Sadly the US main product these days is financial fraud.
The equity, futures, commodities and bond markets are also completely manipulated with high speed computerised trading. Ordinary investors have no chance, those ‘markets’ are in reality now casinos where the house always wins and where the punter always loses.
Their bank is the biggest fraud of all. The American public, and most of the World, largely believe it is a Federal Agency because they stuck the word in the title. When you get through the haze and actually make an American understand the Federal Reserve is an 100% private Institution that is not accountable to any of their Administration’s frameworks, the slow drawn horror that creeps over their faces becomes strangely exhilarating as you see how much potential there is for change. When you witness the moment that they understand every single dollar that has entered their economy since 1911 has been in the form of a loan, wow, step back and lock up the carving knives because baby is out for blood. Then if you throw the Tax issues on top and explain how there is no actual law requiring Americans to pay Income Tax, or that the entire take of Income Tax only services the interest on the debt and the principal loans still exist, it is a heartless person that won’t offer a hug.
Key can hardly deny he doesn’t know how speculators make money.
Yet as riots infect Britian partly due to the austerity measures, what is Key doing?
Pushing austerity on benefitaries.
Its like he worships Satan, that’s the only think I’ve got to explain it, he must just
love sticking it into the poorest, most marginalized, push them into destitution.
So here’s a question for the left, why have they yet found anyone who has lost the
benefit and is now starving?
And where did all the 7,000 go? australia? Why isn’t Labour making clear that’s
what happened to them? Or were they claiming the benefit illegally?
I can tell you’ve never lived in another country or probably done any serious travel – comparing our situation to London is surely taking the piss. Its so different you couldn’t get much further apart unless you went to Africa.
and something tells me with your $125k a year (prev comment by you on this site) you have very little experience of what the vast majority of New Zealanders are actually facing on a day to day basis
Financial scams, like Bernie Madoff’s multi-billion-dollar investment fraud, operate according to a similar pyramid structure.
The whole of capitalism operates according to the the same structure and the same lie – work hard enough and you’ll become rich. The majority don’t become rich or even well off – the rich just get richer from everyone else’s hard work.
Wifi all fixed !! Appologies for incoherent comments đ has anyone got s good read regarding the fed I have a few hours on s plane to fill. The little I have found out the more unbelievable it is !!!
It appears to me that a few (w)bankers are running the world yet no-one is aware of this
Amazing what fate has in store the riots have changed travel plans especially when they are in the same area you are staying in. I was amazed or out of touch not to be informed of this. Just like the U.S it appears that no political party cares about the people this should be aired for all who view this site to open many one eyed contributors
Too true. I have been watching and reading from all sides of the old left – right divide…one thing the ascerbic commentators all agree upon is that “finance” (Wall St, the City etc) are all out of control and an increasing danger and menace to our freedom, let alone our economies.
Why is it that when the bankers make comment regarding govt policy we have to listen and obey, yet when banks fail we must do everything possable to protect and save them?
Europe is being told to follow British austerity measures and on the U.k we will see these same austerity measures hopefully bring “relaxed” I only hope it is not only to reverse the planned reduction of frontline police by 20% or 16,000 on number. The current events make the U.S freedom to fascism more relevant.
Ps how do you delete a comment by phone?
It must be something in the air because reality doesn’t come into it. While the world is collapsing New Zealanders have the highest economic confidence in seven months. Unbelievable!
but it is yet another poll, published in a newspaper that neglects to mention how the information was gathered, a practice that is starting to piss me off. Isn’t there some regulation or a law somewhere that deals with this jejune propoganda, if not , why not? * shakes fist in indignation *
Does that not send a real message that our education sector has created a bunch of sponges who absorb rather than question the information in front of them?
yup, dey are edukated in gud skools and no wun kan say dey are stoopid kos Mr Keys says we are all brite asperatunol citycins with promis and opotoonites
like a PM’s daughter who ‘won’ a scholarship year in France to study Fashion Design.
Still gets my ire up that the trip was awarded to her and not a kid who actually needs the opportunity. Like most of the games that are played today, it just oooozes bullshit
Not saying she was not qualified for the trip ( fashion images released notwithstanding)
but children of the PM should not be eligible as it can never be seen as impartial. And before anyone plays the pollies kids are off limits card, John has dealt his kids in a dozen times.
“Of the 1,048 people surveyed, a net 21 per cent said they were worse off than a year ago, a deterioration from last month’s 14 per cent who felt worse off. Still, a net 27 per cent expect to be better off in a year’s time, compared to 24 per cent seeing better times ahead in last month’s survey. A net 2 per cent of respondents said they think economic conditions will deteriorate over the coming 12 months, an improvement from a net 8 per cent who were gloomy on the general outlook in July”
More people now feel that they are worse off than they were a year ago yet fewer think they will be worse off a year’s hence (than in the last month’s survey). It seems that people are hanging onto the claims (from commentators?) that things are/will be getting better, even though they have personally experienced things getting harder up till now.Â
More people now feel that they are worse off than they were a year ago yet fewer think they will be worse off a yearâs hence (than in the last monthâs survey). It seems that people are hanging onto the claims (from commentators?) that things are/will be getting better, even though they have personally experienced things getting harder up till now.
I am reminded of the (incompetent) couple who ran the serviced offices where I worked – until the collapse of the company I worked for coincided more or less exactly with the election of NACT – and who said, zombie-like, in reponse to my question as to why they’d voted for NACT “Time for a change!” (with high-rising terminal, and dead eyes… đ ) Ron’n’Del I call them, middle-aged to elderly conservatives. I often wonder how they like the ‘change’ they voted for?
And it simply reflects the fact that the high kiwi dollar makes it a good time to consider making a major home purchase. Note the ‘consider’, it doesn’t actually mean people will purchase anything, just that they recognise the opportunity.
LOL Heard one gent interviewed after he as bailed for rioting comment “I was just getting my own bankers bonus”…says it all about the top down state of lawlessness in the UK..
Within hours of his statement, David Cameron insisted the government had no plans to reverse its decision to cut the police budget by ÂŁ2bn over the next four years, dismissing Johnson’s remarks as the usual pleading by a mayor.
It seems to me that if politicians who create these conditions of powerlessness and hopelessness in the population while simultaneously handing over trillions to the bankers can’t be charged with inciting riots, then the charge might as well be removed from the statutes.
…if politicians who create these conditions … canât be charged with inciting riots, then the charge might as well be removed from the statutes.
Good luck with that! However, I do think there is a chance that some of these politicians (from David Cameron on down) will be in serious trouble soon, when the inquiry into the Newscorpse phone hacking and bribery scandal really gets under weigh.
I believe that Cameron has perjured himself, and I’m sure they’ll go after Blair as well. That’s assuming they’re serious, of course.
Statutes are there to keep the commoners in check, not the elite.
e.g. as far as I know despite a probable >1M fraudulent subprime loans in the US, where most of the frauds have been perpetrated by the lenders, there has not been a single imprisonment.
Neither have there been any imprisonments of credit rating agency executives who were shown to have given toxic subprime mortgage backed securities “AAA” ratings when they had never even looked at the paperwork backing the actual mortgages.
The US financial system is a corrupt joke; the MSM is feeding us stories about a pretend fair and free market that does not exist.
In paragraph six they reference an older article discussing the sources of image used in Facial Recognition Software. In the very next paragraph there is the most incredulous statement suggesting the only people to be identified by the technology are already criminals.
A few paragraphs later they say how they are using the technology sparingly and releasing images to the public is the preferred option. They then say they have released a few dozen images. Ok, so how is it that as of last night over 750 arrests had been made?
To finish your snack there is a small cherry on top when the representative from the Olympic Planning Committee is spoken to. This person says they are considering using Facial Recognition in the Olympics. Five years ago they made a documentary on the planning of the Olympics and the technology was to be one of the foundations of the security measures.
you just gotta love their fundamental belif that the public are as thick as they are
Assuming that the police have a number of people who they regularily ‘keep an eye on’ as it were. And given the CCTV coverage, then by backtracking individuals from their home address to a riot situation via CCTV footage might not be that difficult in somme cases.
As for police cuts. Cameron has said the army would be considered in future. Meanwhile the establishment left are calling for the police cuts to be reversed. And they will be.
Finally. Is there any focus on the oppressive police culture/ actions? Any questioning of the endless searches etc, etc, etc and the effect that has on people? Na. Course not.
Them kids is criminals is all. Them kids is sick. Them kids need more discipline.
on BBC radio they were hammering the ‘blame the parents who didn’t teach right from wrong’ as the one and only reason for the criminality. There was a certain volatility to their delivery that for a moment i thought O’Reilly and Hannity were guest hosting
p.s. still no CCTV footage of the Mark Duggan shooting though. Amazing how these cameras only capture criminal acts
What do they think is going to happen we we’ve seen these riots with these police doing the direct job of controlling them? In a few month, these thousands of police may not have a job any more…
Every other public sector has been hammered, now it is their turn; should have stuck to proper policing rather than flying around in choppers chasing minor car thief’s, etc. How about nailing some of the fraudulent bankers?
Cullen Fund. Nats want to invest in SOE’s. Great. Build the publicly owned business up further with public money and then eventually sell it off completely …
Notice the nats are making out like the great protectors with this PR about getting tough on loan sharks…….a private member bill they voted down with ACT last year from memory. Great to have the MSM in your pocket when you turn another parties idea into your own after destroying it in parliament.
Next, watch how a befuddled Fox News host cuts off an American girl and her aunt who contradict official lies about the South Ossetia conflict in 2008… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fBGtXS66VM
You may occasionally wonder why our right wing friends like Pete (“Garth”) George are so unbalanced and unhinged. Well, consider what they watch every day…
Today is a good day for thousands of families in America as this scum is finally jailed. He still has an appeals process but at least that will be occuring whilst he is behind bars. Sure it will most likely be one of the white collar country clubs and he will not be in general population as law enforcement personnel and officers of the court rarely are, but at least he will get a small taste of the horror and hardship he has caused so many.
If you want a really harrowing weekend look into this guy’s history and consider what the ramifications are if we continue to privatise our prisons and youth assistance programmes.
Today is a good day for thousands of families in America as this scum is finally jailed
Bizarrely, this guy was fictionalised in the TV series ‘Cold Case’ in an episode from (I think) 2009, where he was made out to be innocent – the real villain being his sister who had tricked him! (In American cop shows, the villain is almost always a foreigner or a woman…)Â
I assume that many if not most Americans (and probably NZers) who’ve seen that episode will assume the story’s wholly fictional..,
“and we understand how popular it is with parents”
Mr Key is an idiot, it is not a nice to have, it is a cornerstone of this Nation’s relationship to our childrens’ education. Perhaps if he had raised his children in NZ and not America, Europe or whatever other Bankers’enclave he cowered in, his attitude to people in general would be more compassionate.
All you need is kindergarten – ECE is a load of bollocks – it does not get any better results, and is simply an expensive childcare program.
I grew up in the 80s without ECE and I’m extremely successful in my career – ECE wouldn’t have made a grain of sand’s worth of difference to how I turned out.
and every child has the exact same circumstances as every other child right sean? and your life is the eact same life every other person wants to live? ECE allows an option. Are you aware of that word, it resembles another word we apply when promoting independant thought, choice. These are not words that just fill space in a dictionary.
p.s. sean, if they hack at ECE, they will be cutting kindergarten funding also. hell they already removed almost all support for Plunkett’s phone lines and services. there is a trend here, apparently your narrow view of what a society should aspire to probably missed it.
Sean, Kindergartens have had their funding slashed and have been accused by the government of having lots of money in the bank they should spend fixing their premises and investing in early childhood education (because then the Govt. could get out of doing that for them).
The other day I heard a radio story about Point Chevallier Kindy, it is being evicted off the primary school grounds because the school needs to expand; the Ministry of Education refused to make the school two storey (too expensive), and because of the new classes the planning laws state they need more car parks, so the kindy must move.
The kindy in question should be accepting kids at their third birthday, but in reality the average age of entry is 3 yrs 11 months, they are at capacity (190) and have 260 on a waiting list. Auckland City are unable to provide any land for relocating the kindy, so it will close.
BTW, in the 80’s when you grew up many mothers didn’t go back to work; mothers are now being told to find work or lose benefits. You cannot work unless you have adequate child care. many families are now spread across the country, so the traditional auntie, grandma, etc support is long gone.
The other day I heard a radio story about Point Chevallier Kindy, it is being evicted off the primary school grounds because the school needs to expand; the Ministry of Education refused to make the school two storey (too expensive), and because of the new classes the planning laws state they need more car parks, so the kindy must move.
In the best example of clustering I’ve ever known in my life, Clive just had a promo for their story on exactly that this very moment…
Because I didn’t want leave a fatherless child with Aspergers in day care which I would have had to do if I was working, I was on a DPB and I took my son to a parent co-operative pre-school, and then kindy when he was 3 – for his socialisation, and I am very glad I was able to do so! If all else had been equal, I would have been glad to have ECE for him (if I had worked – which I would have done, if I wasn’t a solo parent.)
you gotta laugh, it got all the way to her writing a letter to the associate health minister ffs
or were they hoping to catch out Mr Anderton?
What an utter moron! (I love the way she spelled touchĂŠ, as well! đ ) That email was first seen by me back in the 90s, forwarded by a Libertarian, as a dig against Greens – and it’s glaringly obvious to anyone with an intermediate school education what di-hydrogen monoxide is!
A veritable library has been written about what possible causes could have led to the British riots, so what I’m blogging about shouldn’t be new to those keeping their finger on the pulse. There’s no doubt that various ingredients have amalgamated to form a disastrous recipe of violence, and in my opinion there’s two main factors involved; poverty and racism…
Remember Cherie Kurarangi Sweeney? She talked to police about the death of a Ngaruawahia baby and was called a nark. She stood up to that abuse and has continued campaigning for kids and against abuse.
She is organising âThis memorial for our children who have died at the hands of someone who was supposed to be caring for them is simple, it does not cost BUT it will have huge impact.â
So you are strongly supportive of her cause Pete, great to see.
Apart from enjoying the powerful symbolism offered by a soft toy at a war memorial, you and others will naturally be calling for increases in funding for Women’s Refuge, or at least demanding the recent cuts get reversed? You will no doubt be asking the Government increases DPB to stay in line with inflation and put all Housing NZ tenancies back into a rent controlled environment. You will of course be marching on Parliament showing that the Government must restrict the sale of Alcohol and ask that all existing licencees be put on a probationary caution leading to loss of licence and or property in compensation, if any of their product is found in possession of an intoxicated person who is later convicted for violence against children? You will naturally be asking for massive increases in Education spending and most importantly you will be wanting an immediate and comprehensive programme for those accused and/or convicted of violence to undergo Literacy and Anger mangement courses.
Or will you just be pressing like on a FaceBook page?
Are you doing all that? I agree with most of what you’ve listed, to a degree at least. The standout that I wouldn’t support as you state is “You will naturally be asking for massive increases in Education spending “. There’s obvious limits to money and I prefer smarter targeting anyway.
I won’t just be “pressing like on a FaceBook page”. On this I have been spreading the word, as I did on here. And I have volunteered to help coordinate with Cherie’s memorial down here.
I get more involved in things – for example a couple of years ago I wrote an anti abuse song and performed with a band playing it in a White Ribbon concert.
i do all i can when i can Pete, and as resources improve i will be doing a lot more.
But you considered and defended your efforts, on this topic and raised others that you have had concern on. For me that is all the build up to the election is about. Getting people to think and react. Right , Left, Fascist or Friendly. I am hungry to have people honest and if that means the occassional prodding with a sharp stick on a sensitive issue , i will prod. I think you get where i am coming from Pete and i would not be at all surprised that we would share some interesting dialogues over a couple of brews if the opportunity ever arose. Have a good weekend and let’s hope the kids do too.
i have replied Pete but it is moderation? i am guessing for use of the F word that labels certain political views of right leaning individuals, computers are not very good at defining context yet
[lprent: Yes it was. Not sure why it got put there. But it is better have auto-moderation than not. The alternatives would be to hold all comments for human scans (ie for a couple of hours). Or to let all messages through – which in the light of this statement on the dashboard
Akismet has protected your site from 101,167 spam comments already.
There’s nothing in your spam queue at the moment.
5,800 spam comments have been automatically discarded by Conditional CAPTCHA.
mmmmmmmm auto-moderation,
has such a calming ring to it, wonder if it could be applied to that long room over by the Beehive
thanks for the note lprent đ
âThe reason our childrenâs lives are the worst among economically advanced countries is because we are a poor version of the USA,â he said. âSo the USA comes second from bottom and we follow behind. The age of neo-liberalism, even with the human face that New Labour has given it, cannot stem the tide of the social recession capitalism creates.â
Survey proves that the more free-market a society is the worse off it’s children are.
But Draco, no point in telling the right, they don’t believe it, they would rather do a green paper and listen to the views of Bob McCroskie, because he knows better!
From increased greenhouse gas emissions to water contamination, hydraulic fracturing to free natural gas poses a range of environmental challenges.
The federal government should begin a major effort to measure greenhouse gas emissions tied to the nation’s booming natural gas industry, a Department of Energy advisory panel said today in a series of proposals on air and water quality issues.
The seven-member advisory panel under Energy Secretary Steven Chu released its first report outlining steps that regulators and companies drilling in vast U.S. shale gas reservoirs should take to avoid significant environmental damage and assuage public concern.
“There are serious environmental impacts underlying these concerns and these adverse environmental impacts need to be prevented, reduced and, where possible, eliminated as soon as possible,” says the report. “Absent effective control, public opposition will grow, thus putting continued production at risk.”.
In their 2004 film Team America, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, mercilessly mocked the political aspirations of the liberal Hollywood establishment by inventing a fake organisation for bleeding-heart actors called FAG (the Film Actors Guild), which counted the likes of Alec Baldwin, Michael Moore and Matt Damonin its number.
Seven years later it seems as though they picked their targets well. This week, Baldwin announced that he wanted to become mayor of New York and Moore said that he would like to see Damon become president of the US.
Amidst today’s court lists, is yet another grindingly poor, socially deprived rioter, lashing out in rage and despair, ground down by powerlessness and hopelessness:
Among the accused was Laura JohnÂson, 19, daughÂter of a sucÂcessÂful comÂpany direcÂtor. She lives in a detached conÂverted farmÂhouse in Kent, with extenÂsive grounds and a tenÂnis court. She is an EngÂlish and ItalÂian underÂgradÂuÂate at Exeter.
Before that, she attended St Olaveâs GramÂmar, the fourth-best state school in the counÂtry, where she studÂied A-levels in French, EngÂlish litÂerÂaÂture, geogÂraÂphy and clasÂsiÂcal civilÂiÂsaÂtion. On WednesÂday, at HighÂbury, she was accused of lootÂing the CurÂrys superÂstore, in CharlÂton, of elecÂtriÂcal goods worth ÂŁ5000 ($7800).
NZ high society kids end up trashed, killing themselves, and dealing drugs. Your point? Bad parenting and other shit happens at every strata of society. But those coming from well to do families have a far better chance of picking themselves up.
For starters, I bet you that “Laura” got highly paid legal representation and a lighter sentence/no conviction as a result, then most of the other kids left to rot in the same circumstance.
Yesterday Kate Wilkinson failed to answer a question as Minister of Labour, which also related to her roll as Associate Minister of Immigration, because the question was directed to her as Minister of Labour. Wilkinson declined to answer the question concerning relevant and required information to do with her portfolios because of a technicality. What a complete mind fuck!
Is that not the type of situation that we need a player in the house to provide allowance for a question to be re-tasked to the appropriate hat the particular big head was not wearing at the time of their purposeful obfuscation? You know someone who keeps things on track and makes sure the intent of the parliamentary debate is just and accurate. We could call them, ahh and remember this is just off the top off my head, we could call them The Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives.
That little penis Patrick Gower is creaming his jeans about Key’s up-coming attack on solo mothers – he calls it “helping them”… (He was given what he calls a ‘sneak preview)…
Also, Petulant Bean whining that she’s a good feminist… WTF? I notice she shows the same flat vowels as Key… has she always spoken like her beloved leader?
“Is it surprising that after decades of selfishness, meanness, unpunished theft and blatant tax dodging from the top, that those at the bottom follow the example.
You ruin, destroy and steal everything from people, including any hope for a better future. Then you are surprised they turn as mean and self centred as you”.
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. ...
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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 weâve 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 ...
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Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealandâs 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 ...
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New Zealandâs 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 âmoisture-ladenâ 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 governmentâs fiscal policies raised issues of substance. âToday in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media â sure enough â have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willisâ 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 â that the Budget âwill 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 – Itâs 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-MÄori andâŚ. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you donât like and donât ...
Don Brash writes –Â 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 ...
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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 isnât already pretty well-off? Itâs as if protecting landlordsâ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of Nationalâs ...
 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, itâs that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxonâs ...
Robert MacCulloch writes –Â 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 yearâs Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran OâSullivan, 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 â a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon â note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinsonâs 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 â or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. Itâs 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 Zealandâs 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 –Â Â 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 – âIt is often said that behind every great man is a great womanâ. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their âLadies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxonâ. 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 Petersâ 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 â 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 Newshubâs 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 Governmentâs plan to âget Auckland movingâ 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 sheâs 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 Governmentâs 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 Americaâs 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 wonât stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Memberâs 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 Labourâs 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 Firstâs 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 âco-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 PÄti MÄori 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. âIâm 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 âtake back our countryâ 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 Jonesâ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Governmentâs 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 public service 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 public service on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Governmentâs 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 doesnât 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. âIt 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. âThe 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.  âThis travel will focus on a range of New Zealandâs traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,â 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. âRoad 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. âOur 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 Parliamentâs order paper. âThe Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,â Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams wonât be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. âThe coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. âDam 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. âI 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. âThe Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023â24, 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 governmentâs 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 Governmentâs Budget objectives. âThe 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.                                        âThe 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.  âThese changes are long overdue â 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 Zealandâs growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Ministerâs Prizes for Space today. âNew Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealandâs concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. Â Â âThe 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 Educationâs School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. âThere 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. âToday 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 Peopleâs Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. âThe use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,â 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. âWeâre 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 Zealandâs ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. Â Â âI 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. âI have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commissionâs online consultation portal.â 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. âComprising 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. âI 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. âThis is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women donât ...
Good morning, itâs 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 Governmentâs ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Governmentâs commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools MÄori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. âThe Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, Iâm proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of todayâs 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 Iâm sorry I canât 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 WhangÄrei site where the facility will be constructed. âNorthland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata MÄori 20 years ago, says MÄori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisationâs 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 Indonesiaâs 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 Zealandâs Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The countryâs largest trade union â The Public Service Association â 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 sheâs 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 â Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? â 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 Booksâ 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 pickânâmix 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 youâre at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, donât panic: The Spinoffâs 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 letâs 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 â but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
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 ...
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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 havenât accessed support to come forward and engage with the councilâs recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “Itâs official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “weâre in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
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 Parliamentâs 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 âdisappearanceâ of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people âsequesteredâ in this weekâs 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 Itâs Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether youâre a boomer, or an â80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fijiâs 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 ...
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http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/America:_Freedom_to_Fascism
An interesting piece on tv I found channel surfing
For a fatalist it is not great news, as those running The Fed Res
Nice article, US appears to be one giant fraud. Have a gink at this
http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-08-11/con-game
Sadly the US main product these days is financial fraud.
The equity, futures, commodities and bond markets are also completely manipulated with high speed computerised trading. Ordinary investors have no chance, those ‘markets’ are in reality now casinos where the house always wins and where the punter always loses.
Their bank is the biggest fraud of all. The American public, and most of the World, largely believe it is a Federal Agency because they stuck the word in the title. When you get through the haze and actually make an American understand the Federal Reserve is an 100% private Institution that is not accountable to any of their Administration’s frameworks, the slow drawn horror that creeps over their faces becomes strangely exhilarating as you see how much potential there is for change. When you witness the moment that they understand every single dollar that has entered their economy since 1911 has been in the form of a loan, wow, step back and lock up the carving knives because baby is out for blood. Then if you throw the Tax issues on top and explain how there is no actual law requiring Americans to pay Income Tax, or that the entire take of Income Tax only services the interest on the debt and the principal loans still exist, it is a heartless person that won’t offer a hug.
Key can hardly deny he doesn’t know how speculators make money.
Yet as riots infect Britian partly due to the austerity measures, what is Key doing?
Pushing austerity on benefitaries.
Its like he worships Satan, that’s the only think I’ve got to explain it, he must just
love sticking it into the poorest, most marginalized, push them into destitution.
So here’s a question for the left, why have they yet found anyone who has lost the
benefit and is now starving?
And where did all the 7,000 go? australia? Why isn’t Labour making clear that’s
what happened to them? Or were they claiming the benefit illegally?
I can tell you’ve never lived in another country or probably done any serious travel – comparing our situation to London is surely taking the piss. Its so different you couldn’t get much further apart unless you went to Africa.
and something tells me with your $125k a year (prev comment by you on this site) you have very little experience of what the vast majority of New Zealanders are actually facing on a day to day basis
The whole of capitalism operates according to the the same structure and the same lie – work hard enough and you’ll become rich. The majority don’t become rich or even well off – the rich just get richer from everyone else’s hard work.
Wifi all fixed !! Appologies for incoherent comments đ has anyone got s good read regarding the fed I have a few hours on s plane to fill. The little I have found out the more unbelievable it is !!!
It appears to me that a few (w)bankers are running the world yet no-one is aware of this
Amazing what fate has in store the riots have changed travel plans especially when they are in the same area you are staying in. I was amazed or out of touch not to be informed of this. Just like the U.S it appears that no political party cares about the people this should be aired for all who view this site to open many one eyed contributors
Too true. I have been watching and reading from all sides of the old left – right divide…one thing the ascerbic commentators all agree upon is that “finance” (Wall St, the City etc) are all out of control and an increasing danger and menace to our freedom, let alone our economies.
Why is it that when the bankers make comment regarding govt policy we have to listen and obey, yet when banks fail we must do everything possable to protect and save them?
Europe is being told to follow British austerity measures and on the U.k we will see these same austerity measures hopefully bring “relaxed” I only hope it is not only to reverse the planned reduction of frontline police by 20% or 16,000 on number. The current events make the U.S freedom to fascism more relevant.
Ps how do you delete a comment by phone?
Now if you could put that in English Herodotus… have you been taking lessons from Joky Hen? He has a wonderful command of the mother tongue as well.
The wireless keeps dropping out and I was under the impression that the comment was deleted so please ignore my response !!!! đ
Kiwi’s in Lala land,
It must be something in the air because reality doesn’t come into it. While the world is collapsing New Zealanders have the highest economic confidence in seven months. Unbelievable!
That just means they think things can’t possibly get worse than they already are. It’s not actually a ringing endorsement.
but it is yet another poll, published in a newspaper that neglects to mention how the information was gathered, a practice that is starting to piss me off. Isn’t there some regulation or a law somewhere that deals with this jejune propoganda, if not , why not? * shakes fist in indignation *
Does that not send a real message that our education sector has created a bunch of sponges who absorb rather than question the information in front of them?
yup, dey are edukated in gud skools and no wun kan say dey are stoopid kos Mr Keys says we are all brite asperatunol citycins with promis and opotoonites
All except those at Kings College, etc. because they are guaranteed good jobs by virtue of being at a posh school.
like a PM’s daughter who ‘won’ a scholarship year in France to study Fashion Design.
Still gets my ire up that the trip was awarded to her and not a kid who actually needs the opportunity. Like most of the games that are played today, it just oooozes bullshit
Not saying she was not qualified for the trip ( fashion images released notwithstanding)
but children of the PM should not be eligible as it can never be seen as impartial. And before anyone plays the pollies kids are off limits card, John has dealt his kids in a dozen times.
Yes, that could explain the rest of the results:
“Of the 1,048 people surveyed, a net 21 per cent said they were worse off than a year ago, a deterioration from last month’s 14 per cent who felt worse off. Still, a net 27 per cent expect to be better off in a year’s time, compared to 24 per cent seeing better times ahead in last month’s survey.
A net 2 per cent of respondents said they think economic conditions will deteriorate over the coming 12 months, an improvement from a net 8 per cent who were gloomy on the general outlook in July”
More people now feel that they are worse off than they were a year ago yet fewer think they will be worse off a year’s hence (than in the last month’s survey). It seems that people are hanging onto the claims (from commentators?) that things are/will be getting better, even though they have personally experienced things getting harder up till now.Â
I am reminded of the (incompetent) couple who ran the serviced offices where I worked – until the collapse of the company I worked for coincided more or less exactly with the election of NACT – and who said, zombie-like, in reponse to my question as to why they’d voted for NACT “Time for a change!” (with high-rising terminal, and dead eyes… đ ) Ron’n’Del I call them, middle-aged to elderly conservatives. I often wonder how they like the ‘change’ they voted for?
And it simply reflects the fact that the high kiwi dollar makes it a good time to consider making a major home purchase. Note the ‘consider’, it doesn’t actually mean people will purchase anything, just that they recognise the opportunity.
Pom pollies in Lala land….
Apparently there are plans to cut the Met Police force by 16000, the same number on the streets during the riots. This from the BBC….
Senior government sources say the Treasury will not reopen negotiations on the spending review.
And Home Secretary Theresa May has repeated her belief that police budgets can be reduced without damaging their ability to do their jobs.
But the Home Office said the reductions in the police budget were manageable.
Which all goes to show how out of touch our political leadership really is. And the money men are wagging the dog again.
But it’s ok Bored, ‘cos they’re going to ban the wearing of masks and give themselves the power to shut down facebook and twitter whenever they like.
So don’t worry about the cuts, they’re still building an effective police state.
LOL Heard one gent interviewed after he as bailed for rioting comment “I was just getting my own bankers bonus”…says it all about the top down state of lawlessness in the UK..
A link to that please. pretty please with a cherry on top
i have wafers,
please Bored, where did you hear that one, it’s platinum dipped in gold with rhodium sprinkles
Al Jazheera last night, get it on cable TV.
possibly still retrievable here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/15/theresa-may-cut-police-budget-without-violent-unrest
Boris has his say but:
Within hours of his statement, David Cameron insisted the government had no plans to reverse its decision to cut the police budget by ÂŁ2bn over the next four years, dismissing Johnson’s remarks as the usual pleading by a mayor.
Indeed.
It seems to me that if politicians who create these conditions of powerlessness and hopelessness in the population while simultaneously handing over trillions to the bankers can’t be charged with inciting riots, then the charge might as well be removed from the statutes.
…if politicians who create these conditions … canât be charged with inciting riots, then the charge might as well be removed from the statutes.
Good luck with that! However, I do think there is a chance that some of these politicians (from David Cameron on down) will be in serious trouble soon, when the inquiry into the Newscorpse phone hacking and bribery scandal really gets under weigh.
I believe that Cameron has perjured himself, and I’m sure they’ll go after Blair as well. That’s assuming they’re serious, of course.
Statutes are there to keep the commoners in check, not the elite.
e.g. as far as I know despite a probable >1M fraudulent subprime loans in the US, where most of the frauds have been perpetrated by the lenders, there has not been a single imprisonment.
Neither have there been any imprisonments of credit rating agency executives who were shown to have given toxic subprime mortgage backed securities “AAA” ratings when they had never even looked at the paperwork backing the actual mortgages.
The US financial system is a corrupt joke; the MSM is feeding us stories about a pretend fair and free market that does not exist.
Putting the burgeoning Police State aside for a moment. Do these people even listen to what they say, or read what is written about what they said?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/5434148/Facial-recognition-in-use-after-British-riots
In paragraph six they reference an older article discussing the sources of image used in Facial Recognition Software. In the very next paragraph there is the most incredulous statement suggesting the only people to be identified by the technology are already criminals.
A few paragraphs later they say how they are using the technology sparingly and releasing images to the public is the preferred option. They then say they have released a few dozen images. Ok, so how is it that as of last night over 750 arrests had been made?
To finish your snack there is a small cherry on top when the representative from the Olympic Planning Committee is spoken to. This person says they are considering using Facial Recognition in the Olympics. Five years ago they made a documentary on the planning of the Olympics and the technology was to be one of the foundations of the security measures.
you just gotta love their fundamental belif that the public are as thick as they are
Assuming that the police have a number of people who they regularily ‘keep an eye on’ as it were. And given the CCTV coverage, then by backtracking individuals from their home address to a riot situation via CCTV footage might not be that difficult in somme cases.
As for police cuts. Cameron has said the army would be considered in future. Meanwhile the establishment left are calling for the police cuts to be reversed. And they will be.
Finally. Is there any focus on the oppressive police culture/ actions? Any questioning of the endless searches etc, etc, etc and the effect that has on people? Na. Course not.
Them kids is criminals is all. Them kids is sick. Them kids need more discipline.
on BBC radio they were hammering the ‘blame the parents who didn’t teach right from wrong’ as the one and only reason for the criminality. There was a certain volatility to their delivery that for a moment i thought O’Reilly and Hannity were guest hosting
p.s. still no CCTV footage of the Mark Duggan shooting though. Amazing how these cameras only capture criminal acts
Oh…ru saying that the police may not have been performing a criminal act in that shootoing? đ
Police are effectively a legalised gang of thugs.
What do they think is going to happen we we’ve seen these riots with these police doing the direct job of controlling them? In a few month, these thousands of police may not have a job any more…
Every other public sector has been hammered, now it is their turn; should have stuck to proper policing rather than flying around in choppers chasing minor car thief’s, etc. How about nailing some of the fraudulent bankers?
Cullen Fund. Nats want to invest in SOE’s. Great. Build the publicly owned business up further with public money and then eventually sell it off completely …
Notice the nats are making out like the great protectors with this PR about getting tough on loan sharks…….a private member bill they voted down with ACT last year from memory. Great to have the MSM in your pocket when you turn another parties idea into your own after destroying it in parliament.
Support Adidas! Adidas supports European Sporting Performance
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2011/08/T082211.jpg
Look at the matching outfit. Beautiful in so many ways.
lol poetic
This is so appropriate in so many ways …
I notice that ANZ are advertising home loans for holidays, renovations, kids etc.
So back to the future!!!
Silencing dissent on the BBC and Fox News
First, the impatient handling of Darcus Howe, a West Indian writer and broadcaster. Note how belittling and condescending the BBC host is…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biJgILxGK0o&feature=topvideos_news
Next, watch how a befuddled Fox News host cuts off an American girl and her aunt who contradict official lies about the South Ossetia conflict in 2008…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fBGtXS66VM
Charlie Brooker on the American News Media. Funny
You may occasionally wonder why our right wing friends like Pete (“Garth”) George are so unbalanced and unhinged. Well, consider what they watch every day…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aEk864YrKw&feature=related
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/5434635/Kids-for-cash-judge-gets-28-years-jail
Today is a good day for thousands of families in America as this scum is finally jailed. He still has an appeals process but at least that will be occuring whilst he is behind bars. Sure it will most likely be one of the white collar country clubs and he will not be in general population as law enforcement personnel and officers of the court rarely are, but at least he will get a small taste of the horror and hardship he has caused so many.
If you want a really harrowing weekend look into this guy’s history and consider what the ramifications are if we continue to privatise our prisons and youth assistance programmes.
Bizarrely, this guy was fictionalised in the TV series ‘Cold Case’ in an episode from (I think) 2009, where he was made out to be innocent – the real villain being his sister who had tricked him! (In American cop shows, the villain is almost always a foreigner or a woman…)Â
I assume that many if not most Americans (and probably NZers) who’ve seen that episode will assume the story’s wholly fictional..,
I see Mr. Key hasn’t quite got round to understanding the need for quality early childhood education
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10744548
Maybe it is going to be an election carrot?
“and we understand how popular it is with parents”
Mr Key is an idiot, it is not a nice to have, it is a cornerstone of this Nation’s relationship to our childrens’ education. Perhaps if he had raised his children in NZ and not America, Europe or whatever other Bankers’enclave he cowered in, his attitude to people in general would be more compassionate.
All you need is kindergarten – ECE is a load of bollocks – it does not get any better results, and is simply an expensive childcare program.
I grew up in the 80s without ECE and I’m extremely successful in my career – ECE wouldn’t have made a grain of sand’s worth of difference to how I turned out.
and every child has the exact same circumstances as every other child right sean? and your life is the eact same life every other person wants to live? ECE allows an option. Are you aware of that word, it resembles another word we apply when promoting independant thought, choice. These are not words that just fill space in a dictionary.
p.s. sean, if they hack at ECE, they will be cutting kindergarten funding also. hell they already removed almost all support for Plunkett’s phone lines and services. there is a trend here, apparently your narrow view of what a society should aspire to probably missed it.
Sean, Kindergartens have had their funding slashed and have been accused by the government of having lots of money in the bank they should spend fixing their premises and investing in early childhood education (because then the Govt. could get out of doing that for them).
The other day I heard a radio story about Point Chevallier Kindy, it is being evicted off the primary school grounds because the school needs to expand; the Ministry of Education refused to make the school two storey (too expensive), and because of the new classes the planning laws state they need more car parks, so the kindy must move.
The kindy in question should be accepting kids at their third birthday, but in reality the average age of entry is 3 yrs 11 months, they are at capacity (190) and have 260 on a waiting list. Auckland City are unable to provide any land for relocating the kindy, so it will close.
BTW, in the 80’s when you grew up many mothers didn’t go back to work; mothers are now being told to find work or lose benefits. You cannot work unless you have adequate child care. many families are now spread across the country, so the traditional auntie, grandma, etc support is long gone.
In the best example of clustering I’ve ever known in my life, Clive just had a promo for their story on exactly that this very moment…
Because I didn’t want leave a fatherless child with Aspergers in day care which I would have had to do if I was working, I was on a DPB and I took my son to a parent co-operative pre-school, and then kindy when he was 3 – for his socialisation, and I am very glad I was able to do so! If all else had been equal, I would have been glad to have ECE for him (if I had worked – which I would have done, if I wasn’t a solo parent.)
You can’t seriously expect Sean Maitland to think beyond the two dimensions of his narrow-ass own precious life can you?
“I grew up in the 80s without ECE and Iâm extremely successful in my career”
Your success appears only to be exceeded by your narcissism – blowhard (mind you we only have your word for that)
ECE wouldnât have made a grain of sandâs worth of difference to how I turned out.
It may have made you more empathetic toward others and less of a bragger.
more reationary ignorance from a National MP
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10463579
you gotta laugh, it got all the way to her writing a letter to the associate health minister ffs
or were they hoping to catch out Mr Anderton?
What an utter moron! (I love the way she spelled touchĂŠ, as well! đ ) That email was first seen by me back in the 90s, forwarded by a Libertarian, as a dig against Greens – and it’s glaringly obvious to anyone with an intermediate school education what di-hydrogen monoxide is!
Sorry I’m Black
A veritable library has been written about what possible causes could have led to the British riots, so what I’m blogging about shouldn’t be new to those keeping their finger on the pulse. There’s no doubt that various ingredients have amalgamated to form a disastrous recipe of violence, and in my opinion there’s two main factors involved; poverty and racism…
We have problems of our own.
Remember Cherie Kurarangi Sweeney? She talked to police about the death of a Ngaruawahia baby and was called a nark. She stood up to that abuse and has continued campaigning for kids and against abuse.
She is organising âThis memorial for our children who have died at the hands of someone who was supposed to be caring for them is simple, it does not cost BUT it will have huge impact.â
âSTOP the Deaths from Child Abuse! NOW!â (Cherie’s Facebook event page).
Good to see people who are prepared to step up and do something about problems. Cherie deserves a heap of praise and support.
So you are strongly supportive of her cause Pete, great to see.
Apart from enjoying the powerful symbolism offered by a soft toy at a war memorial, you and others will naturally be calling for increases in funding for Women’s Refuge, or at least demanding the recent cuts get reversed? You will no doubt be asking the Government increases DPB to stay in line with inflation and put all Housing NZ tenancies back into a rent controlled environment. You will of course be marching on Parliament showing that the Government must restrict the sale of Alcohol and ask that all existing licencees be put on a probationary caution leading to loss of licence and or property in compensation, if any of their product is found in possession of an intoxicated person who is later convicted for violence against children? You will naturally be asking for massive increases in Education spending and most importantly you will be wanting an immediate and comprehensive programme for those accused and/or convicted of violence to undergo Literacy and Anger mangement courses.
Or will you just be pressing like on a FaceBook page?
Are you doing all that? I agree with most of what you’ve listed, to a degree at least. The standout that I wouldn’t support as you state is “You will naturally be asking for massive increases in Education spending “. There’s obvious limits to money and I prefer smarter targeting anyway.
I won’t just be “pressing like on a FaceBook page”. On this I have been spreading the word, as I did on here. And I have volunteered to help coordinate with Cherie’s memorial down here.
I get more involved in things – for example a couple of years ago I wrote an anti abuse song and performed with a band playing it in a White Ribbon concert.
What point were you trying to make?
i do all i can when i can Pete, and as resources improve i will be doing a lot more.
But you considered and defended your efforts, on this topic and raised others that you have had concern on. For me that is all the build up to the election is about. Getting people to think and react. Right , Left, Fascist or Friendly. I am hungry to have people honest and if that means the occassional prodding with a sharp stick on a sensitive issue , i will prod. I think you get where i am coming from Pete and i would not be at all surprised that we would share some interesting dialogues over a couple of brews if the opportunity ever arose. Have a good weekend and let’s hope the kids do too.
i have replied Pete but it is moderation? i am guessing for use of the F word that labels certain political views of right leaning individuals, computers are not very good at defining context yet
[lprent: Yes it was. Not sure why it got put there. But it is better have auto-moderation than not. The alternatives would be to hold all comments for human scans (ie for a couple of hours). Or to let all messages through – which in the light of this statement on the dashboard
Akismet has protected your site from 101,167 spam comments already.
There’s nothing in your spam queue at the moment.
5,800 spam comments have been automatically discarded by Conditional CAPTCHA.
I’m not going to do… ]
mmmmmmmm auto-moderation,
has such a calming ring to it, wonder if it could be applied to that long room over by the Beehive
thanks for the note lprent đ
What point were you trying to make?
I think it was clear to everyone but you what point he was trying to make: you are a hypocrite, and (even worse) a confused hypocrite.
Any want a laugh; the grossly deluded Mr. Brash in full effect!
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10744607
Generation F*cked
How Britain is Eating Its Young
Survey proves that the more free-market a society is the worse off it’s children are.
But Draco, no point in telling the right, they don’t believe it, they would rather do a green paper and listen to the views of Bob McCroskie, because he knows better!
Scientific American: Government Fracking Panel Calls for Environmental Impact Study
From increased greenhouse gas emissions to water contamination, hydraulic fracturing to free natural gas poses a range of environmental challenges.
The federal government should begin a major effort to measure greenhouse gas emissions tied to the nation’s booming natural gas industry, a Department of Energy advisory panel said today in a series of proposals on air and water quality issues.
The seven-member advisory panel under Energy Secretary Steven Chu released its first report outlining steps that regulators and companies drilling in vast U.S. shale gas reservoirs should take to avoid significant environmental damage and assuage public concern.
“There are serious environmental impacts underlying these concerns and these adverse environmental impacts need to be prevented, reduced and, where possible, eliminated as soon as possible,” says the report. “Absent effective control, public opposition will grow, thus putting continued production at risk.”.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get weirder…
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/82963,people,news,team-america-fags-alec-baldwin-and-matt-damon-have-designs-on-us-politics-michael-moore
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Amidst today’s court lists, is yet another grindingly poor, socially deprived rioter, lashing out in rage and despair, ground down by powerlessness and hopelessness:
Among the accused was Laura JohnÂson, 19, daughÂter of a sucÂcessÂful comÂpany direcÂtor. She lives in a detached conÂverted farmÂhouse in Kent, with extenÂsive grounds and a tenÂnis court. She is an EngÂlish and ItalÂian underÂgradÂuÂate at Exeter.
Before that, she attended St Olaveâs GramÂmar, the fourth-best state school in the counÂtry, where she studÂied A-levels in French, EngÂlish litÂerÂaÂture, geogÂraÂphy and clasÂsiÂcal civilÂiÂsaÂtion. On WednesÂday, at HighÂbury, she was accused of lootÂing the CurÂrys superÂstore, in CharlÂton, of elecÂtriÂcal goods worth ÂŁ5000 ($7800).
Wish I were that deprived…
NZ high society kids end up trashed, killing themselves, and dealing drugs. Your point? Bad parenting and other shit happens at every strata of society. But those coming from well to do families have a far better chance of picking themselves up.
For starters, I bet you that “Laura” got highly paid legal representation and a lighter sentence/no conviction as a result, then most of the other kids left to rot in the same circumstance.
Asshole of the Week Award – Kate Wilkinson
Yesterday Kate Wilkinson failed to answer a question as Minister of Labour, which also related to her roll as Associate Minister of Immigration, because the question was directed to her as Minister of Labour. Wilkinson declined to answer the question concerning relevant and required information to do with her portfolios because of a technicality. What a complete mind fuck!
Is that not the type of situation that we need a player in the house to provide allowance for a question to be re-tasked to the appropriate hat the particular big head was not wearing at the time of their purposeful obfuscation? You know someone who keeps things on track and makes sure the intent of the parliamentary debate is just and accurate. We could call them, ahh and remember this is just off the top off my head, we could call them The Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives.
Friday Fun with Photos #12
United Future leader and Associate Minister for Health Peter Dunne said he had smoked cannabis “a couple of times” as a student in the 1970s…
Dont believe a word of it, he was born a wowser.
That little penis Patrick Gower is creaming his jeans about Key’s up-coming attack on solo mothers – he calls it “helping them”… (He was given what he calls a ‘sneak preview)…
Also, Petulant Bean whining that she’s a good feminist… WTF? I notice she shows the same flat vowels as Key… has she always spoken like her beloved leader?
oh great plan, when all else fails attack their diction
The Left are allowed to be just as mean and petty as some DPB Minister intent on pulling the ladder up after her.
Lolwut? It was an observation! It’s the sort of thing that I notice…
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“Is it surprising that after decades of selfishness, meanness, unpunished theft and blatant tax dodging from the top, that those at the bottom follow the example.
You ruin, destroy and steal everything from people, including any hope for a better future. Then you are surprised they turn as mean and self centred as you”.
http://kjt-kt.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-riots.html
“Where England goes, we will follow”..