh to be Hindu, but then, all those gods to contend with. Interestingly, maybe the Aryan invaders implemented / codified the caste system, in India anyway.
Neither process had an inevitable conclusion when it first started, however. To state that a catastrophic conclusion is occurring before it is even inevitable can merely have a purely coincidental relationship with reality, even at the best of times.
I wonder if there was a person who claimed the Titanic was sinking even before it hit an iceberg? What if they claimed it after the iceberg were hit, but it they had no idea that it had in fact hit an iceberg, because they were in Birmingham at the time? To then argue “see, I was right, not a nutbar” seems to lack a certain epistemological robustness.
meh.
Fully encouraged by their recent close brush with reality, apparently the tinfoilhat claims have been escalated to Fukushima being an extinction event. So apparently we are all doomed (again).
Have missed your wit, (although, ev makes for interesting reading in ‘my newsfeed’), but then, there is always reality of all flavours to contend with. Like, improving income 😀 … maybe a pedal powered ice-cream cart with (not) 88 flavours of sugar to choose from. Shouldn’t you be working? Ahhh, late lunch. Cheese and home-made pickled onions this (and the other) end. Did you know that even authors with multiple published titles may only achieve the minimum wage if all the hours involved are accounted for. Seems so pointless 😉
I wonder if there was a person who claimed the Titanic was sinking even before it hit an iceberg?
The correct parallel to be drawn are to the officers and passengers who believed that the Titanic was fine after 5 compartments were holed, especially as the ship was still sitting perfectly quietly and drinks and food were still being served.
Neither process had an inevitable conclusion when it first started, however.
Same with being shot in the head or falling off a six story building. Doesn’t mean that you can’t pick what’s (most likely) going to happen next.
The correct parallel to be drawn are to the officers and passengers who believed that the Titanic was fine after 5 compartments were holed, especially as the ship was still sitting perfectly quietly and drinks and food were still being served.
Flipside of the same coin, but at least you get the idea that without accurate information causally and obviously related to the observed outcome, any connection between belief and reality is purely coincidental. Me, I’m off to sit in my lead-lined fridge for the duration of the radioactive apocalypse.
Neither process had an inevitable conclusion when it first started, however.
Same with being shot in the head or falling off a six story building. Doesn’t mean that you can’t pick what’s (most likely) going to happen next.
Well, the laws of physics tend to be a bit more reliable than chemtrail/worldgovt/nanothermite idiots on the internet. But even, then pistol-calibre gunshots to the head tend to have (ISTR) something like a 10% survival rate, and the survival rate for falling six storeys is even better as I recall. So really, without more precise information I’d still not be collecting on their life insurance.
Fukushima was never a conspiracy travellerev. It happened and was/is real. The only conspiracy is the one of governmental silence and mis-information surrounding the causes, the gravity of the immediate effects and the potential long term consequences.
And yes, there were plenty of people who chimed in, downplaying the seriousness of the situation and poo-pooing potential long term consequences. Adherents to authoritarianism tend to back centers of authority though. So, the fact of a ‘she’ll be right’ brigade is hardly surprising.
As time goes by I’m struck by how pervasive the “authoritarian” personality is. Quite remarkably they’ll moan and grizzle about how badly they’re been treated .. but when you point out that it’s the hierarchy and the misuse of power that fundamentally which is screwing them over … they leap to it’s defence.
I think its the “subservient/follower mentality”…the beaten slave (battered woman?) who nevertheless leaps to their master’s (husbands?) defence because that is all the options their identity and world view gives them.
The danger is when servants and followers of charismatic authoritarian figures energise en masse to enable real historical ugliness.
Look at the USA – Democrats under George Bush who hated the patriot act, hated state surveillance, hated drone strikes…are all supportive of exactly the same things under Obama. Bad news.
Authoritarianism marks and thrives in the absense of personal responsibility. And to save any grief … this is completely different to the supposed ‘lack of personal responsibility’ we hear touted as a mere distraction from systemic/cultural disadvantages/abuses that themselves have arisen and hold sway precisely because too many people have authoritarian traits…and that’s the very self same people who then tend to bang on about various victim’s ‘lack of personal responsibilty’.
Hope that makes sense….was a kind of long sentence 😉
No. Not necessarily ‘tooled up’ agents of state or corporate oppression. Just the people next door and down the road and next to you at work who defer without question to authority – they’re the authoritarians as much as the ‘tooled up’ monkeys of oppression, the pollies, CEOs and managers.
Travellerev, you are an alarmist and conspiracy nut and long before you had said jack shit about “ongoing”, commenters on online Physics forums were detailing exactly how and why, based on nothing more than the photos of the damage and their knowledge of reactor design.
Like a stopped clock, you are right twice a day. Congratulations.
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music -Nietzsche
Let me give you the sheet music. You still won’t hear it but hey, you’ve got to start somewhere!
For the last two years 300 tons of water has been leaking (I would call that gushing but I’m sure you’d think that alarmist) into the Pacific ocean and TEPCO has finally admitted lying about it. Not only that they are now pumping water into the ocean while the pretense of containment is dropped as the true size of the meltdowns can no longer be denied. THERE SIMPLY IS NO CONTAINMENT!
Here is a nice animation of the predicted dispersion of radioactive Cs-137 over the next 10 years.
And if you think this is going to help mitigate the unfolding disaster ( I would go as far as calling it a slowly unfolding extinction event, particularly if the 3 reactor cooling bath no longer cools the MOX fuel rods) there really is no hope you’ll ever hear the music
Pointing out that you’ve got your central claim 100% wrong isn’t nitpicking, Ev. Fukushima is a disaster on many levels, but your apocolyptical shouting (a slowly unfolding extiction event!) adds nothing to our understanding of the actual damage done to the environment.
Agree with you about the tuna though. Meat is murder.
Reactor No 3 was using MOX fuel. That is around 2 million times more toxic than Uranium. Here is what happened in 2011. If you believe that those rods are safe and all is well in Fukushima you are one sad puppy and yes, a MOX fuel rd meltdown is an extinction event
I’m sure a standard meltdown is pretty FUBAR to but MOX fuel is a mix between Uranium and Pluto and the US feels it’s Japan’s job to burn that shit. I think the telling detail is that MOX is 2 million times more toxic than Uranium.
Good idea No. 2001.5. Bottle John Key’s personal fragrance and sell as a medicinal aid and performance enhancer – the John Key Super Relaxant. It releases all taut muscles, especially round the jaw and sphincter, relieves stress trauma and headaches, and in addition is a social aid as it prevents any disagreeable response caused by faux pas or unfortunate rudeness, all the time exuding a subtle aroma around the person which draws all into his ambit so ensuring the most favourable effect at every appearance.
A parcel or packet sent to you from overseas has been screened and assessed by NZ Customs, and is how being held (for ransom) by NZ Post pending customs release…
Revenue Type:
GST
Import Transaction Fee
GST on Import Transaction Fee
Bio-Security Levy
GST on Bio-security Levy
TOTAL
So having already purchased, what is not available for sale in NZ, and paid the shipping costs, I now have the pleasure of paying tax on a sale that would not have happened otherwise, as well as the import transaction fee + GST (WTF is that about) – How are import transaction fees, and levy’s classified such that they attract GST, anyone ?
Who at coloseum did their homework on premier league rights. Having secured live coverage for a pay per view style service with our dodgy broadband capacity and now sky has 4 of the top teams separately via a premier league rule that allows it.
Top teams get the bulk of viewers so looks like coloseum just had their wings clipped before takeoff.
Yes aware of that but as few people watch it live IMO this will erode the value of coluseum when you can watch the big teams with an existing sky connection and the highlights show is on tv1
“Make no mistake, our opposition comes from the far left of politics. The Greens are leading Labour by the nose. It’s important that New Zealanders understand what a Green-dominated government would look like. They want to tax you more, rack up more debt and make you work two more years before you can retire. They want a government department to run the entire electricity system, just like it did in the old days when we had blackouts. They want to stop oil, gas and mineral exploration that would create jobs and growth. They blame foreigners for all the ills of the country when our future prosperity lies in being open and connected to the rest of the world.
They even characterize businesses relocating jobs from Australia to New Zealand as ‘deeply worrying’. And they take petty, opportunistic political positions on national security in the face of the obvious need to clarify the GCSB law – a law they passed in the first place!
Well, I can tell you that as Prime Minister, I take the role of our agencies and my responsibilities in terms of national security, very, very seriously. And I always will. For our part, the National Party has a track record of sensible economic management and policies that actually make a difference to peoples’ lives. We are guided by the enduring values and principles of the National Party.
and more yadda yadda yadda in the same tone. *big fucking yawn* http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10911082
LolNats @Lol_Nats 2m
John Key said today his plan to help low income people into homes by giving wealthier people support to buy more expensive ones cant fail.
“Make no mistake, our opposition comes from the far left of politics.
Ah, the spin-meister. He’s so far out on a neoliberal, right wing, anti-democratic, govern for the corporates plutocracy – he thinks centre left is far left.
They want a government department to run the entire electricity system, just like it did in the old days when we had blackouts.
The bit he fails to mention is that we had brown outs due to low rainfall and that this was corrected by building more dams – before the market model took over.
National’s election campaign is already pretty clear. They are going to use the “centre vs hard left” meme for all it’s worth to try and frighten the horses. but that fact that you, me and uncle Tom Cobley can see what they are going to do doesn’t mean the museum exhibits that inhabit the upper reaches of the parliamentary labour party caucus will twig onto it in time to come up with a clever counter plan.
Yip given another term they will sell the lot. State (us) will own nothing. Private sector will be rubbing their hands with glee. Only way to stop them is getting people out to vote.
Just collected another 60 signatures (within the Auckland Central electorate) for the following petition:
“To National Party Member of Parliament for Auckland Central, Nikki Kaye :
“The will of the people is the basis of the authority of Government.”
We, the undersigned, call upon YOU, as an MP, to defend the lawful human rights of New Zealanders to privacy, freedom of association and freedom of expression – that is – to oppose arbitrary search and surveillance by the State over citizens.
If YOU, as an MP, vote for this GCSB Bill, which will allow widespread spying on New Zealanders, we, the undersigned hereby PLEDGE to campaign against your re-election in 2014, and to encourage our families, neighbours and workmates to do the same.”
______________________________________________________________________________
45 signatures to go and that will make ONE THOUSAND (1000) people who have PLEDGED to vote against Nikki Kaye if she votes for the GCSB Bill.
(Remember – Nikki Kaye has only a 717 vote majority in Auckland Central over Labour’s Jacinda Adern. )
Not a bad effort for basically TWO people?
Come on folks!
Give those MPs who are currently supporting the GCSB the one message they CAN’T ignore!
Signatures of angry voters PLEDGING to CAMPAIGN against them.
(Politicians understand ONE thing – VOTES…….. 🙂
Sample/ template petitions that can be used/ adapted/ whatever/ are available HERE!
Particularly would LOVE to see 1500 signatures delivered to Peter Dunne on Monday 19 August 2013 for the following:
“PETITION
To Independent MP for Ohariu Peter Dunne
“The will of the people is the basis of the authority of Government.”
We, the undersigned, call upon YOU, to defend the lawful human rights of New Zealanders to privacy, freedom of association and freedom of expression – that is – to oppose arbitrary search and surveillance by ‘BIG BROTHER’ State over citizens.
We note your public objections to the recent violations of your lawful rights to privacy, and look forward to consistency in your support for New Zealanders equal lawful rights to privacy.
If YOU, as an MP, vote for this GCSB Bill, which will allow widespread spying on New Zealanders, we, the undersigned hereby PLEDGE to campaign against your re-election in 2014, and to encourage our families, neighbours and workmates to do the same.
NAME ADDRESS SIGNED ”
___________________________________________________________________________
Remember!
It’s the masses who get off their asses that ‘make history’!
And – it’s REALLY easy to get signatures for these petitions………
‘So what do you teach?’ she asked as I worked on her presentation.
‘Computing’ I replied.
‘Oh… I guess these days you must find that the kids know more about computers than the teachers…’
Normally when someone spouts this rubbish I just nod and smile. This time I simply couldn’t let it pass. ‘Not really, most kids can’t use computers.’
I’ve found this to be true as well. His suggestion that kids fix the computer after they break them is similar to what I said in a seminar once that had people looking at me in horror. My suggestion to the person who had just said that he played games but couldn’t use a computer was to pull the PC apart and then put it back together. And then do it again and again.
There’s some unbelievable stories of computer incompetence at that link.
Having taught a range of people young and old, in my time, I have found that, contrary to popular belief, there are quite a few young people who are not very savvy at using computers.
Yet, still these days I come across people who automatically expect any young guy present to be better with computers than others.
Ask lprent how he thinks the young versus the ahem, not so young, do on computer systems.
Another thing to think about is how a lot of computer systems nowadays…eg Apple iOS and Android, have been designed to make computers into consumer appliances. Completely unlike the young nerds at school who used to edit batch files and autoexecs for DOS and under the hood of Windows 3.0…
Agree totally. These days relatively few people can give a coherent explanation of how computers really work … from the quantum mechanical explanation of how semiconductors function, through to how electronic circuits, logic and programmable arrays are built up, through to the structures of CPU’s, memory devices, graphics and various I/O channels, firmware, BIOS, OS’s and finally to networking, and the application layers.
When you step back and look at the entire intellectual and technical edifice it’s astonishing that it all works as well and as reliably as it does. Yet relatively few people have a decent grasp even of the broad picture, much less the specific details. (And I’m not claiming to be any kind of expert on any or all of it … just sufficiently educated and experienced to have dabbled with all the various bits of computing technology.)
The idea that some 14yr old is inherently smarter or more capable than an experienced professional or technical expert is just a risible nonsense.
The best comparison is how we used to laugh at our grandparents for whom the first telephones were an astonishing novelty … and how some of them never quite got past their tendency to speak very loudly and formally into the machine. It was easy to forget that they had lived in a time when communication was snailmail or telegrams at best.
I grew up at a time when the modern cell phone could not have been built in anything less than a large room full of hardware and I still have respect for the achievement they represent… yet today’s kids treat them with utter nonchalance. It is easy however to mistake this almost contemptuous familiarity with expertise. Not the same thing at all.
It fascinates me how quickly people adapt to technological changes. My first experience of a phone when I was very young, was the party line in our home. I would get told off if I picked up the handset when people somewhere else were having a conversation. Our only other electrical communications at home was a little radio.
TV, computers, mobile phones, etc, etc…. now all a very mundane part of my home & work world. I only have a very basic understanding of the way each of these technologies work. Though I have taken the lid off desk top pcs to do small mechanical maintenance – not really recommended with laptops.
I have been reading recently about the development of the telegraph, and the laying of undersea cables. It was partly trial and error getting the undersea cables to work – the right components and layers in the cables, correct weights etc. And that made a big difference to life, even though it was quite expensive first off to use.
It made a big difference for life in NZ – communicating throughout the country, and creating a sense of being part of the same nation – and much quicker information coming from overseas.
“It is easy however to mistake this almost contemptuous familiarity with expertise. Not the same thing at all.”
Yes that sums it up well.
It’s not just computers and phones either, people increasingly don’t know how anything works. Which both follows from and leads to not being able to make or fix anything.
Can’t disagree with your post AT ALL and the various responses having had (past tense) 25 yrs plus in the trade.
What amazes me is that I’m aware of a few people such as yourself (and even myself – now in the 50 plus age group) that are unemployed, or at least no longer employed in the IT sector. YET we constantly hear about various skill shortages. When one is registered with just about every agency in town, like various folk I know, the silence from those agencies is deafening.
Thankfully I’ve been able to de-programme, de-hex, de-assemble and have a bloody good lay down.
Ageism is absolutely rife in the industry. Last year I applied for a job for which I ticked every single box… at expert level. Zero response. Put in several unanswered calls and emails.
Advert still live a fortnight later. So I put the same CV in with a different name but edited to look 20yrs younger. Got a mad keen phone call within hours.
Had very similar experience(s), AND told them to shove it too.
Those agencies btw also have a habit of advertising non-existent, or already filled vacancies in order to get people ‘on their books’.
The other thing I find amusing is all that noise about the number of jobs advertised, based on the number of job adverts. You delve into it a bit and there are half a dozen different agencies advertising the same job (not limited to IT of course) – all clamouring to clip the ticket.
Phew.
I’m like almost everyone in regard to these machines.
One little thing though, why shouldn’t we leave the room, (or the house or the district,) while logged in somewhere? I do this all the time – the machine shuts down to power saving until I bring it back to life, often many hours later.
Apart from wasting power, what’s the problem?
It’s not a problem if there is no-one else who’s likely to use the machine in your absence.
But in a school or work environment where accountability of use and confidentiality of information is important … then you really don’t want someone else simply using the machine under your own user account.
And here is where the contemporary economics profession seems to be failing the most. The professional academic economist seems to take the tools of control and exploitation for granted. They are unquestionable facts of life that lie outside the economists’ proper field, at least as they now conceive that field. Economic education seems dedicated to the practice of status quo stabilization. The contemporary academic economist doesn’t seem particularly concerned with the various ways alternative ways an economy could be run; about the history of ways in which economic systems have been run; about how one such system evolves into another such system; or about the ways in which social mores, values and tastes evolve in conjunction with the evolution in economic systems. The economist seems to live in a fixed, abstract and peopleless landscape of the mind describing a fixed and providentially arranged world of interacting forces. For them, economics consists of a fundamentally good system running perpetually in natural equilibrium unless something very unusual, something perverse and weird and inexplicable, something called a “shock”, hits the system like an asteroid from outer space. When that happens, the economist is concerned above all to restore the system to its previous, psychologically comforting pattern of approved existence.
Are you out there Gower?
Did not see you stuffing a microphone up the nose of Collins or Joyce at the National Party Circus every ten seconds repeatedly asking if they were planning a coup against Key like you did to Cunliffe at the Labour party conference. No badgering like you did to Cunliffe until you got the perceived answer you wanted. Why not , please tell us, were you shit scared that you would have been told to fuck off or, is it that your masters and controllers instructed you not to rock the cosy right wing dream world boat.
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Re the Teina Pora travesty:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10911006
Who the hell is Bevan Hurley ? Clearly a jonolist
Grant Hobbs seems to see the tragedy here as being in the loss of a potentially good rugby player, not in Pora’s loss of his life and liberty. Even when they try to say something worthwhile, these sort of people just make me shake my head.
Why is Hurley a jonolist ? Because Collins did NOT add her name to the list of people calling into question the convictions which have had this boy a murderer and a rapist for the past 20 years.
One comment that he “could be innocent…..” does not qualify Bevan. You misrepresent Collins’ demeanour. At the very best her position has softened to “Oh well we’ll see……..not boverred really.”
The comments of Peter Williams QC are more to the point – Teina Pora could be out of prison now were our justice system not the fiefdom of Justice Sow who doesn’t actually give a stuff.
She might be seen to give a stuff in time but that will be according to how she will do out of the issue – forget about Teina the boy now the man.
Where does one get the “Free Teina Pora” teeshirts ?
@ North
http://www.illicit.co.nz is where TDB says you can get a “Free Teina” T-shirt. I’d get one myself except it’s rare that I have a spare $28, though at least $8 of that goes into a trust for the Pora family.
Link (to TDB): http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/08/08/its-time-free-teina-pora/
Thanks P.
Down the Rabbit Hole:
“…Mr Key’s superstitious habit of repeating “white rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits”, on the first of each month. The early morning ritual is believed to bring luck, he said yesterday. Mr Key admits he has visibly aged over the past five years as prime minister. It “comes with the job”. ”
Link (hat-tip to Eddie): http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9025151/Today-in-politics-Saturday-August-10
I commented on this yesterday (in the; “What a Dick”, post), it doesn’t seem to be satire; just very peculiar coming, as it does, from Fearfacts. Also, I tried to link this particular compulsion with ShonKey’s compulsive; lying & gambling, by way of OCD, but in retrospect that didn’t really work.
The above statement first attributed to Joseph Goebbels and recently resurrected by those calling for more powers for the GCSB and the NSA is a lie.
You may have nothing to hide, but what about your neighbors and your friends?
What about your work colleagues?
At least one of them, will have something that they don’t want you, or others to know about. This makes them vulnerable to those who seek to know everyone’s secrets. This is how the surveillance state of East Germany worked. The Stasi exploited the foibles of the vulnerable. The Stasi were able to get friend to spy on friend. They were able to get neighbor to smear and spread gossip against neighbor. At work they were able to block your promotion and the progress of your career if they didn’t like your political views.
How? The Stasi knew all the secrets of your managers and indeed of the company itself.
Do we really want to give our secret security forces these powers?
Do we really trust them that much?
Are the anonymous and secretive men and women who run our own secret agencies of such high moral standing and trustworthiness to have access to the secrets of a whole population that metadata spying will give them? Do we really trust them to hold that much power over us?
The East German secret police, the Stasi were able to spread fear and paranoia and suspicion and keep under subjection a whole population for 40 years.
Through mass surveillance the Stasi were able to intimidate everybody. How?
They knew everybody’s secrets.
Do we really want to give our secret agencies this power?
Are we really sure that they won’t abuse them?
Recent events seem to say no.
You may have nothing to hide. But you have everything to fear from those who do.
Apart from your friends, neighbors and colleagues who may have secrets….
At the top of the list are the most fearsome of those with something to hide.
Who guard their own secrets most obsessively.
Who are prepared to go to extreme lengths to protect their secrets from any who dare threaten to expose theim.
These people are the secret security services themselves.
If the supporters of the NSA and GCSB truly believed, “If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear”. Then they would release Bradly Manning. They should drop their persecution of Julien Assange and abandon their international manhunt against Edward Snowden.
Nothing to fear nothing to hide. Yeah right.
The easiest way to cut through this bs is to ask anyone spouting it to allow you access to their computer history. Men especially will baulk.
First Lavabit, now a second US-based encryption-based secure email company founder ethically chooses to close rather than offer up all its customers to surveillance … his comments are a must read ..
http://gigaom.com/2013/08/09/another-u-s-secure-email-service-shuts-down-to-protect-customers-from-authorities/
RSA cryptography, based on the products of huge prime numbers, is practically uncrackable. There are two routes that are being followed by the US and allied governments to get around this. One is that they will persecute anyone offering it, and perhaps even make it illegal. The other is research into quantum computing. Using Shor’s algorithm, quantum computers, which don’t really exist yet, can factorise the products and break the codes. The US and Australian governments spend hundreds of millions (at least) on the research, which as far as I can see is directly designed to let them spy on us. I do not work on it, but have colleagues who do. Some of them even consider themselves to be socialist warriors in the struggle for a better world. My opinion of them is not quite so high.
Quantum cryptography, on the other hand, is completely unbreakable. In fact, you can tell if someone has even had a look. It is used commercially by some Swiss financial institutions. It would be difficult, but not impossible, to set it up for normal use. I suspect it would be made illegal as soon as someone looked like doing that, so it’s likely to remain the preserve of governments and corrupt financial institutions for a while yet.
I’d like to add that Stasi was continuing the great tradition of German governments spying on its own people and German citizens – neigbours, friends, family members spying on each other, starting with the Nazi Germany where any dissenters and critics of the regime were disposed of promptly and permanently.
Nope.
The content of the communications is secondary. The primary is peoples social and business networks. The collection of metadata will expose those networks and once exposed they can be broken. This is, IMO, why the government wants to collect the metadata and so it should not be allowed.
In other words, “If you play by our rules then you can trust us to leave you alone.”
Can’t recall who said it but this sums it up perfectly……..
“Nothing to hide nothing to fear !”
“Well…….you don’t need ANY rights then, do you ?”
Indeed. North. Indeed. Isn’t this the same government that has been weakening the right to silence by those charged by the police?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10685442
No right to privacy.
No right to silence
No protection from self incrimination under duress.
A few slaps, a couple of kicks.
From there but a small step to the almost 100% police conviction rate in Communist China’s Orwellian court system.
All it needs to complete the picture is a compliant media automatically and covertly monitored 24/7 by the state, too intimidated to speak up, all their phone calls and movements traced and recorded for later reference.
Oh that’s right. They already do.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8853155/Journalists-movements-tracked-by-leak-inquiry
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8972743/US-spy-agencies-eavesdrop-on-Kiwi
Is this why most of our MSM journalists give this overbearing and intrusive right wing administration such a free ride when in comparison the same journalists publicly and unrelentedly caned the Clark administration for weeks for trying to regulate energy efficient lightbulbs over incandescent lamps. Until they forced Labour to drop it?
Will they ever run out of wet bus tickets?
Hey how’s the Arab Spring going in Libya? I heard the country is disintegrating into armed tribal factions, the western corporations are looting Libya’s gold, oil and other natural resources, while the advanced healthcare and education systems Gadaffi set up for his people are being run down.
Nomination for ‘jonolism’ today
Tracy Watkins for this article. “Nats take hurdles in stride”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9027528/Nats-take-hurdles-in-stride
With such gems as the following…
“But as ministers turned the lights out on a week of endless Beehive crisis meetings and headed for Nelson and the party’s annual conference, there was a sense the situation was at least under control.”
Then quoting Judith Collins and not questioning in any way this outrageous statement.
“We’ve learnt to be very upfront and straight out fronting issues.”
This government ..upfront about issues?
Actually, a lapdog media is one of the biggest reasons why this government continually escapes crisis after crisis. ‘Jonolists’ like Tracy Watkins do the 4th estate a disservice. They do the work of big corporates very well.
The media in this country sucks.
yes, its interesting how the media are treating The National Party Conference versus how they treated The Labour Party Conference in November.
Peter Goodfellow (President of National) and family own a huge slice of Sanford fishing (via Amalgamated Dairies Ltd), perhaps the media should be digging to see whether the recreational snapper limit cuts have something to do with him and more National cronyism. I would think so.
Has any accredited journo sighted any media harassment and intimidation of a Nat. MP with a view to forcing them to say something that could be misconstrued by others as a challenge to the leader? You know… walking backwards around the conference venue with a camera lens permanently shoved in their face and asking the same question over and over again until they got something… then behaving like school yard pimps by running off to the leadership telling petty tales out of school?
No, to all of your questions Anne!
However, this has just popped up on Stuff from Andrea Vance from the Nat conference
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/9028228/Nats-goodie-bag-shows-battles-lines-drawn
Hidden quite a way down is this
Joyce wasn’t the only senior Nat indulging their naughty side at this weekend’s Nelson event. The simmering unofficial leadership struggle between Joyce and justice minister Judith Collins will take a new turn this morning as the matriarch appears on TVNZ alongside Key.
While outward appearances were of a rigorously choreographed agenda, delegates were furiously whispering about her decision yesterday.
The party and her senior minister colleagues were spitting tacks about the brazen move. Given the policy announcements carefully lined-up by party strategists, it should have been a moment for Joyce to shine, alongside housing minister Nick Smith and environment minister Amy Adams.
For whatever the talk show topic, the appearance raises the spectre of Collins’ ambitions to take charge of the party.
National don’t have the same leadership woes currently plaguing Labour. The question of who will succeed John Key is a perennial curiosity.
But it’s largely academic, for now. …
G.. help us all if Collins gets the leadership. OTH, I cannot see her having the blind faith followers that Key has had.
In reference to Nationals RMA tampering, especially with relevance to Auckland, speeding up the building consents process, looks very problematic. There are a lot of powerful people opposed to moves of allowing multi level dwellings being built in urban areas of the City. All worried their swanky suburbs are going to be down valued with affordable apartments popping up everywhere.
Concerns of views being blocked and commoner tenants inhabited their posh streets. Interesting to see how many switch to ACT?
I don’t think the New Zealand public will view the rise of ACT in the polls positively if that’s the case. National would not like the bad perception that brings. Which of course we on the Left, promote as a third term Nact Government is going to reveal their true nasty right-wing ideological master plans.
What do you think?
Collins will have her followers. The sort of troglodytes who write in the sewer blogs worship her with a sexual passion. On the positive side, I think she’d take NAct back to its core voters, with the same percentages that Brash got, those who like their racism and bigotry strident rather than casual. I don’t think even Crosby Textor could sell her to a much wider audience.
Yep, she’ll only ever be a hit with the extremists. She’ll never make it with the ordinary apolitical bbq dickheads that have won the last two elections for Key.
Ideologically and morally I don’t think the two of them are far apart, one just seems to be better at hiding it.
And that’s the nub. To quote Chris Trotter, Key is the greatest political salesman this country has ever seen. With Key gone, the current National Party ideology has much the same shelf-life as NZ1 without Winston.
Thank goodness that Labour has a clear political ideology set and ready to walk all over them, then.
ooops…. yes.
We have a problem Houston. (And I’m old enough to remember hearing that live…)
Does anyone else out there think that Key is sounding like an automaton at this conference. Just reading the words, going through the motions?
Beardy, last night on 3 news it looked like he had fallen asleep at the speakers table and then blearily woke up and had that “What?! Where I am I? What am I doing?!” look about him.
He must be all like “I’m soooo over this job”
Waiting for his exile to Hawaii
I saw that-he looked completely knackered/bored.
All these late night texting sessions with Fonterra, GCSB, NSA, Warner Bros. and the FBI must be wearing him out.
Ha! 3 News on who has Nat leadership ambitions tonight:
Collins is obviously interest – no denials, just that she will be one among many:
Joyce said what Key said a couple of months before rolling Brash – “there is no vacancy right now”.
Paula Benefit outs herself over her crush on Key.
Brownlee looks so overcome by the wonderfulness of imagining himself as PM, he’s a stuttering school boy.
Simon Bridges tries to sound coy about his ambitions.
My view on Nationals next leader, once Key decides to call it a day.
Collins – next National Leader, has the drive and ambition and presence
natural leader.
Joyce – not interested can achieve more as number 2
Paula Bennett – maybe in another 10 years, if still around
Brownlee – been around long enough, knows his strengths and weakness,realizes he doesn’t have the drive or enthusiasm to be leader.
Much better being in the top echelon rather than running the show.
Simon Bridges -see Bennett
BAAAARRRRFFFFF…BAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRFFFFFFFF…..sorry BM, just throwing-up over the thought of your choices.
“Collins – next National Leader, has the drive and ambition and presence
natural leader.”
lolz. The way to spot a natural leader is that they have natural followers (and no, paying someone to campaign for you doesn’t count as natural)
Collins seems to inspire the black leather steel buckled boot heel licking amongst right wing followers
She’s one sexy woman, check her out taking a swim.
http://500px.com/photo/2854399
She is the fish in that photo.
All these late night texting sessions with Fonterra, GCSB, NSA, Warner Bros. and the FBI must be wearing him out.
I agree Anne. The way we run politics in this country places an insane burden on the PM.
No matter who has the job, or what I think of their politics … you have to have some respect for the sheer brain-crushing workload they have taken on.
Must admit there was a hint of sarcasm in the outfits I [claim] he was texting, but take your point RedLogix. I saw Helen Clark last Sunday at a function and she looked stunning – 20 years younger.
I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for him. Many of the problems that he is facing now are not his doing.
Poor guy, its sad to hear that those years of fun photo ops didn’t help in governing the country.
Someone should have said something.
They didn’t like to felix. Bursting the happy bubble would’ve hurt him.
The Fourth Estate has self-corrupted into the Fart Estate.
These sociopaths in power are undeniably deviously tricky, every now and then I refer back to chapters of the book Hollow Men, just to refresh my memory. The smoke & mirrors game playing really is shocking.
Government in control over milk powder crisis, mooted reduction in recreational fishers quota, squashed. Sense distraction over GCSB bill, smelter subsidy to prop up power shares/float, Housing crisis ( major spin announced later today). And that Stuff article highlights the start of an attack to wipe Winston Peters out for good in 2014.
How? John Key has started publicly stalking Winston Peters (Key’s principles when it comes to Peters remain-don’t be fooled).
Last elections late supporters, (& the way Key is flaunting a welcome mat) some loyal supporters are not willing to gamble Peters will join a coalition with Labour/Green, they want certainty. All this is increasing the negative effect on NZF’s support.
Key the smiling assassin will be grinning at NZF currently polling down on 3%. But it will be a ‘nervous’ smile. Winston earlier in the week rubbed Key’s nose in it, with fresh allegations of illegal spying of him during the cup of tea saga, which got NZF back into parliament.
Wonder if Key has nightmares of Peters speech opposing the GCSB bill the other day, which was classic “spy’s lies and alibis.”
Tracy Watkins has consistently shown herself to be a cheerleader and apologist for the National Government. In particular, in the past she has written articles about Key, and barely been able to contain her gushing admiration for the slime ball. Maybe in years to come she will look back on them with deep embarrassment and see that she sounded like a 15 year school girl with her first big crush. I kind of feel sorry for her. She needs an aunty in her life to tell her about bad men.
“She needs an aunty in her life to tell her about bad men.”
True. As long as the Aunty is not Paula Bennett, did you see her crush giggle on 3News when she was pretending she wasn’t looking at the top job?
It gets worse, this just published in the herald on line.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10911079
Government Tackles Affordability by Audrey young
“In order to currently qualify for Government assistance of a $5000 deposit, the most a couple may jointly earn is $100,000. That threshold will be increased to $120,000.”
“The house price caps will be adjusted upwards as well, with the Auckland cap of $400,000 rising to $485,000.”
So under the heading “Government Tackles Affordability”, the government has merely provided assistance to slightly wealthier people…is this for real? How the hell does this tackle affordability…come on Audrey Young, do some analysis. Couldnt she just pick up the phone and call Twyford to see what his view was…or would that wreck it for her? (I think her father was a National Party MP?)
Her brother is a National MP. Jonothan Young in New Plymouth… or is it Palmerston North? Its one of them.
Brilliant, a boost to the first home vendors scheme. Now every property flipper can boost their asking price up another $5K of tax payer funded largesse.
$5,000 towards a deposit of $97,000. Whoopedydoodah!
Yes, her father was a Nat MP, Venn Young. Served in Muldoon’s cabinet from memory – not 100% sure about that.
Yes, Venn Young, the author of the first homosexual law reform measure to come before Parliament – late 70s early 80s (?). MP for one of the Taranaki electorates (?).
Can’t remember how far it went before it foundered. Seem to recall that his bubbling, vivacious wife was particularly energised about it, more than him. Wasn’t a bad fulla for a Tory which was true akshully of a number of them in the day. Peter Gordon for example, Minister of Transport at some point. Even old Talboys, whose alleged affair he with “yards and yards of anonymous cloth hanging between his legs….” as characterised by Chris Wheeler, the hilariously subversive stirrer behind the sinful libel sheet “Cock”.
Quite unlike the digusting crooks, Tea Party-ish backwoodmen and scabs comprising today’s National /Act obscenity.
Young’s Bill legalising homosexuality was defeated on 4 July 1975, 34 – 29 with an abstention of 23.
Had the bill gone through there would have been no inquiry into an alleged breach of confidentiality of the police file on the Honourable Colin James Moyle, MP.
The full police evidence has not seen the light of day and I would like to see it in my life time for many reasons.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9027510/Facebook-used-in-worker-dismissal
Employment lawyers and unions should start asking for bosses and managers facebook records if they are going to regularly sink as low as Air NZ has in this case. One of the times it is good to be a freelancer–I only have myself to sack.
The key quote from the article.
“”Because while this is best evidence . . . doesn’t it creep you out a bit? It feels intrusive and just, frankly, wrong.”
That’s a peculiar demand from the ERA, because they are usually called on to determine whether the decision made at the conclusion of the disciplinary process was correct. And that decision is made with the facts known at that time. ie, knowing what they knew, did the boss make a reasonable decision?
It looks like the ERA is saying it’s ok to dismiss based on suspicion alone, if there’s a vague possibility of proving it correct if other information comes to hand later on.
Yes it is a worry TRP, fair and discernible process in such settings has always bugged the torys so any chance to deal with such cases by applying fear and loathing will be taken if their record such as 90 day “fire at will” is any indication. The ERA was not originally set up to operate on that basis so would be interesting to get a practitioners view.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/7715044/How-New-Zealand-schools-rate
….and then Stuff whacks up an ancient Tory Standards piece complete with comments from 323 days ago! The Shonkey Python show continues for the masses while the cream attend their annual orgy.
Lovely stuff from Rod Oram this morning on the economic value of brands to countries and our stark options at this point:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/9023041/Rod-Oram-NZ-Inc-must-start-delivering-on-its-promises
I’m against Tasers anyway; but if our overlords really need their goons to carry electric whips, then surely they should be trained to use them properly. Of those UK police forces that could be arsed replying to a freedom of information request (18 out of 45), 57% shot tasers at the chests of suspects.
“There is evidence to suggest that shots to the chest are more dangerous because they can result in cardiac arrest. The manufacturer’s own training guidance states: “When possible, avoid targeting the frontal chest area near the heart to reduce the risk of potential serious injury or death.”.”
Link: http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jul/14/taser-use-police-forces-uk-data
The NZ coppers have used tasers as a compliance device since introduction rather than the touted “substitute for lethal force” and if aimed at the chest could (and have internationally) constitute lethal force anyway.
Why negotiate with citizens annoying as some of them can be, or use other methods, when you can just zap ’em.
NZ Herald has another piece on Fonterra this morning Fonterra powder recalled in Sri Lanka.
Thrust of the article is that the powder is being removed under precautionary measures (after being requested to by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health).
However, the paragraphs that caught my eye are below:
Earlier this year, Fonterra hit headlines in Sri Lanka after the country’s Atomic Energy Authority claimed in Colombo’s Sunday Times it had been put under pressure from New Zealand officials to suspend testing of New Zealand milk powder samples.
At the time, the Ministry for Primary Industries took over damage control reassuring all overseas consumers milk powder from New Zealand was safe.
If true, why would we be putting pressure on another government to suspend testing? And who was/were these overseas officials?
As far as I can ascertain, two New Zealand government officials from the Ministry of Primary Industries travelled to Sri Lanka in May this year to pressure their Atomic Energy Authority to stop testing New Zealand milk powder samples for radiation.
The only reason they would do this is because the government knew that Fonterra’s milk powder was contaminated with radioactive chemicals. Why else would they suddenly demand Sri Lanka stop testing?
Was it all Fonterra NZ sourced milk powder or also Fonterra Chinese sourced milk powder?
I ask because it appears that TEPCO has been lying through the teeth about contaminated water from Fukushima, and hundreds of tons a day of radioactive water have been leaking into the Pacific.
Sri Lanka has halted all Fonterra milk powder imports from New Zealand. I’ve seen no reports saying that they’ve halted imports from China as well?
It’s unlikely that radiation from Fukushima that is leaking into the Pacific Ocean would get into the dairy process in China. It is however likely that it is getting into fish stocks around Japan.
The radiation contamination in Fonterra’s milk products has likely come from landfarming in Taranaki, of which there are around a dozen sites. Six of these landfarming operations supply milk to Fonterra, the other six to other dairy companies. Fonterra is probably not the only supplier affected.
Did anybody just hear “The New Entrepreneurism” on RNZ forming today’s “ideas” segment?
I’d be interested in hearing/seeing Standard contributors thoughts.
I’m in two minds :p
In some ways I’m thinking more of a new buzz, an exercise in commodification of “social enterprise”, yet there are one or two good aspects to it.
Check out http://www.socialenterprise.co.nz/#top
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ideas
Social enterprise – the brits have got into it for about two years I think and have been closing down welfare for about the same time.
If that was the one referring to social enterprises they seem to have been going on this for about two years I think. That would fit with their observable timetable of cutting welfare wouldn’t it?
If so they are taking a dump people in the water to see if they can swim. It could be better than old hate filled government approach time will tell, the program is on the roll – could be as much of a failure as when brit withdrew supplies after the first irish food crop failure.
yea well – at the risk of outing myself to RNZ staff, I offered the following hastily written:
The New Entrpreneuism
Chris,
I was interested in today’s “Ideas” segment, and I’m left wondering whether I must be part of “The New Curmudgeon” sector.
I’m not knocking it at all, it’s just that it occurred to me that many of these admirable initiatives once evolved naturally, as a result of a fully functioning, well (or at least, adequately) educated, egalitarian society – one where its citizens (both public and corporate) got involved and participated.
It concerns me that we must now market it all and turn it into a business in order for it to be part of our consciousness.
… etc
and then a PS later, when Wayne Brittendon and guests did a piece on NeoLiberalism:
PS!!!! ‘The NEW ENTREPRENEUISM” I should have waited
My concerns are being answered as I type: NEOLIBERALISM
…. etc.
in response to this:
11:40 Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint
The Guardian reports that in 2012, the world’s 100 richest people became $241 billion richer, and the rich-poor gap continues to spiral. Wayne takes a critical look at the prevailing global economic orthodoxy of neo-liberalism and Chris follows up with Professor Michael Peters, from Waikato University.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/sunday
Btw …. it’s also why I’ll never vote Labour again UNTIL they clearly and unambiguously give one of the most insidious ideologies the flik!! So far they’ve only ever half-heartedly apologised for Roger and his ilk.
Another Conspiracy theory bites the dust as it becomes reality.
When the Tsunami hit Japan and Fukushima I was called an alarmist and conspiracy nut when I stated that Fukushima was an ongoing disaster with global implications. Today I can say: “I told you so”.
?
While it is understandable given the amount of fear/ego based abuse issues in certain directions, that as more conspiracies become realities, there is a natural tendency to feel relief, when shown to not be nut jobs, or similar!
Unfortunately, the seriousness of the majority of the former, conspiracies, is such that the I told you so call, can be seen as a bit of an own goal, for mine.
?
Oh don’t worry, I’m saying the I told you so really angry and not a gloat in my mind. This is I told you so as in: wake the fuck up and smell the plutonium! (Third reactor has a couple of tons of MOX fuel in a “cooling” pool with steam coming out of the building around about the spot where it should be cool)
I remember one gentleman in particular, Lanthanide I think he calls himself who couldn’t ridicule my assertions enough at the time!
Yep. You know that truism about how real life is stranger than fiction? That’s what all the intellectual rationalists around here keep forgetting.
2013: the year the Tin Foil Hat Brigade pwned reality. Over and over and over and over again.
not really.
All that’s happened is that if you predict the worst outcome for every event that happens in the world, sooner or later you’ll be right – especially if one ignores whether the timing is wildly off.
was always right but previously heckled, just got confirmed now that’s all
Not necessarily. If I said “Mandela is dead” every day for the next five years, sooner or later I will probably be correct. That does not mean I was correct when I first said it.
Is that your version of a climbdown , McFlock!
Might pay to be a little more circumspect with the insults, because those timelines have been very short, and will grow increasingly shorter between the revelations!
An as for choosing the worst possible outcome, don’t fool yourself laddy, that’s simply another insult for those who have bothered to take time to understand and learn enough, to get a little closer to reality, while others sit back in the largess lobbing insults.
Correlation does not equal causation, especially when the frequency is that low.
Keep at it, I enjoy watching denial in real time!
Get the digger out, McFlock.
Brooom, Broooom, honk honk!
That’s nice.
At least when I hit the pearly gates I’ll be able to say that I gave joy to simple-minded fools. Might offset some of my misdeeds a touch. And just to make it obvious enough for even you to understand, yes, you are indeed one of those simpleminded fools.
Toot toot!
might be like that poor raccoon from Ice Age : The Meltdown; reach all those acorns, then the really big Acorn, only to receive resusc. from a sloth.
Oh to be Hindu, but then, all those gods to contend with. Interestingly, maybe the Aryan invaders implemented / codified the caste system, in India anyway.
I didn’t predict. I said this was happening from day one. TEPCO can’t deny it anymore ‘s all.
Indeed you did. But it wasn’t happening from day one, was it.
Don’t confuse the process with the event. It’s like fossil fuel related climate change. Started with the very first tonne of coal burnt.
Neither process had an inevitable conclusion when it first started, however. To state that a catastrophic conclusion is occurring before it is even inevitable can merely have a purely coincidental relationship with reality, even at the best of times.
I wonder if there was a person who claimed the Titanic was sinking even before it hit an iceberg? What if they claimed it after the iceberg were hit, but it they had no idea that it had in fact hit an iceberg, because they were in Birmingham at the time? To then argue “see, I was right, not a nutbar” seems to lack a certain epistemological robustness.
some clever resilience there McDock!
meh.
Fully encouraged by their recent close brush with reality, apparently the tinfoilhat claims have been escalated to Fukushima being an extinction event. So apparently we are all doomed (again).
Have missed your wit, (although, ev makes for interesting reading in ‘my newsfeed’), but then, there is always reality of all flavours to contend with. Like, improving income 😀 … maybe a pedal powered ice-cream cart with (not) 88 flavours of sugar to choose from. Shouldn’t you be working? Ahhh, late lunch. Cheese and home-made pickled onions this (and the other) end. Did you know that even authors with multiple published titles may only achieve the minimum wage if all the hours involved are accounted for. Seems so pointless 😉
The correct parallel to be drawn are to the officers and passengers who believed that the Titanic was fine after 5 compartments were holed, especially as the ship was still sitting perfectly quietly and drinks and food were still being served.
Same with being shot in the head or falling off a six story building. Doesn’t mean that you can’t pick what’s (most likely) going to happen next.
The correct parallel to be drawn are to the officers and passengers who believed that the Titanic was fine after 5 compartments were holed, especially as the ship was still sitting perfectly quietly and drinks and food were still being served.
Flipside of the same coin, but at least you get the idea that without accurate information causally and obviously related to the observed outcome, any connection between belief and reality is purely coincidental. Me, I’m off to sit in my lead-lined fridge for the duration of the radioactive apocalypse.
Well, the laws of physics tend to be a bit more reliable than chemtrail/worldgovt/nanothermite idiots on the internet. But even, then pistol-calibre gunshots to the head tend to have (ISTR) something like a 10% survival rate, and the survival rate for falling six storeys is even better as I recall. So really, without more precise information I’d still not be collecting on their life insurance.
Fukushima was never a conspiracy travellerev. It happened and was/is real. The only conspiracy is the one of governmental silence and mis-information surrounding the causes, the gravity of the immediate effects and the potential long term consequences.
And yes, there were plenty of people who chimed in, downplaying the seriousness of the situation and poo-pooing potential long term consequences. Adherents to authoritarianism tend to back centers of authority though. So, the fact of a ‘she’ll be right’ brigade is hardly surprising.
Bill …
As time goes by I’m struck by how pervasive the “authoritarian” personality is. Quite remarkably they’ll moan and grizzle about how badly they’re been treated .. but when you point out that it’s the hierarchy and the misuse of power that fundamentally which is screwing them over … they leap to it’s defence.
I think its the “subservient/follower mentality”…the beaten slave (battered woman?) who nevertheless leaps to their master’s (husbands?) defence because that is all the options their identity and world view gives them.
The danger is when servants and followers of charismatic authoritarian figures energise en masse to enable real historical ugliness.
Look at the USA – Democrats under George Bush who hated the patriot act, hated state surveillance, hated drone strikes…are all supportive of exactly the same things under Obama. Bad news.
Ah fuck it, I’ll say it.
Authoritarianism marks and thrives in the absense of personal responsibility. And to save any grief … this is completely different to the supposed ‘lack of personal responsibility’ we hear touted as a mere distraction from systemic/cultural disadvantages/abuses that themselves have arisen and hold sway precisely because too many people have authoritarian traits…and that’s the very self same people who then tend to bang on about various victim’s ‘lack of personal responsibilty’.
Hope that makes sense….was a kind of long sentence 😉
Good ol’ SWAT/SAS/riot police teams with the full face balaclavas or masks.
No. Not necessarily ‘tooled up’ agents of state or corporate oppression. Just the people next door and down the road and next to you at work who defer without question to authority – they’re the authoritarians as much as the ‘tooled up’ monkeys of oppression, the pollies, CEOs and managers.
Travellerev, you are an alarmist and conspiracy nut and long before you had said jack shit about “ongoing”, commenters on online Physics forums were detailing exactly how and why, based on nothing more than the photos of the damage and their knowledge of reactor design.
Like a stopped clock, you are right twice a day. Congratulations.
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music -Nietzsche
Let me give you the sheet music. You still won’t hear it but hey, you’ve got to start somewhere!
For the last two years 300 tons of water has been leaking (I would call that gushing but I’m sure you’d think that alarmist) into the Pacific ocean and TEPCO has finally admitted lying about it. Not only that they are now pumping water into the ocean while the pretense of containment is dropped as the true size of the meltdowns can no longer be denied. THERE SIMPLY IS NO CONTAINMENT!
Here is a nice animation of the predicted dispersion of radioactive Cs-137 over the next 10 years.
And if you think this is going to help mitigate the unfolding disaster ( I would go as far as calling it a slowly unfolding extinction event, particularly if the 3 reactor cooling bath no longer cools the MOX fuel rods) there really is no hope you’ll ever hear the music
Oh dear, To REDUCE leakage TEPCO is now PUMPING the groundwater directly into the ocean. GREAT PLAN!!! (Sorry for the yelling but how FUBAR is this?)
Er, no they’re not pumping it directly into the ocean. The actual facts are in the link you provided.
Erm, it’s actually more like 600 tons daily straight into the ocean and that is just the “leakage” Tritium jumped a 150% in 2 days, I wouldn’t touch Tuna if my life depended on it but go ahead and continue to nitpick and have some more of those sushi with Nori seaweed from Japan while you’re at it.
You’ve got about five years before all this shit reaches the US coast and about 10 until it reaches New Zealand.
Pointing out that you’ve got your central claim 100% wrong isn’t nitpicking, Ev. Fukushima is a disaster on many levels, but your apocolyptical shouting (a slowly unfolding extiction event!) adds nothing to our understanding of the actual damage done to the environment.
Agree with you about the tuna though. Meat is murder.
Reactor No 3 was using MOX fuel. That is around 2 million times more toxic than Uranium. Here is what happened in 2011. If you believe that those rods are safe and all is well in Fukushima you are one sad puppy and yes, a MOX fuel rd meltdown is an extinction event
How is it an ELE compared to a standard uranium fuel rod meltdown?
I’m sure a standard meltdown is pretty FUBAR to but MOX fuel is a mix between Uranium and Pluto and the US feels it’s Japan’s job to burn that shit. I think the telling detail is that MOX is 2 million times more toxic than Uranium.
Huh? Which part of my saying it’s a disaster did you mistake for my denying it’s a disaster?
And, no, Fukushima is not an extinction event. Do try and get a grip.
Oh dear, https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VZvi8N9SZ2k#at=37
So what?
Good idea No. 2001.5. Bottle John Key’s personal fragrance and sell as a medicinal aid and performance enhancer – the John Key Super Relaxant. It releases all taut muscles, especially round the jaw and sphincter, relieves stress trauma and headaches, and in addition is a social aid as it prevents any disagreeable response caused by faux pas or unfortunate rudeness, all the time exuding a subtle aroma around the person which draws all into his ambit so ensuring the most favourable effect at every appearance.
You might need to attend the “Social Enterprise” conference this week Grey. Could be money to be made!
Tim
I’m working on it!! When I work out how to extract it that is. Without killing the golden goose!
I add to the above this clip from Brett – Conchords just for fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cAfoZWzl8M
National’s policy to help first-time buyers get into houses is pretty weak:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9028322/Sting-in-tail-of-Nats-new-housing-policy
Subsidising home sellers…
So having already purchased, what is not available for sale in NZ, and paid the shipping costs, I now have the pleasure of paying tax on a sale that would not have happened otherwise, as well as the import transaction fee + GST (WTF is that about) – How are import transaction fees, and levy’s classified such that they attract GST, anyone ?
Her Majesty’s agents, hard at work!
GST is also applied on top of the various petrol taxes. Seems to be the way that the government likes it.
Who at coloseum did their homework on premier league rights. Having secured live coverage for a pay per view style service with our dodgy broadband capacity and now sky has 4 of the top teams separately via a premier league rule that allows it.
Top teams get the bulk of viewers so looks like coloseum just had their wings clipped before takeoff.
I think you will find that Sky,s broadcasts are delayed and not live.
Yes aware of that but as few people watch it live IMO this will erode the value of coluseum when you can watch the big teams with an existing sky connection and the highlights show is on tv1
Key’s scaremongering:
“Make no mistake, our opposition comes from the far left of politics. The Greens are leading Labour by the nose. It’s important that New Zealanders understand what a Green-dominated government would look like. They want to tax you more, rack up more debt and make you work two more years before you can retire. They want a government department to run the entire electricity system, just like it did in the old days when we had blackouts. They want to stop oil, gas and mineral exploration that would create jobs and growth. They blame foreigners for all the ills of the country when our future prosperity lies in being open and connected to the rest of the world.
They even characterize businesses relocating jobs from Australia to New Zealand as ‘deeply worrying’. And they take petty, opportunistic political positions on national security in the face of the obvious need to clarify the GCSB law – a law they passed in the first place!
Well, I can tell you that as Prime Minister, I take the role of our agencies and my responsibilities in terms of national security, very, very seriously. And I always will. For our part, the National Party has a track record of sensible economic management and policies that actually make a difference to peoples’ lives. We are guided by the enduring values and principles of the National Party.
and more yadda yadda yadda in the same tone. *big fucking yawn*
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10911082
LolNats @Lol_Nats 2m
John Key said today his plan to help low income people into homes by giving wealthier people support to buy more expensive ones cant fail.
National Party confernces are, as usual and always will be, just bullshit for the masses.
Can’t really argue with that…
Nope, I can’t either. The question is if the differences were a net gain or loss and I’m betting on the latter.
“Make no mistake, our opposition comes from the far left of politics.
Ah, the spin-meister. He’s so far out on a neoliberal, right wing, anti-democratic, govern for the corporates plutocracy – he thinks centre left is far left.
He thinks centre-right is far left.
The bit he fails to mention is that we had brown outs due to low rainfall and that this was corrected by building more dams – before the market model took over.
National’s election campaign is already pretty clear. They are going to use the “centre vs hard left” meme for all it’s worth to try and frighten the horses. but that fact that you, me and uncle Tom Cobley can see what they are going to do doesn’t mean the museum exhibits that inhabit the upper reaches of the parliamentary labour party caucus will twig onto it in time to come up with a clever counter plan.
Well, the obvious counter plan is obvious: a good swerve to the right wing “middle” will prove that National is full of shit.
“They want to tax you more, rack up more debt ”
To pay for things like schools, hospitals and state housing. I will defend state housing, schools and hospitals TO THE DEATH.
“They want a government department to run the entire electricity system”
And what. Government should own the power, otherwise people wont be able to afford to heat their homes.
Key must go ASAP.
Yip given another term they will sell the lot. State (us) will own nothing. Private sector will be rubbing their hands with glee. Only way to stop them is getting people out to vote.
Just collected another 60 signatures (within the Auckland Central electorate) for the following petition:
“To National Party Member of Parliament for Auckland Central, Nikki Kaye :
“The will of the people is the basis of the authority of Government.”
We, the undersigned, call upon YOU, as an MP, to defend the lawful human rights of New Zealanders to privacy, freedom of association and freedom of expression – that is – to oppose arbitrary search and surveillance by the State over citizens.
If YOU, as an MP, vote for this GCSB Bill, which will allow widespread spying on New Zealanders, we, the undersigned hereby PLEDGE to campaign against your re-election in 2014, and to encourage our families, neighbours and workmates to do the same.”
______________________________________________________________________________
45 signatures to go and that will make ONE THOUSAND (1000) people who have PLEDGED to vote against Nikki Kaye if she votes for the GCSB Bill.
(Remember – Nikki Kaye has only a 717 vote majority in Auckland Central over Labour’s Jacinda Adern. )
Not a bad effort for basically TWO people?
Come on folks!
Give those MPs who are currently supporting the GCSB the one message they CAN’T ignore!
Signatures of angry voters PLEDGING to CAMPAIGN against them.
(Politicians understand ONE thing – VOTES…….. 🙂
Sample/ template petitions that can be used/ adapted/ whatever/ are available HERE!
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/
Particularly would LOVE to see 1500 signatures delivered to Peter Dunne on Monday 19 August 2013 for the following:
“PETITION
To Independent MP for Ohariu Peter Dunne
“The will of the people is the basis of the authority of Government.”
We, the undersigned, call upon YOU, to defend the lawful human rights of New Zealanders to privacy, freedom of association and freedom of expression – that is – to oppose arbitrary search and surveillance by ‘BIG BROTHER’ State over citizens.
We note your public objections to the recent violations of your lawful rights to privacy, and look forward to consistency in your support for New Zealanders equal lawful rights to privacy.
If YOU, as an MP, vote for this GCSB Bill, which will allow widespread spying on New Zealanders, we, the undersigned hereby PLEDGE to campaign against your re-election in 2014, and to encourage our families, neighbours and workmates to do the same.
NAME ADDRESS SIGNED ”
___________________________________________________________________________
Remember!
It’s the masses who get off their asses that ‘make history’!
And – it’s REALLY easy to get signatures for these petitions………
Cheers 🙂
Penny Bright
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
Kids Can’t Use Computers…
I’ve found this to be true as well. His suggestion that kids fix the computer after they break them is similar to what I said in a seminar once that had people looking at me in horror. My suggestion to the person who had just said that he played games but couldn’t use a computer was to pull the PC apart and then put it back together. And then do it again and again.
There’s some unbelievable stories of computer incompetence at that link.
Having taught a range of people young and old, in my time, I have found that, contrary to popular belief, there are quite a few young people who are not very savvy at using computers.
Yet, still these days I come across people who automatically expect any young guy present to be better with computers than others.
Ask lprent how he thinks the young versus the ahem, not so young, do on computer systems.
Another thing to think about is how a lot of computer systems nowadays…eg Apple iOS and Android, have been designed to make computers into consumer appliances. Completely unlike the young nerds at school who used to edit batch files and autoexecs for DOS and under the hood of Windows 3.0…
Cripes… my first programs were hand assembled hex code for Motorola 6809C’s.
Wow. Hexadecimal. A 1MHz processor. Hot stuff. (For the non-technical, a budget basic smart phone today runs at 600MHz…)
I once did a bit of work on an IBM AT (80286), nothing too serious.
Agree totally. These days relatively few people can give a coherent explanation of how computers really work … from the quantum mechanical explanation of how semiconductors function, through to how electronic circuits, logic and programmable arrays are built up, through to the structures of CPU’s, memory devices, graphics and various I/O channels, firmware, BIOS, OS’s and finally to networking, and the application layers.
When you step back and look at the entire intellectual and technical edifice it’s astonishing that it all works as well and as reliably as it does. Yet relatively few people have a decent grasp even of the broad picture, much less the specific details. (And I’m not claiming to be any kind of expert on any or all of it … just sufficiently educated and experienced to have dabbled with all the various bits of computing technology.)
The idea that some 14yr old is inherently smarter or more capable than an experienced professional or technical expert is just a risible nonsense.
The best comparison is how we used to laugh at our grandparents for whom the first telephones were an astonishing novelty … and how some of them never quite got past their tendency to speak very loudly and formally into the machine. It was easy to forget that they had lived in a time when communication was snailmail or telegrams at best.
I grew up at a time when the modern cell phone could not have been built in anything less than a large room full of hardware and I still have respect for the achievement they represent… yet today’s kids treat them with utter nonchalance. It is easy however to mistake this almost contemptuous familiarity with expertise. Not the same thing at all.
It fascinates me how quickly people adapt to technological changes. My first experience of a phone when I was very young, was the party line in our home. I would get told off if I picked up the handset when people somewhere else were having a conversation. Our only other electrical communications at home was a little radio.
TV, computers, mobile phones, etc, etc…. now all a very mundane part of my home & work world. I only have a very basic understanding of the way each of these technologies work. Though I have taken the lid off desk top pcs to do small mechanical maintenance – not really recommended with laptops.
I have been reading recently about the development of the telegraph, and the laying of undersea cables. It was partly trial and error getting the undersea cables to work – the right components and layers in the cables, correct weights etc. And that made a big difference to life, even though it was quite expensive first off to use.
It made a big difference for life in NZ – communicating throughout the country, and creating a sense of being part of the same nation – and much quicker information coming from overseas.
“It is easy however to mistake this almost contemptuous familiarity with expertise. Not the same thing at all.”
Yes that sums it up well.
It’s not just computers and phones either, people increasingly don’t know how anything works. Which both follows from and leads to not being able to make or fix anything.
Can’t disagree with your post AT ALL and the various responses having had (past tense) 25 yrs plus in the trade.
What amazes me is that I’m aware of a few people such as yourself (and even myself – now in the 50 plus age group) that are unemployed, or at least no longer employed in the IT sector. YET we constantly hear about various skill shortages. When one is registered with just about every agency in town, like various folk I know, the silence from those agencies is deafening.
Thankfully I’ve been able to de-programme, de-hex, de-assemble and have a bloody good lay down.
Ageism is absolutely rife in the industry. Last year I applied for a job for which I ticked every single box… at expert level. Zero response. Put in several unanswered calls and emails.
Advert still live a fortnight later. So I put the same CV in with a different name but edited to look 20yrs younger. Got a mad keen phone call within hours.
Told them exactly where to shove it.
You tricky old bastard. In the very best way heh.
Had very similar experience(s), AND told them to shove it too.
Those agencies btw also have a habit of advertising non-existent, or already filled vacancies in order to get people ‘on their books’.
The other thing I find amusing is all that noise about the number of jobs advertised, based on the number of job adverts. You delve into it a bit and there are half a dozen different agencies advertising the same job (not limited to IT of course) – all clamouring to clip the ticket.
😆
“…These days relatively few people can give a coherent explanation of how computers really work…”
Really? the speed of light is constant. I thought everyone knew that!
Phew.
I’m like almost everyone in regard to these machines.
One little thing though, why shouldn’t we leave the room, (or the house or the district,) while logged in somewhere? I do this all the time – the machine shuts down to power saving until I bring it back to life, often many hours later.
Apart from wasting power, what’s the problem?
It’s not a problem if there is no-one else who’s likely to use the machine in your absence.
But in a school or work environment where accountability of use and confidentiality of information is important … then you really don’t want someone else simply using the machine under your own user account.
Aaaah.
Ta
Getting to the Bottom of Things
Bold mine.
Are you out there Gower?
Did not see you stuffing a microphone up the nose of Collins or Joyce at the National Party Circus every ten seconds repeatedly asking if they were planning a coup against Key like you did to Cunliffe at the Labour party conference. No badgering like you did to Cunliffe until you got the perceived answer you wanted. Why not , please tell us, were you shit scared that you would have been told to fuck off or, is it that your masters and controllers instructed you not to rock the cosy right wing dream world boat.