“…There is plenty of research showing that low general intelligence in childhood predicts greater prejudice towards people of different ethnicity or sexuality in adulthood…”
David Cunliffe’s latest post in Red Alert will reignite a debate had here recently. In one passage he neatly summarises why greater equality of resource allocation is important:
“But has [Herald reporter Simon] Collins not read The Spirit Level? There is a strong case that more equal societies do better. Including economically. If so, fairness ain’t just compassion, it’s common sense.”
He then gets the one-two treatment from Cactus Kate and the slithery one and a comment pointing him to the critique of the Spirit Level. The response of Thomas is coincidentally similar to that by climate change deniers. The theory has not been proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, therefore it should be ignored.
The exchange highlights a problem with Red Alert, it seems to be a conduit whereby the right attack Labour MPs. Lefties should head over there and have a bit of a discussion …
A good point, mickysavage, (The theory has not been proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, therefore it should be ignored.) critiquing a study in isolation does not disprove a theory.
I see the The Spirit Level as an addition to the body of work on inequality, rather than the definitive word. Like in any theory-building that eventually becomes the norm, there are gaps in knowledge and ideas generated that will be improved in the next piece of work.
For me, David M Smiths’s book Where the grass is Greener: Living in an Unequal World way back in 1982 was the beginning of my theoretical journey in understanding the relationship between politics, economy and inequality. And over the years a significant body of work has been generated that strengthens the connections. The Spirit Level is simply an accessible addition. The big picture is far more important.
I don’t have time to go and argue with the theologians, but it baffles me that people can still look at the neo-liberal model and not see it as bankrupt. I understand the Koch Bros pushing it, they clearly benefit from it, but “the slithery one”?
Lefties should head over there and have a bit of a discussion …
I pop over there every now and then but, to be honest, I can’t really be bothered trying to persuade the RWNJs over there of the truth as they just don’t want to believe it.
“…In another sign that Democrats have embraced income inequality as a cause célèbre – the Senate Budget Committee held a hearing on the subject today.
The committee’s ranking Republican, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, managed to look concerned during two hours of testimony about the kneecapping of the Middle Class —
– not that it should have been all that difficult.
Here are some of the hearing’s most striking charts:..”
I think more emphasis should be placed on whether Len Brown will last his term. He comes up with a dream scheme for Lite Rail that Auckland cant afford.
The Reason being Auckland is a very large city in terms of area but very low in terms of Population density per sq km lite rail dooesnt work in this formula, and would always be a massive cost to the city.He would be much better to run with the Pod idea that was very cost effective, and doesnt require large amounts of land grabs. However Len didnt think about it so he wont do it
He has never been a mayor who was responsible fiscally there were many poor reports from auditors at Manukau. Now he wants to dream up ever more ways of gouging rate payers to fund his dream.
He was the mayor who built the Train station in Manukau in the middle of a paddock, and hardly anyone used it for ages.Why is it that Socialists only know how to tax tax unitl people slowly bleed to death whilst the spend ever so wastefully. Good bye Len very soon we all hope so you can play with your toy train set at home.
James 111. Please respond to this. How can Auckland afford not to construct the inner city loop? The train system maxes out in about 7 years and with oil bound to increase in price the train system will be vital.
No one hates rail, maybe if you stopped being so emotional in your response you might actually see what people have an issue with. Akl is very spread city, its a hard sell to put a whole lot more costs on Aucklanders for a servuice which will benefit only CBD users. Get it.
The issue in Auckland is not how we get from some outlying suburb to the CBD. The issue is how you get from some outlying suburb to another suburb. Ie from Penrose to Henderson or vice versa.
Akl is very spread city, its a hard sell to put a whole lot more costs on Aucklanders for a servuice which will benefit only CBD users.
Not only CBD users! I use trains to get from Mt Albert to Mt Eden or Kingsland, or whatever – and would use them more if they were as useful as the Wellington ones.
Hell yeah, we were going to move (deferred because of lack of time) and the only properties in contention were along the rail lines. Now that they are halfway useable, why would anyone live anywhere else. The actual ideal would be to be just out of earshot of the rail and a motorway, away from a main road, and within walking distance of station and driving distance of a dual onramp.
The motorway is mostly because the rail doesn’t go far enough.
I use the bus and trains to and from out west. There is a pretty good bus service to and from the station and between suburbs, but they are not often enough, especially outside peak hours. They also don’t co-ordinate well with the trains and each other – too much waiting around.
But there are some bus routes that do a winding tour through a lot of backstreets in the suburbs, meaning there is some service for most out west…. just not often enough, and those winding routes take a fair bit of time.
How come the right never complain about us all being taxed and rated to give the “Well Connected Group” of roading lobbyists $billions in corporate welfare.
If the W.C.G.’s Waterview tunnel boondoggle project was scrapped, this would release hundreds of $millions to invest in a decent public transport system for Auckland.
You know Draco, you really are a smarmy, nasty prick.
You go and tell our predominatly Sth Auckland manufacturing workforce that they have NFI on the difficulties to get a regular transport service from the suburbs they live in to our work place in fuking penrose and then home again, thats why they use cars.
You then tell them that you are going to put up all their rates to fund a inner city train link which they will probably never even fuking sit on. I am sure it will be absolutly marvelous for the trendy leftish inhabitants in ponsonby and inner city as it will enable them to get to their latte’s quicker , but for the rest of us who really never get near the central city , it might as well be built in Mongolia for all its worth.
The most recent memory of people trying to use public transport in Auckland was at the opening of the RWC and what a joy that was.
The most recent memory of people trying to use public transport in Auckland was at the opening of the RWC and what a joy that was.
Thats what happens when you put inexperienced low paid private sector fucktards with zero give a shit factor in charge of running the trains and buses that night.
Private sector fuktards and this is from the man who’s occupation is being a ‘stay at home son in law.
I am a private sector fuktard as you put it. I employ people well, we have a very long standing staff. We design and fabricate goods and we pay our fuking taxes, what do you do.
Hey, Rob, while CV’s supposed bludger lifestyle does severely diminish his credibility*, his point is sound.
The RWC transport mess was proof that people will use public transport if it is provided. The debacle that ensued was entirely predictable and clearly made worse by the involvement of the private sector whatsits. But don’t take it personally. You sound like you know what you are doing in your area of expertise and more power to ya. But public transport is still best left to be run by public bodies. Run in a business like manner, obviously, but run for the greater good, not for private profit.
*I still think CV is taking the piss and he is not actually leeching off his family. Far more likely that he is on ACC, the victim of some horrendous accident that his left him just a head in a jar, communicating via a visual recognition system. One blink for yes, two for no, three for rightie f’ktard, etc…
The issue in Auckland is not how we get from some outlying suburb to the CBD. The issue is how you get from some outlying suburb to another suburb. Ie from Penrose to Henderson or vice versa.
Um Penrose has rail running through the middle of it and there is a dinky rail station smack bang in the middle of Henderson.
This all goes to show why it is so important for Auckland to consolidate and not continuously spread out like sludge. That way PT becomes relevant and affordable.
And how many connections and how long is that, and are they built around a normal manufacturing timetable. I honestly dont know, but I do know that 95% of our staff drive.
We provide good showers obviously and I try to cycle on Fridays, as we have a casual dress code for that day. Cycling down Great South in peak hour is really taking your life in your hands.
Anyway in my simple and as pointed out uneducated view , public transport work well when you have a critical mass of occupants getting on in similar places and then exiting in similar places. Again my thinking is that this works in Wgtn (even though it has relatively smaller population against other city’s) as there is an over proportion of CBD workers all moving into the the CBD in the mornings and leaving in the evening. With that type of gauranteed volume it is easy to plan a profitable and sustainable network.
The issue in Auckland is spread as it has been pointed out, not only of popN but also industry zones, whoever or whatever council planning designed this really needs to be brought to task on this result . I like the idea of public transport, belive it or not most people do. However the true practicalities for employees & workers getting from their homes to their workplace on time for their shift to opening at say 6:00am is tough, especially if you throw in Winter weather.
Do not confuse this example with the requirements of a semi retired single person for instance planing to get to the surburban library for 11:00am.
As for my comments on CV , if he / she is genuinly sick then I apologise and hope there is a plan for recovery. For Draco, my comments stand. Next time he tells someone they have NFI , he should take a look in mirror as no one knows everything.
think more emphasis should be placed on whether Len Brown will last his term.
Bahahahaha!
I’m sure you do. But unlike your dreamy Justin Keyber, Brown hasn’t been acting like a petulant brat, was not parachuted into the organisation just because he got rich firing people without losing sleep, and he didn’t become mayor of Auckland just because he was a dilettante bored with his Hawaiian mansion.
I guess your comment is just a case of “monkey see, monkey do”. People have criticised your object d’unce with good reason, so you simply fire the same criticism at whomever you think your idea of “the left” idolize as much as you do Key.
No I believe in the Pod Idea continuing pods running all the time that will be built above the ground with very little land being used these can be built along existing roadways run right out to the airport etc, Very efficent to run with little impact on the environment.
Perhaps if we got the rich to pay a little more in tax, we could afford it, but oh no, we have to close schools, hospitals, libraries, parks, sports fields, playgrounds, railway lines, and any other collectively used social amenity we have.
Perhaps if we cut down on the DPB so you cant claim it for 6 kids to different fathers. Without telling IRD who fathers were. Also if we cut back on free Student loans remember Michael Cullen got up in the house ,and said these will only cost 700 million yeaaa right. Means tested the gold card. Made family support only to those earning 50 k cause over that your a rich prick right? Then that would help us afford it
I dont think people would mind paying a little more tax if it was gauranteed to be targeted at those areas that you described. There is a general mis trust of Govt’s ability to even manage the most core systems adequatly.
There is a general mis trust of Govt’s ability to even manage the most core systems adequatly.
Which is probably due to the lying, capitalists saying that government can’t do anything, that their abilities are awesome and the MSM repeating that BS without question.
Of course, people will probably start to question the BS since the capitalists are proving, beyond doubt, that they’re no better than government servants and are possibly corrupt as well.
James we could cut down on dpb,Lets fuck all the little kids over whos mum may not be sure who the real dad is,or dont want some cunt of a dad on the birth cert.
Then like in the USA,if you cant get money for food or rent or what ever,they have to steal it,we will end up like south Africa,big dogs in the yard and even bigger walls around our home.And your sister mum aunt being raped,because who gives a fuck whats the point in living
Perhaps if we cut down on the DPB so you cant claim it for 6 kids to different fathers.
So, how often does it happen that a woman claims DPB for 6 children to 6 different fathers? You don’t know? Of course you don’t, and neither do I but my guess is that it almost never happens. As Michael Moore pointed out years ago, the average DPB recipient is a previously-married woman in her middle 30s, with one child. There are more teenage boys on DPB than teenage women!
If you knew anything, you’d know that women who don’t name the father of their child, get a lesser rate of benefit (not even the DPB but what’s called an “emergency” benefit.) Usually if a woman doesn’t name the father of her child, it’s not because she can’t, but because she won’t – usually because she is afraid of him and doesn’t want to be found. It’s a very rare situation.
I refuse to believe you’re an actual flesh and blood human James 111. I suspect you’re actually a piece of software that just spews tired right wing memes from a very small list.
Perhaps if we cut down on the DPB so you cant claim it for 6 kids to different fathers.
What have different fathers got to do with anything? Because kids who have the same mother but different fathers aren’t as worthy as kids with the same mother and father? Because kids with different fathers need less support than kids with the same mother and father? Please explain.
Why six kids? Are children from large families less deserving than those from smaller families? Can you explain how it would work in your fantasy world. or do you just have some sadistic need to see people who are less fortunate than you punished?
It’s Colin Craig’s alter ego….continuous pods above ground LOL. Such a great idea that many great cities have adopted it like…….umm, err, insert them all here.
Very little land, what so they hover in a virtual space….jeez you’re hilarious James.
TC realise that they are probably a bit advanced for you. You would have us on donkey and cart, and still throwing our crap over our organic veggie gardens. They are they way of the future ,and they will be come normal in major citys around the world . However you would have no problem spending billions On Len Browns dream that will never work financially because Auckland isnt a city of 12 million
Why do you hate rail? If people like you had your way, we wouldnt have a rail network at all. All because you think low taxes and profit are more important than anything else.
Because what Len is looking at is a pipe dream that we simply cant afford as a city. I dont hate rail quite like it have travelled on the TGV in Paris etc. What he is planning is absolutely not a good idea for financial reasons alone ,and he has been told more than once.
Dude stop reading sci fi and focus on what’s possible within current constraints i.e making the most out of existing infrastructure with proven technology.
Still waiting for those examples of pod’s in all those great cities…..I’ve got all day no hurry.
Crikey! “And 53 per cent of the 1076 surveyed said a candidate’s sex appeal was a factor when they decided whom to vote for.”
So said at the end of the strange article about Key’s sex appeal (?)
So get a popular sexy rugby player as candidate and you’re on to be PM. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10785126
Thanks thee evolution for making relative risks/benefits and empirical cost/benefit so fucking counter-intuitive.
Basically, by wearing a helmet, even at plus 20Km/hr crash speeds the force experienced is significantly less than what would be experienced with out a helmet*, and basically the less force on the brain, the better the outcome post-crash. And lower the possible social** costs resulting from post-crash care, if not lowering the risk of mortality and removing the rather expensive costs of death.
And yet, inspite of all that, some treat discomfort (re-adjust the bloody thing) and messed up hair as somehow far more important than the above…
As for the research I haven’t read it yet, but I can already see potential issues to do with the cost of fuel, cycle ed. and the cost of helmets as potentially statistically important predictors of cycling levels. But I’ll need to hunt down the paper to see if the authors tested to destruction their hypothesis/observation. But I suspect the paper’s claims are being heavily abused by the anti-helmet crowd…
_________________________________
*well, there’s likely a convergence point in force received when dealing with very high velocities, but the risk of that is usually only encountered very rarely
**aka emotional costs that occur when a social primate group looses a member + all the other “normal” costs therein
Try some of the links here for the argument against compulsory cycle helmets. http://www.cyclinghealth.org.nz/
The history of the cycle helmet legislation, the standards and international views of NZ law are very interesting as well.
Here’s an idea, give me teh science, instead of un-backed up claims…
As for the civil liberties argument, lolwat? It comes down to “what argument?”, because there’s none in there other than “just because we say so” plus the end bit of it is a ye olde slippery slope fallacy.
From that link you get: http://www.vehicularcyclist.com/hfaq.html with many studies.
Suffice to say I wouldn’t let my kid go out without a helmet, but that doesn’t mean I support helmet-wearing by legislation in all cases.
My conclusion is NZ’s helmet law is poorly written. If you look around, you can make your own, I’m not going to give it to you.
I said link to the science, aka use google scholar, instead of chucking various advocate sites at me, which lack the sort of referencing I see from sites which deal with anti climate change crap or ye olde talkorigins.org site.
And one read flag I see from that site is them claiming what’s obviously a letter (a non peer reviewed short article) as an article from a journal. And not reproducing/linking to full papers is a bit strange as well.
I reckon you know there’s barely an article that has come to an adequate conclusion around the issues of:
1. whether helmets are effective enough
2. risk compensation behaviours by drivers and cyclists
3. poorly drafted legislation
4. a reluctance to spend money on more effective means of making cyclists safe if the focus is on helmets (especially cycle lanes that fully separate cyclists from cars)
5. if helmets prevent people from cycling because they give the impression that cycling is inherently unsafe
6. wider public health benefits
7. Comparing injury rates in countries with good cycling infrastructure and those without
I’m biased in that I live in a city with good cycling infrastructure and no helmet laws. I can’t find any figures comparing the rates of serious head injury and death here, and in a country like NZ where cycling is poorly supported.
Until there is it appears that making one’s own conclusions is important. You also know that the problem with google scholar searches is that most articles are behind a pay wall. The alternative to stuff behind a paywall is often advocate sites – either directly or simply because the topic in question comes into the sphere of the main activity the site is for. If a person is interested enough in the topic they can follow references in these sites using a skeptical approach to find the info that fits their own perspective, I reckon.
Rosy,one thing I have never had explained to me despite years of asking… if the arguments for compulsory wearing of helmets on pushbikes are so great why is the same legislation not put in place for helmets in vehicles?
Because a helmet in a vehicle is redundant behind airbags, seatbelts and the various safety standards that are legislated in other vehicles (and in an enclosed space can be argued to contribute to neck injusy without additional protective equipment, which leads to a rapid escalation in expense for rapidly diminishing benefits). The exception being motorcyles/mopeds which . . . have helmet laws.
Actually Mr McFlock, I would suggest that helmets are nowhere near redundant behind airbags. Maybe vehicles have more safety equipment because they are far more dangerous – i.e. fast and surrounded by crunching metal.
What I was getting at was the reason for the bike helmet law as it was put at the time (pre-airbags) i.e. there are lots of head injuries in bike accidents therefore you need to wear helmets. How many vehicle accidents are there without head injuries? Not very many at all. Same reasoning applies. Everybody please start wearing helmets when you drive to the shops.
The protective capabilities of an inch of polystyrene might be substantially less at 50kph than at 15kph. Perhaps you should get mechanism and type of injury stats and state your case, but try and do a better job of it than the guy in NZMJ.
Not a bike helmet in a car, sheesh – that would be silly. More like a racing car helmet – at least kids would love it.
Anyways, I guess my point through the years of this debate is that the only reason that helmet wearing was not made compulsory in vehicles was because of the political blowback (I do like that word) that would result. And when something is done to one group and not another because of political blah-de-blahs the hypocrisy sort of gets my goat.
But the entire concept around car occupant protection is to use the entire vehicle as the helmet. Sticking all occupants in F1 driver helmets would need to be weighed against impact on range of visibility and hearing – hidden exits and T intersections aren’t common hazards on the track.
why is the same legislation not put in place for helmets in vehicles?
More to the point – why don’t pedestrians need to wear helmets when they’re crossing the road? The key of course is that for the most part, pedestrians are separated from vehicular traffic.
I’m genuinely conflicted about the cycle helmet debate. Normally I agree with safety legislation and I don’t have a libertarian notion of the freedom to do what I like.
NZ’s legislation does not cover off-road cycle use (BMX riders in forests for example). It was designed after a campaign about injury to cyclists when hit by cars. There are better ways to protect cyclists from cars – separate them physically. Does putting the onus on the potential victim of a car vs bike to protect themselves provide an excuse to not do anything about this? Has making cycling inherently unsafe by not improving cycling infrastructure as cars increased made cycling far more dangerous than it need be? And creating a perception that it is a dangerous activity by enforcing helmets reduced cycling. And do more people suffer chronic illness because cycling is not safe in NZ?
Not surprisingly, most car drivers no longer cycle and have no idea how roads and driving behaviours appear from a cyclists point of view. As it stands NZ’s cycling culture is generally one of sport – bikes riders are faster than ever before and the roads are not designed for that kind of activity. At the speeds they’re riding, surely the need a motorbike helmet to prevent serious injury in a collision with a car – cycle helmets are probably a nowhere near good enough.
I ride on an upright 3-speed. I dismount at the one dangerous intersection near where I live (convergence of trams, cars, bikes and pedestrians, with uncontrolled pedestrian crossing), otherwise I cycle helmetless along the lanes that are physically separated from the traffic flow (in effect complying with NZ law). In NZ, I wear a helmet – even along the ill-conceived cycle lanes in Wellington – on roads I’m well aware that I need to ride slowly enough to look out for opening car doors, because drivers are not going to look for me. And when the wind gets up, I know that after about 5 minutes, because I’m not leaning into the wind, the helmet isn’t even sitting on my head properly, rendering it useless (yes, I do know how to put a helemt on properly). It’s all incredibly frustrating.
Is it safety in numbers that is the difference between safe cycling in the Netherlands & Japan, for example and the dangerous activity it is in NZ? With more car drivers being cyclists as well? And does the helmet law prevent the safety in numbers effect (if it exists)? I think the jury is still out.
Edit: on another point – when I was home I saw that some of the cycle route is progressing in the central North Island . But I can’t work out why there is a cycling route on the Taupo bypass instead of building one into the town. I can’t think why any tourists on bikes would bypass Taupo – they’d want to go into the town.
but that doesn’t mean I support helmet-wearing by legislation in all cases.
Why on earth not? I’ve taught people with intellectual disabilities and the last thing we need is more brain injuries! I have wasted a huge amount of energy talking to boys from 8-16 years old that I see riding without helmets in my area – they just sneer, snigger and give me lame civil liberties arguments they heard from their daddies… Even when I find myself pleading with these boys not to sentence their families to the nightmare of taking care of a brain-damaged child until they die… and I end up in tears!V but that doesn’t mean I support helmet-wearing by legislation in all cases! (I don’t always cry, but I definitely have.)
I’ve also spent a lot of time begging police to enforce the helmet law. The answers I have got from the cop on the beat range from “I can’t be arsed” to “are you sure, I didn’t notice” as I pointed out a glamorous woman in her mid 30s, one of the frocks on bikes women, I later learned, cycling helmet-less down Gt North Road, in full view of the lazy 20 something cop who was harassing a teenage brown boy for alleged public drinking of alcohol…
Methods.
This evaluation reviews publically available data and analyses3–7,9 to assess the outcome for cycling activity levels, safety, health, law enforcement, accident compensation, environmental issues and civil liberties. The data compares cyclists to pedestrians and evaluates changes to population and road safety trends. A summary and conclusions draw together the findings and suggests the best way forward.
Eh? If this is a literature review, where’s the mention of “critical”, aka when reviewing an area of literature, you need to don’t only say what you’re going to look at, but also go through and critically sanity check the claims of the of the papers to make sure that the conclusions within the literature aren’t a load of poo…
Which I don’t see happening in the discussion at all. Not to mention it’s mainly concerned with UK issues, rather than NZ ones, where ACC doesn’t discriminate against non-helmet wearers I think. So wtf?
And it doesn’t help that it’s published by someone who appears not to have any experience with with academic level research, let alone that he cites stuff outside the literature without accessing the suitability of it. Namely websites with well known anti-helmet views
Meh, I’ve got some work to do, but this looks firmly like amateur-hour stuff, that’s more suitable as an example of how not to review than anything worth crowing about. And my bullshit detectors trained on the fine, well aged, flood of crap that is intelligent design and young earth creationism “literature” are registering slightly on this, not due to anyone thing, but the general feeling of it due to the issues I’ve mentioned and one’s I haven’t + the style the papers written in….
Any past incidences of crap bypassing the usual filters for them? Because I’m starting to wonder how it got in without some help and non critical reviewers…
oh FFS – the author’s description in the article itself:
Colin F Clarke studied mechanical engineering at Huddersfield Polytechnic. He qualified in 1970 as a British Cycling Federation coach. He has been a cyclist for more than 40 years and has worked as a road safety instructor teaching children how to ride bicycles safely. He has cycled in more than 20 countries including approximately 8000 kilometres in NZ
How that didn’t raise any flags I don’t know.
My only response to the dodgy math (his rate-ratio confidence intervals must be a mile wide, the absence of which a reviewer should have picked up) is to point out that the the lycra-clad arse-in-the-air brigade is arguing that teenagers won’t cycle because they’d look silly wearing a helmet. The helmet is the least of their worries.
2. Cycling has declined, partly as a result of the law.
Numbers of cyclists have declined enormously since the law, and although cycling may have since increased, evidence indicates that the level is still below what would have been expected had there been no law.
More people have given up cycling or continued to ride helmetless than have worn a helmet because of the law.
At about 1pm today, and have only now just stopped laughing that someone could make that assumption. What a load of shit.
Then there is this gem:
6. Helmet wearers may be more at risk of injury.
Some studies have suggested helmet wearers to be more likely to strike their heads and/or have an accident. There appears to be a rational explanation for this phenomena. Wearing a helmet increases the size and mass of the head. Helmet wearers, like all groups subject to safety interventionn, may also be subject to risk compensation – a well recognised problem, i.e. helmet wearers cycle more dangerously because they feel safer.
Sounds like a good reason to not wear a cycle helmet OR a motorcycle helmet.
9. Helmet laws erode civil liberties.
Don’t even think about civil liberties, you don’t have any. Wear a helmet or else! Just as compulsory motorbike helmets were used to justify compulsory seatbelts, and compulsory seatbelts in turn were used to justify compulsory bicycle helmets, there can be little doubt that at some point in the future the bicycle helmets law will be used to justify other breaches of civil liberties.
If the NZMJ hadn’t figured out by this point that this is the work of a crackpot, then I shudder to think what other ‘research’ they publish.
I remember having an argument in a pub in Palmerston North about 10 years ago with one of these nutters and finally put the question to him, “how many people have died BECAUSE they were wearing a cycle helmet”. Thank fuck that shut him up.
Dave
Agree we should all follow the Socialist Government in Greece they have made such a good fist of over the years, and got the country exactly where they wanted it crippled ,with their borrowing at 140% of GDP. Just go to show you leave a socialist government in a country for to long and the debt more than catches up with you
Worth investigation I reckon especially with the fancy driverless tech available now. Could steer them with magnetic strip in the roadway and just send them up the bus lanes on the motorways
Exactly Gareth its the way of the future unfortunately its coming along a bit fast for TC &Mcflock to understand. They would prefer to see us spend billions on an antequated rail idea all to bolster Len Browns ego.
Only to see it as old technology in about five years. Then we will be writing down billions more in so called rail assets that the city could never afford in the first place. Like we did last year after Cullen and Winston brought back the rusty train set.
uh that “rusty train set” provides logistics to billions in dairy, forestry and pulp and paper while keeping dangerous and heavy wear and tear off our roads…methinks you have no idea.
The things we’ll consider just so we don’t have to mix with the hoi polloi, eh?
Assuming you’re talking about replacing the proposed CBD rail tunnel with an ULTra, what are your relative costings and have you taken into account the fact that the pods will need a guided bespoke path for it through downtown Auckland, just like the rail link?
I suggest the main cost of the link is the tunnel, not the track. And I’m not too worried what gets put on the tracks, as long as they work and are state owned and operated (simply because NZ experience suggests that the latter gives a greater likelihood of the former). Hell, why haven’t you also plugged away at an L-train as well – no opportunity missed to throw rocks at Len Brown, eh?
The things we’ll consider just so we don’t have to mix with the hoi polloi, eh?
Oh well – I’ll be honest about it. Yep, if it means not having to deal with other people’s germs, body odour, screaming kids, obnoxious teens etc etc – the sorts of things that keep the less robust off buses.
Well, you’ll still get the germs and body odour – some people just… linger…
What tends to keep me of the busses in my locality is that personal transport is cheaper and generally more reliable. But then my council thought a stadium was a better idea than fiscal solvency.
Having used buses a lot lately due to an injury and inability to drive, I’d say the “less robust” are precisely the people who DO use buses. Elderly who can no longer drive and me for instance.
Keeping of public transport is just plain snobbery. I went on the train today and there were a large cross section of the types of people who were travelling at the same time as me. I do try to miss the school run though, if I can…. too much energetic noise for me.
Having used buses a lot lately due to an injury and inability to drive, I’d say the “less robust” are precisely the people who DO use buses. Elderly who can no longer drive and me for instance.
Seconded, Carol! I’ve used buses and trains my whole life (and would have to now even if I had been a driver, for medical reasons). Buses in the mornings, are full of workers of all ages, races and capabilities, and in the middle of the day, it’s as you say, precisely the less robust!
Oh, and far fewer ‘screaming kids’ than you’ll find in any given shopping centre!
I bus if it’s too far to walk, or in extremis take a taxi. But I consider myself “robust” – even so I’ve seen some particularly disgusting bullying behaviour on buses perpetrated by teens against anyone they thought they could get away with doing it to, and even when the driver’s attention was drawn to it, they showed absolutely no desire to get involved
Well in my home area, I’ve experienced drivers making some youngsters get off the bus for their behaviour.
On the trains in winter in peak times, I do think some people could do with educating about ways to cough and sneeze around people, and that being around people with colds and the flu is to be avoided if at all possible.
But that is my main gripe. Mostly people are considerate. And when I was obviously carrying an injury, people were often extremely considerate.
James, I’m amazed that you managed to construe this view from my comment and blogpost, your powers of lateral thinking are impressive and your logic is amazing!
You might be surprised about how many racist people there are in New Zealand. Complaining about an article (or any media for that matter) that reaffirms people’s racism and is clearly in breach of New Zealand’s laws is not a useless endeavour vto… unless you’re a defeatist?
Mr Jackal, I think you misread my point. (and then i in haste misread your reply). What I was referring to was Holmes’ piece of poo. That was what was shockingly useless, not yours or your actions – they are to be applauded. Keep it up. Sorry about the mixup – sometimes it can be easy to convey the wrong thing and in this case the complete opposite.
I’ll take your continued silence as to the defeatist question as a yes! You’re being a right fuckwit vto in not elaborating on why you think the article and my complaint is “shockingly useless”. Let me know when you find a leg to stand on.
[lprent: don’t use the silence implies agreement tactic here. I class it with other flame making strategies like owned, fire and forget, etc. In other words repeated use gives people holidays. ]
vto had made comments after mine @ 2:39 PM showing he had revisited the page. I was annoyed at the apparent ignoring of my question.
Clearly I was not flaming by defending my article. As vto has cleared up the misunderstanding, I fail to see the need for your holiday comment lprent.
Anyway… Socialistaotearoa is organizing a Paul holmes picket at the NZ Herald Office, 46 Albert Street, Auckland this Thursday from 5.30pm to 6.30pm.
[lprent: I look at the comment first and last when moderating. It is only if I am uncertain that I read the context. The form of your comment triggered a warning, and I didn’t need to look at anything else.
Reread it and think about how a moderator saw it. And remember we see a 100k comments a year here. There isn’t time to waste examining too much context. Change the style of form of your comments so it doesn’t trigger my moderation instincts. ]
Good stuff, go for it. Putting aside the inadvertant palavar above, how does someone like Holmes get away with saying that absolute rubbish? It was just a mad rant from an ignoramus (I should know and recognise them when I see them…) that said absolutely nothing and was full of vindictive hate.
But don’t you think that such a protest will simply reinforce his beliefs and give him more ammunition, rightly or wrongly, for more such mad rantings?
Maybe alongside such a protest he could be invited onto one of those proper and deeper investigative interview programs where he is questioned long and hard on the things he has said and written. Let him stand and try to defend himself through long and pointed questioning. (do those shows exist anymore??)
But don’t you think that such a protest will simply reinforce his beliefs and give him more ammunition, rightly or wrongly, for more such mad rantings?
Not really. The large backlash and complaints the NZ Herald will receive is an embarrassment for them. Paul Holmes might be an attention seeker, but the Herald will not want the bad publicity of people physically protesting outside their offices. Complaints also take up a lot of time.
Whether the attention elicits further ranting from the deluded Holmes is beside the point. It’s that the ranting is published in New Zealand’s only daily national newspaper that is the problem. Holmes is welcome to rant all he likes in the comfort of his own home where he can be ignored.
But don’t you think that such a protest will simply reinforce his beliefs and give him more ammunition, rightly or wrongly, for more such mad rantings?
Excellent article from Keeping Stock just goes to show that Looney Len as they refer to him is floating ideas out from his dream catcher, but doesnt have the support he needs.
[bloody great big paste deleted]
There’s no doubting Brown’s enthusiasm for the things that he is proposing, but he is going to need government support, and at the moment that doesn’t seem to be forthcoming. And without it, neither may be a second term as mayor for Len Brown.
[lprent: Cut’n’paste is not what this site is for. We are interested in your ideas or your reactions to other ideas, not someone else’s who can be linked to.
We’ll tolerate some selected quoting provided that we can see where the damn quotes are (ie use blockquote or italics or even some quote marks) with a link. The only other time it will be tolerated is if there are no links to the material on the net – labvel them as such. And I’d better not be able to find it in a few seconds googling.
I have demonstrated using a link and blockquote. Check out the FAQ on simple HTML tags or switch to using the wsiwyg editor. But don’t let me find you doing this kind of dump-pasting again. ]
Just heard the unelected Greek Prime Minister have the cheek to say that the protesting in Greece is unacceptable in a democratic country. Bahahahahaha ……
Fuck me, the things people get away with saying …….
Yeah, well it sucks. The banksters need to take a haircut. It is they, who made these dumb-arse loans, who should be receiving austerity. Make them wait until the people and the country are sorted and then they can be repaid – and with no interest on the loan. In fact interest should be outlawed (like it has been through most of history).
The pain will eventually come anyway, no matter how long the shits in power keep delaying things and printing money with their money-printing machines (you will soon be able to buy them on trademe).
In my opinion nations such as Greece should default. The politicians seem incapable of telling the banksters to take a hike so maybe it should be led by a grass-roots cause of the people. Unite and default on a grand scale. The Occupy movement is perhaps a group to do this (I’ll follow … after everyone else …)
Greece has defaulted 5 times in the “modern era”. They’re still around. You are right, let them default again. Irresponsible lenders need to take their share of responsibility for loading up a country with debt whom they knew could never repay it, and even after that point kept giving Greece even more credit.
Of course massive corruption at all levels of the bureaucracy and the extraordinary number of loopholes exploited by Greek citizens to avoid paying tax have nothing to do with it at all, eh CV?
“massive corruption at all levels of the bureaucracy ” – Correct and it allowed the banking cartel to leverage that corruption to the point where it was so fucked that managed to get an unelected GS banker in as PM – Well we are much more stupid than that, we actually elected ours!
You make risky loans, then you should take the losses when they come your way, but its not about that is it. Its about taking countries over without using armies. They save that for “The Arabs”
Well, no muzza – empire building isn’t very cost effective. Ultimately costs always exceed returns, so history largely disproves your little paranoid conspiracy fantasy. You may have noticed that the US is really trying very hard to get itself out of its resource sucking muddle in Iraq, and for the record Afgahnis are predominantly Pashtun, and Iranians are Persian/Farsi.
Italy is corrupt at all levels and rife with powerful organised crime families. Also Berlusconi was a baboon.
I don’t know enough about the Spanish economy to comment, but I was actually surprised as I thought it was more robust than that.
Ireland went the cheap worker/low wage economy route – which did fantastically well for rich pricks (who invested it all in a property bubble) and then it went tits up because the Irish government (which had ethics, unlike our Natzis) actually raised wages in keeping with living costs and then all of the corporates fled back to Asia.
Also, I have a feeling that all three had large underdeveloped parts of their economies and regions that were so virtually third world that they qualified their nations for massive EU subsidies.
Well, no muzza – empire building isn’t very cost effective. Ultimately costs always exceed returns, so history largely disproves your little paranoid conspiracy fantasy. You may have noticed that the US is really trying very hard to get itself out of its resource sucking muddle in Iraq, and for the record Afgahnis are predominantly Pashtun, and Iranians are Persian/Farsi.
Fuck you are stone stupid for someone so smart.
Let me clue you in. The financial failure of the bank (or the country or the empire) is not necessarily a failure of the fraud and corruption.
The perps who run the fraud and corruption tend to simply walk away from the burning wreckage they created with a smile and their pockets full of money and gold.
Jon Corzine is but the latest example; he’s walked away as rich as ever from the lifeless bodies of MF Global and all its clients even though billions in segregated accounts have simply “vapourised”.
Let me clue you in. The financial failure of the bank (or the country or the empire) is not necessarily a failure of the fraud and corruption.
No CV, even someone as stone stupid as me can see that the fraud and corruption is a failure of “the bank (or the country or the empire)” – not the other way around.
In a “control fraud” (look it up) the individuals who control the bank (or the country or the empire) use the organisation as a vehicle to commit fraud and corruption.
failure of “the bank (or the country or the empire)” – not the other way around.
People performing control frauds circumvent or subvert all the normal controls and checks in an organisation.
Ireland went the cheap worker/low wage economy route – which did fantastically well for rich pricks (who invested it all in a property bubble) and then it went tits up because the Irish government (which had ethics, unlike our Natzis) actually raised wages in keeping with living costs and then all of the corporates fled back to Asia.
This is the most ridiculous, fantasy driven and inaccurate representation of the Irish situation that I have ever read.
Bank debt and asset bubble fraud was at the heart of the Irish problems. And that was driven by the Irish lowering corporate tax rates to become a legalised western tax haven, while deregulating its financial system to suit those kinds of corporates.
This is the most ridiculous, fantasy driven and inaccurate representation of the Irish situation that I have ever read.
Did I leave out the Leprechauns?
Bank debt and asset bubble fraud was at the heart of the Irish problems. And that was driven by the Irish lowering corporate tax rates to become a legalised western tax haven, while deregulating its financial system to suit those kinds of corporates.
Asset bubble primarily in the form of property, as I said. Of course you’re right about the tax haven and deregulation – I’m afraid I lost my train of thought in the wee small hours, but those also go hand in hand with low wage economies.
Agreed muzza – I should have restated that instead of assuming it as read within the context of the thread. Though, as below, by no means the only cause, and I still don’t buy into the organised global capitalist conspiracy angle
I don’t think purposefully defaulting on loans would work, because that implies there is still a contract that needs to be honoured at some stage. In many casses it is not the money that the banks want anyway.
What you’re talking about vto is breaking the contract and nullifying the debt, like Fidel Castro and Muammar Gaddafi did concerning the Rothschild-centered global banking cartel. Considering how vindictive the bankers and the governments they control can be, I’m not sure that is the best solution.
For New Zealand, we need to remove whatever politicians work towards our indebtedness as quickly as possible. What I don’t get about the current bunch, is that they’ve cut jobs and a lot of funding but have hugely increased borrowing… so where has all the saved and borrowed money gone? It cannot have just disappeared and there will be a paper trail to show their treachery.
The danger that National has created in borrowing so much is that it will be used as an excuse to sell off our assets and instigate socially destructive austerity measures. New Zealand is currently experiencing a corporate driven raid that is being orchestrated by offshore interests that have little concern for New Zealand’s future. Unfortunately 21% of the eligible voters (including Kiwi’s in other countries) are not aware of the secret agenda, and elected John Key to oversee their economic destruction.
If we’re not careful, similar unrest as that seen in Greece could well become a regular occurrence in New Zealand.
In breaking Law and Order news, David Garratt has pled guilty to yet another crime. Stopping short of claiming that it was a case of mistaken identity and that a dead baby was at the wheel, the former SST MP has finally admitted driving while pissed.
I think that’s Garrett’s fifth strike. 1. Stole babies identity. 2. Assault conviction in Tonga. 3. Failed to provide information that is required by law in the false passport court case. 4. Failed to properly inform Parliament prior to becoming a Minister of the Crown and now the drunk driving conviction.
So how do Aucklanders get to vote for cutting back council services and selling assets to grow other assets. No such option on offer. Shows a tax and spend socialist mentality
Create a petition and show a mandate. Of course the fact that they voted an undeniably left-wing mayor like Len Brown in the first place rather suggests you’ll be pissing in the wind.
They had an election, you wally. That was the option. The ‘give the assets to our mates’ block lost, remember? Lord knows what happened to their mayoral candidate, but no doubt he’ll be found employment in some menial, subservient role in one of the duller suburbs.
What’s this country coming to.Port of Auckland mis-management have sought urgent injunction to stop The Maritime Union distributing pamphlets to the community of Auckland.Well it’s abit late for that over 360.000 have already gone out with a clear message that states the facts.I find it completely unbelievable that big buisiness thinks it can gag the working man.SO SORRY POA BUT THE HORSE HAS BOLTED!
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It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
(this is monbiots’ latest..)
http://whoar.co.nz/2012/conservatism-thrives-on-low-intelligence-and-poor-information/
“…There is plenty of research showing that low general intelligence in childhood predicts greater prejudice towards people of different ethnicity or sexuality in adulthood…”
[email look alike deleted].
Don’t forget size-ists. Those little people haters or those tall people haters. or the rule haters, or the bad hair haters…
People with prejudices deserve to be ridiculed.
David Cunliffe’s latest post in Red Alert will reignite a debate had here recently. In one passage he neatly summarises why greater equality of resource allocation is important:
“But has [Herald reporter Simon] Collins not read The Spirit Level? There is a strong case that more equal societies do better. Including economically. If so, fairness ain’t just compassion, it’s common sense.”
He then gets the one-two treatment from Cactus Kate and the slithery one and a comment pointing him to the critique of the Spirit Level. The response of Thomas is coincidentally similar to that by climate change deniers. The theory has not been proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, therefore it should be ignored.
The exchange highlights a problem with Red Alert, it seems to be a conduit whereby the right attack Labour MPs. Lefties should head over there and have a bit of a discussion …
But not you Gosman.
A good point, mickysavage, (The theory has not been proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, therefore it should be ignored.) critiquing a study in isolation does not disprove a theory.
I see the The Spirit Level as an addition to the body of work on inequality, rather than the definitive word. Like in any theory-building that eventually becomes the norm, there are gaps in knowledge and ideas generated that will be improved in the next piece of work.
For me, David M Smiths’s book Where the grass is Greener: Living in an Unequal World way back in 1982 was the beginning of my theoretical journey in understanding the relationship between politics, economy and inequality. And over the years a significant body of work has been generated that strengthens the connections. The Spirit Level is simply an accessible addition. The big picture is far more important.
I don’t have time to go and argue with the theologians, but it baffles me that people can still look at the neo-liberal model and not see it as bankrupt. I understand the Koch Bros pushing it, they clearly benefit from it, but “the slithery one”?
I pop over there every now and then but, to be honest, I can’t really be bothered trying to persuade the RWNJs over there of the truth as they just don’t want to believe it.
(some clever-clogs needs to do this for us here in new zealand..here is the blueprint..)
http://whoar.co.nz/2012/mind-blowing-charts-from-the-senates-income-inequality-hearing/
“…In another sign that Democrats have embraced income inequality as a cause célèbre – the Senate Budget Committee held a hearing on the subject today.
The committee’s ranking Republican, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, managed to look concerned during two hours of testimony about the kneecapping of the Middle Class —
– not that it should have been all that difficult.
Here are some of the hearing’s most striking charts:..”
[email look alike deleted].
I think more emphasis should be placed on whether Len Brown will last his term. He comes up with a dream scheme for Lite Rail that Auckland cant afford.
The Reason being Auckland is a very large city in terms of area but very low in terms of Population density per sq km lite rail dooesnt work in this formula, and would always be a massive cost to the city.He would be much better to run with the Pod idea that was very cost effective, and doesnt require large amounts of land grabs. However Len didnt think about it so he wont do it
He has never been a mayor who was responsible fiscally there were many poor reports from auditors at Manukau. Now he wants to dream up ever more ways of gouging rate payers to fund his dream.
He was the mayor who built the Train station in Manukau in the middle of a paddock, and hardly anyone used it for ages.Why is it that Socialists only know how to tax tax unitl people slowly bleed to death whilst the spend ever so wastefully. Good bye Len very soon we all hope so you can play with your toy train set at home.
James 111. Please respond to this. How can Auckland afford not to construct the inner city loop? The train system maxes out in about 7 years and with oil bound to increase in price the train system will be vital.
But you believe nothing of this do you.
Why do you hate rail, James?
And I guess you hate things like parks and libaries, etc as well.
No one hates rail, maybe if you stopped being so emotional in your response you might actually see what people have an issue with. Akl is very spread city, its a hard sell to put a whole lot more costs on Aucklanders for a servuice which will benefit only CBD users. Get it.
The issue in Auckland is not how we get from some outlying suburb to the CBD. The issue is how you get from some outlying suburb to another suburb. Ie from Penrose to Henderson or vice versa.
Not only CBD users! I use trains to get from Mt Albert to Mt Eden or Kingsland, or whatever – and would use them more if they were as useful as the Wellington ones.
Hell yeah, we were going to move (deferred because of lack of time) and the only properties in contention were along the rail lines. Now that they are halfway useable, why would anyone live anywhere else. The actual ideal would be to be just out of earshot of the rail and a motorway, away from a main road, and within walking distance of station and driving distance of a dual onramp.
The motorway is mostly because the rail doesn’t go far enough.
So, what you’re really saying is that you haven’t thought about it and have NFI WTF you’re talking about.
Buses to the train station, trains between suburbs.
This is the most efficient transport system you could get for Auckland. Get rid of the bloody cars which are massively inefficient.
I use the bus and trains to and from out west. There is a pretty good bus service to and from the station and between suburbs, but they are not often enough, especially outside peak hours. They also don’t co-ordinate well with the trains and each other – too much waiting around.
But there are some bus routes that do a winding tour through a lot of backstreets in the suburbs, meaning there is some service for most out west…. just not often enough, and those winding routes take a fair bit of time.
How come the right never complain about us all being taxed and rated to give the “Well Connected Group” of roading lobbyists $billions in corporate welfare.
If the W.C.G.’s Waterview tunnel boondoggle project was scrapped, this would release hundreds of $millions to invest in a decent public transport system for Auckland.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-12022012/comment-page-1/#comment-435279
You know Draco, you really are a smarmy, nasty prick.
You go and tell our predominatly Sth Auckland manufacturing workforce that they have NFI on the difficulties to get a regular transport service from the suburbs they live in to our work place in fuking penrose and then home again, thats why they use cars.
You then tell them that you are going to put up all their rates to fund a inner city train link which they will probably never even fuking sit on. I am sure it will be absolutly marvelous for the trendy leftish inhabitants in ponsonby and inner city as it will enable them to get to their latte’s quicker , but for the rest of us who really never get near the central city , it might as well be built in Mongolia for all its worth.
The most recent memory of people trying to use public transport in Auckland was at the opening of the RWC and what a joy that was.
Thats what happens when you put inexperienced low paid private sector fucktards with zero give a shit factor in charge of running the trains and buses that night.
Private sector fuktards and this is from the man who’s occupation is being a ‘stay at home son in law.
I am a private sector fuktard as you put it. I employ people well, we have a very long standing staff. We design and fabricate goods and we pay our fuking taxes, what do you do.
Hey, Rob, while CV’s supposed bludger lifestyle does severely diminish his credibility*, his point is sound.
The RWC transport mess was proof that people will use public transport if it is provided. The debacle that ensued was entirely predictable and clearly made worse by the involvement of the private sector whatsits. But don’t take it personally. You sound like you know what you are doing in your area of expertise and more power to ya. But public transport is still best left to be run by public bodies. Run in a business like manner, obviously, but run for the greater good, not for private profit.
*I still think CV is taking the piss and he is not actually leeching off his family. Far more likely that he is on ACC, the victim of some horrendous accident that his left him just a head in a jar, communicating via a visual recognition system. One blink for yes, two for no, three for rightie f’ktard, etc…
Actually Draco, you are the one that has never really considered All of Aucklands transport requirements.
The issue in Auckland is not how we get from some outlying suburb to the CBD. The issue is how you get from some outlying suburb to another suburb. Ie from Penrose to Henderson or vice versa.
Um Penrose has rail running through the middle of it and there is a dinky rail station smack bang in the middle of Henderson.
This all goes to show why it is so important for Auckland to consolidate and not continuously spread out like sludge. That way PT becomes relevant and affordable.
And how many connections and how long is that, and are they built around a normal manufacturing timetable. I honestly dont know, but I do know that 95% of our staff drive.
We provide good showers obviously and I try to cycle on Fridays, as we have a casual dress code for that day. Cycling down Great South in peak hour is really taking your life in your hands.
Anyway in my simple and as pointed out uneducated view , public transport work well when you have a critical mass of occupants getting on in similar places and then exiting in similar places. Again my thinking is that this works in Wgtn (even though it has relatively smaller population against other city’s) as there is an over proportion of CBD workers all moving into the the CBD in the mornings and leaving in the evening. With that type of gauranteed volume it is easy to plan a profitable and sustainable network.
The issue in Auckland is spread as it has been pointed out, not only of popN but also industry zones, whoever or whatever council planning designed this really needs to be brought to task on this result . I like the idea of public transport, belive it or not most people do. However the true practicalities for employees & workers getting from their homes to their workplace on time for their shift to opening at say 6:00am is tough, especially if you throw in Winter weather.
Do not confuse this example with the requirements of a semi retired single person for instance planing to get to the surburban library for 11:00am.
As for my comments on CV , if he / she is genuinly sick then I apologise and hope there is a plan for recovery. For Draco, my comments stand. Next time he tells someone they have NFI , he should take a look in mirror as no one knows everything.
Bahahahaha!
I’m sure you do. But unlike your dreamy Justin Keyber, Brown hasn’t been acting like a petulant brat, was not parachuted into the organisation just because he got rich firing people without losing sleep, and he didn’t become mayor of Auckland just because he was a dilettante bored with his Hawaiian mansion.
I guess your comment is just a case of “monkey see, monkey do”. People have criticised your object d’unce with good reason, so you simply fire the same criticism at whomever you think your idea of “the left” idolize as much as you do Key.
No I believe in the Pod Idea continuing pods running all the time that will be built above the ground with very little land being used these can be built along existing roadways run right out to the airport etc, Very efficent to run with little impact on the environment.
Plus we had the inventor who was prepared to fund some of it.Auckland cant afford to bring Lens dream to life it would be a massive cost to a city that cant afford it. It would also impact on a Local economy that simply cant afford it.
Here is the link
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/auckland-regional-council/news/article.cfm?o_id=16&objectid=10664017
Perhaps if we got the rich to pay a little more in tax, we could afford it, but oh no, we have to close schools, hospitals, libraries, parks, sports fields, playgrounds, railway lines, and any other collectively used social amenity we have.
Perhaps if we cut down on the DPB so you cant claim it for 6 kids to different fathers. Without telling IRD who fathers were. Also if we cut back on free Student loans remember Michael Cullen got up in the house ,and said these will only cost 700 million yeaaa right. Means tested the gold card. Made family support only to those earning 50 k cause over that your a rich prick right? Then that would help us afford it
So you want single mothers and their children to live on the street then?
And the financial burden on students to be even greater and greater?
All because you dont want to pay a bit more in tax?
I dont think people would mind paying a little more tax if it was gauranteed to be targeted at those areas that you described. There is a general mis trust of Govt’s ability to even manage the most core systems adequatly.
Which is probably due to the lying, capitalists saying that government can’t do anything, that their abilities are awesome and the MSM repeating that BS without question.
Of course, people will probably start to question the BS since the capitalists are proving, beyond doubt, that they’re no better than government servants and are possibly corrupt as well.
The trouble is with Labour is it doesnt haven any economic strategy past more tax ,and wastefull expenditure
uh…you just described National lol
Oh except National are going to fund some of their deficit spending by hawking shit off!
The trouble with james 111 is that he does not know what he is talking about.
James we could cut down on dpb,Lets fuck all the little kids over whos mum may not be sure who the real dad is,or dont want some cunt of a dad on the birth cert.
Then like in the USA,if you cant get money for food or rent or what ever,they have to steal it,we will end up like south Africa,big dogs in the yard and even bigger walls around our home.And your sister mum aunt being raped,because who gives a fuck whats the point in living
So, how often does it happen that a woman claims DPB for 6 children to 6 different fathers? You don’t know? Of course you don’t, and neither do I but my guess is that it almost never happens. As Michael Moore pointed out years ago, the average DPB recipient is a previously-married woman in her middle 30s, with one child. There are more teenage boys on DPB than teenage women!
If you knew anything, you’d know that women who don’t name the father of their child, get a lesser rate of benefit (not even the DPB but what’s called an “emergency” benefit.) Usually if a woman doesn’t name the father of her child, it’s not because she can’t, but because she won’t – usually because she is afraid of him and doesn’t want to be found. It’s a very rare situation.
I refuse to believe you’re an actual flesh and blood human James 111. I suspect you’re actually a piece of software that just spews tired right wing memes from a very small list.
And still in beta and buggy as hell.
Still, it’s amazing what you can still do with a C64 board and a mangy hamster as a power supply.
Is that how your computer works?
Up until the hamster died. Now I’m on the netbook until I reach “buy a new tower” on the to-do list.
Perhaps if we cut down on the DPB so you cant claim it for 6 kids to different fathers.
What have different fathers got to do with anything? Because kids who have the same mother but different fathers aren’t as worthy as kids with the same mother and father? Because kids with different fathers need less support than kids with the same mother and father? Please explain.
Why six kids? Are children from large families less deserving than those from smaller families? Can you explain how it would work in your fantasy world. or do you just have some sadistic need to see people who are less fortunate than you punished?
It’s Colin Craig’s alter ego….continuous pods above ground LOL. Such a great idea that many great cities have adopted it like…….umm, err, insert them all here.
Very little land, what so they hover in a virtual space….jeez you’re hilarious James.
Actually here
http://www.prtcons.com/news.html
And here
http://www.scitechexplained.com/2010/04/heres-chinas-train-that-never-stops-at-a-station-video/
TC realise that they are probably a bit advanced for you. You would have us on donkey and cart, and still throwing our crap over our organic veggie gardens. They are they way of the future ,and they will be come normal in major citys around the world . However you would have no problem spending billions On Len Browns dream that will never work financially because Auckland isnt a city of 12 million
Why do you hate rail? If people like you had your way, we wouldnt have a rail network at all. All because you think low taxes and profit are more important than anything else.
Because what Len is looking at is a pipe dream that we simply cant afford as a city. I dont hate rail quite like it have travelled on the TGV in Paris etc. What he is planning is absolutely not a good idea for financial reasons alone ,and he has been told more than once.
This country cannot afford huge tax cuts for the rich either.
And your mate John Banks would rip out the rail network altogether, close libaries, and build subdivisions on parks.
Yet apparently we can afford billion dollar roads which won’t even be used in 10 years time???
Dude stop reading sci fi and focus on what’s possible within current constraints i.e making the most out of existing infrastructure with proven technology.
Still waiting for those examples of pod’s in all those great cities…..I’ve got all day no hurry.
so..james..what have you got against ‘crap’/’poop’..?
http://whoar.co.nz/2012/behold-the-power-of-poop/
sheesh..!..expand yr mind/knowledge..eh..?
[email look alike deleted].
Crikey! “And 53 per cent of the 1076 surveyed said a candidate’s sex appeal was a factor when they decided whom to vote for.”
So said at the end of the strange article about Key’s sex appeal (?)
So get a popular sexy rugby player as candidate and you’re on to be PM.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10785126
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/cycle-helmets-not-fit-purpose-4717762
/facepalm
Thanks thee evolution for making relative risks/benefits and empirical cost/benefit so fucking counter-intuitive.
Basically, by wearing a helmet, even at plus 20Km/hr crash speeds the force experienced is significantly less than what would be experienced with out a helmet*, and basically the less force on the brain, the better the outcome post-crash. And lower the possible social** costs resulting from post-crash care, if not lowering the risk of mortality and removing the rather expensive costs of death.
And yet, inspite of all that, some treat discomfort (re-adjust the bloody thing) and messed up hair as somehow far more important than the above…
As for the research I haven’t read it yet, but I can already see potential issues to do with the cost of fuel, cycle ed. and the cost of helmets as potentially statistically important predictors of cycling levels. But I’ll need to hunt down the paper to see if the authors tested to destruction their hypothesis/observation. But I suspect the paper’s claims are being heavily abused by the anti-helmet crowd…
_________________________________
*well, there’s likely a convergence point in force received when dealing with very high velocities, but the risk of that is usually only encountered very rarely
**aka emotional costs that occur when a social primate group looses a member + all the other “normal” costs therein
Try some of the links here for the argument against compulsory cycle helmets.
http://www.cyclinghealth.org.nz/
The history of the cycle helmet legislation, the standards and international views of NZ law are very interesting as well.
…
Here’s an idea, give me teh science, instead of un-backed up claims…
As for the civil liberties argument, lolwat? It comes down to “what argument?”, because there’s none in there other than “just because we say so” plus the end bit of it is a ye olde slippery slope fallacy.
From that link you get:
http://www.vehicularcyclist.com/hfaq.html with many studies.
Suffice to say I wouldn’t let my kid go out without a helmet, but that doesn’t mean I support helmet-wearing by legislation in all cases.
My conclusion is NZ’s helmet law is poorly written. If you look around, you can make your own, I’m not going to give it to you.
/facepalm
I said link to the science, aka use google scholar, instead of chucking various advocate sites at me, which lack the sort of referencing I see from sites which deal with anti climate change crap or ye olde talkorigins.org site.
And one read flag I see from that site is them claiming what’s obviously a letter (a non peer reviewed short article) as an article from a journal. And not reproducing/linking to full papers is a bit strange as well.
I reckon you know there’s barely an article that has come to an adequate conclusion around the issues of:
1. whether helmets are effective enough
2. risk compensation behaviours by drivers and cyclists
3. poorly drafted legislation
4. a reluctance to spend money on more effective means of making cyclists safe if the focus is on helmets (especially cycle lanes that fully separate cyclists from cars)
5. if helmets prevent people from cycling because they give the impression that cycling is inherently unsafe
6. wider public health benefits
7. Comparing injury rates in countries with good cycling infrastructure and those without
I’m biased in that I live in a city with good cycling infrastructure and no helmet laws. I can’t find any figures comparing the rates of serious head injury and death here, and in a country like NZ where cycling is poorly supported.
Until there is it appears that making one’s own conclusions is important. You also know that the problem with google scholar searches is that most articles are behind a pay wall. The alternative to stuff behind a paywall is often advocate sites – either directly or simply because the topic in question comes into the sphere of the main activity the site is for. If a person is interested enough in the topic they can follow references in these sites using a skeptical approach to find the info that fits their own perspective, I reckon.
Compare all that against: a one off $20-60 payment. Less than the cost of a bike rack, and probably less that 10% of the cost of the bike itself.
Rosy,one thing I have never had explained to me despite years of asking… if the arguments for compulsory wearing of helmets on pushbikes are so great why is the same legislation not put in place for helmets in vehicles?
Because a helmet in a vehicle is redundant behind airbags, seatbelts and the various safety standards that are legislated in other vehicles (and in an enclosed space can be argued to contribute to neck injusy without additional protective equipment, which leads to a rapid escalation in expense for rapidly diminishing benefits). The exception being motorcyles/mopeds which . . . have helmet laws.
Actually Mr McFlock, I would suggest that helmets are nowhere near redundant behind airbags. Maybe vehicles have more safety equipment because they are far more dangerous – i.e. fast and surrounded by crunching metal.
What I was getting at was the reason for the bike helmet law as it was put at the time (pre-airbags) i.e. there are lots of head injuries in bike accidents therefore you need to wear helmets. How many vehicle accidents are there without head injuries? Not very many at all. Same reasoning applies. Everybody please start wearing helmets when you drive to the shops.
The protective capabilities of an inch of polystyrene might be substantially less at 50kph than at 15kph. Perhaps you should get mechanism and type of injury stats and state your case, but try and do a better job of it than the guy in NZMJ.
Not a bike helmet in a car, sheesh – that would be silly. More like a racing car helmet – at least kids would love it.
Anyways, I guess my point through the years of this debate is that the only reason that helmet wearing was not made compulsory in vehicles was because of the political blowback (I do like that word) that would result. And when something is done to one group and not another because of political blah-de-blahs the hypocrisy sort of gets my goat.
But the entire concept around car occupant protection is to use the entire vehicle as the helmet. Sticking all occupants in F1 driver helmets would need to be weighed against impact on range of visibility and hearing – hidden exits and T intersections aren’t common hazards on the track.
True, but at least it would be an excuse to drive faster..
Basically need to get more people and more vehicles off the road.
Some sort of mass-transit system? Those pneumatic tubes off Futurama?
why is the same legislation not put in place for helmets in vehicles?
More to the point – why don’t pedestrians need to wear helmets when they’re crossing the road? The key of course is that for the most part, pedestrians are separated from vehicular traffic.
I’m genuinely conflicted about the cycle helmet debate. Normally I agree with safety legislation and I don’t have a libertarian notion of the freedom to do what I like.
NZ’s legislation does not cover off-road cycle use (BMX riders in forests for example). It was designed after a campaign about injury to cyclists when hit by cars. There are better ways to protect cyclists from cars – separate them physically. Does putting the onus on the potential victim of a car vs bike to protect themselves provide an excuse to not do anything about this? Has making cycling inherently unsafe by not improving cycling infrastructure as cars increased made cycling far more dangerous than it need be? And creating a perception that it is a dangerous activity by enforcing helmets reduced cycling. And do more people suffer chronic illness because cycling is not safe in NZ?
Not surprisingly, most car drivers no longer cycle and have no idea how roads and driving behaviours appear from a cyclists point of view. As it stands NZ’s cycling culture is generally one of sport – bikes riders are faster than ever before and the roads are not designed for that kind of activity. At the speeds they’re riding, surely the need a motorbike helmet to prevent serious injury in a collision with a car – cycle helmets are probably a nowhere near good enough.
I ride on an upright 3-speed. I dismount at the one dangerous intersection near where I live (convergence of trams, cars, bikes and pedestrians, with uncontrolled pedestrian crossing), otherwise I cycle helmetless along the lanes that are physically separated from the traffic flow (in effect complying with NZ law). In NZ, I wear a helmet – even along the ill-conceived cycle lanes in Wellington – on roads I’m well aware that I need to ride slowly enough to look out for opening car doors, because drivers are not going to look for me. And when the wind gets up, I know that after about 5 minutes, because I’m not leaning into the wind, the helmet isn’t even sitting on my head properly, rendering it useless (yes, I do know how to put a helemt on properly). It’s all incredibly frustrating.
Is it safety in numbers that is the difference between safe cycling in the Netherlands & Japan, for example and the dangerous activity it is in NZ? With more car drivers being cyclists as well? And does the helmet law prevent the safety in numbers effect (if it exists)? I think the jury is still out.
Edit: on another point – when I was home I saw that some of the cycle route is progressing in the central North Island . But I can’t work out why there is a cycling route on the Taupo bypass instead of building one into the town. I can’t think why any tourists on bikes would bypass Taupo – they’d want to go into the town.
Why on earth not? I’ve taught people with intellectual disabilities and the last thing we need is more brain injuries! I have wasted a huge amount of energy talking to boys from 8-16 years old that I see riding without helmets in my area – they just sneer, snigger and give me lame civil liberties arguments they heard from their daddies… Even when I find myself pleading with these boys not to sentence their families to the nightmare of taking care of a brain-damaged child until they die… and I end up in tears!V but that doesn’t mean I support helmet-wearing by legislation in all cases! (I don’t always cry, but I definitely have.)
I’ve also spent a lot of time begging police to enforce the helmet law. The answers I have got from the cop on the beat range from “I can’t be arsed” to “are you sure, I didn’t notice” as I pointed out a glamorous woman in her mid 30s, one of the frocks on bikes women, I later learned, cycling helmet-less down Gt North Road, in full view of the lazy 20 something cop who was harassing a teenage brown boy for alleged public drinking of alcohol…
It is here and it’s conclusions are mostly drivel.
http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/2522697/1629495884/name/Evaluation_of_New%20Zealand%27s%20bicycle%20helmet%20law%2Epdf
Eh? If this is a literature review, where’s the mention of “critical”, aka when reviewing an area of literature, you need to don’t only say what you’re going to look at, but also go through and critically sanity check the claims of the of the papers to make sure that the conclusions within the literature aren’t a load of poo…
Which I don’t see happening in the discussion at all. Not to mention it’s mainly concerned with UK issues, rather than NZ ones, where ACC doesn’t discriminate against non-helmet wearers I think. So wtf?
And it doesn’t help that it’s published by someone who appears not to have any experience with with academic level research, let alone that he cites stuff outside the literature without accessing the suitability of it. Namely websites with well known anti-helmet views
Meh, I’ve got some work to do, but this looks firmly like amateur-hour stuff, that’s more suitable as an example of how not to review than anything worth crowing about. And my bullshit detectors trained on the fine, well aged, flood of crap that is intelligent design and young earth creationism “literature” are registering slightly on this, not due to anyone thing, but the general feeling of it due to the issues I’ve mentioned and one’s I haven’t + the style the papers written in….
Yes as I said……… mostly drivel.
With garbage articles like this it is not hard to see why the NZMJ has a dwindling readership.
Any past incidences of crap bypassing the usual filters for them? Because I’m starting to wonder how it got in without some help and non critical reviewers…
Oh yeah, cheers for the link too!
oh FFS – the author’s description in the article itself:
How that didn’t raise any flags I don’t know.
My only response to the dodgy math (his rate-ratio confidence intervals must be a mile wide, the absence of which a reviewer should have picked up) is to point out that the the lycra-clad arse-in-the-air brigade is arguing that teenagers won’t cycle because they’d look silly wearing a helmet. The helmet is the least of their worries.
I got as far as:
2. Cycling has declined, partly as a result of the law.
Numbers of cyclists have declined enormously since the law, and although cycling may have since increased, evidence indicates that the level is still below what would have been expected had there been no law.
More people have given up cycling or continued to ride helmetless than have worn a helmet because of the law.
At about 1pm today, and have only now just stopped laughing that someone could make that assumption. What a load of shit.
Then there is this gem:
6. Helmet wearers may be more at risk of injury.
Some studies have suggested helmet wearers to be more likely to strike their heads and/or have an accident. There appears to be a rational explanation for this phenomena. Wearing a helmet increases the size and mass of the head. Helmet wearers, like all groups subject to safety interventionn, may also be subject to risk compensation – a well recognised problem, i.e. helmet wearers cycle more dangerously because they feel safer.
Sounds like a good reason to not wear a cycle helmet OR a motorcycle helmet.
9. Helmet laws erode civil liberties.
Don’t even think about civil liberties, you don’t have any. Wear a helmet or else! Just as compulsory motorbike helmets were used to justify compulsory seatbelts, and compulsory seatbelts in turn were used to justify compulsory bicycle helmets, there can be little doubt that at some point in the future the bicycle helmets law will be used to justify other breaches of civil liberties.
If the NZMJ hadn’t figured out by this point that this is the work of a crackpot, then I shudder to think what other ‘research’ they publish.
I remember having an argument in a pub in Palmerston North about 10 years ago with one of these nutters and finally put the question to him, “how many people have died BECAUSE they were wearing a cycle helmet”. Thank fuck that shut him up.
Arianna Huffington’s book “Third World America” provides clear warnings about the danger of National trying to replicate US systems. http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/replicating-us-models-dangerous.html
Dave
Agree we should all follow the Socialist Government in Greece they have made such a good fist of over the years, and got the country exactly where they wanted it crippled ,with their borrowing at 140% of GDP. Just go to show you leave a socialist government in a country for to long and the debt more than catches up with you
Sweden would be a better model to follow at this stage – much better than the US.
Denmark and Norway seem to be surviving the economic downturn comparatively well too.
Where are those pod driven transport systems examples dude ?
http://www.heathrowairport.com/about-us/media-centre/press-releases/heathrow-pods-transport-passengers-to-the-future
Worth investigation I reckon especially with the fancy driverless tech available now. Could steer them with magnetic strip in the roadway and just send them up the bus lanes on the motorways
Exactly Gareth its the way of the future unfortunately its coming along a bit fast for TC &Mcflock to understand. They would prefer to see us spend billions on an antequated rail idea all to bolster Len Browns ego.
Only to see it as old technology in about five years. Then we will be writing down billions more in so called rail assets that the city could never afford in the first place. Like we did last year after Cullen and Winston brought back the rusty train set.
uh that “rusty train set” provides logistics to billions in dairy, forestry and pulp and paper while keeping dangerous and heavy wear and tear off our roads…methinks you have no idea.
The things we’ll consider just so we don’t have to mix with the hoi polloi, eh?
Assuming you’re talking about replacing the proposed CBD rail tunnel with an ULTra, what are your relative costings and have you taken into account the fact that the pods will need a guided bespoke path for it through downtown Auckland, just like the rail link?
I suggest the main cost of the link is the tunnel, not the track. And I’m not too worried what gets put on the tracks, as long as they work and are state owned and operated (simply because NZ experience suggests that the latter gives a greater likelihood of the former). Hell, why haven’t you also plugged away at an L-train as well – no opportunity missed to throw rocks at Len Brown, eh?
Oh well – I’ll be honest about it. Yep, if it means not having to deal with other people’s germs, body odour, screaming kids, obnoxious teens etc etc – the sorts of things that keep the less robust off buses.
Well, you’ll still get the germs and body odour – some people just… linger…
What tends to keep me of the busses in my locality is that personal transport is cheaper and generally more reliable. But then my council thought a stadium was a better idea than fiscal solvency.
Having used buses a lot lately due to an injury and inability to drive, I’d say the “less robust” are precisely the people who DO use buses. Elderly who can no longer drive and me for instance.
Keeping of public transport is just plain snobbery. I went on the train today and there were a large cross section of the types of people who were travelling at the same time as me. I do try to miss the school run though, if I can…. too much energetic noise for me.
Seconded, Carol! I’ve used buses and trains my whole life (and would have to now even if I had been a driver, for medical reasons). Buses in the mornings, are full of workers of all ages, races and capabilities, and in the middle of the day, it’s as you say, precisely the less robust!
Oh, and far fewer ‘screaming kids’ than you’ll find in any given shopping centre!
I bus if it’s too far to walk, or in extremis take a taxi. But I consider myself “robust” – even so I’ve seen some particularly disgusting bullying behaviour on buses perpetrated by teens against anyone they thought they could get away with doing it to, and even when the driver’s attention was drawn to it, they showed absolutely no desire to get involved
Well in my home area, I’ve experienced drivers making some youngsters get off the bus for their behaviour.
On the trains in winter in peak times, I do think some people could do with educating about ways to cough and sneeze around people, and that being around people with colds and the flu is to be avoided if at all possible.
But that is my main gripe. Mostly people are considerate. And when I was obviously carrying an injury, people were often extremely considerate.
James, I’m amazed that you managed to construe this view from my comment and blogpost, your powers of lateral thinking are impressive and your logic is amazing!
You forgot the role the banking cartel has played and is playing in sending Greece under.
Did anybody else hear Mark Bennett back on the radio on Friday night. Couldn’t be more pleased
Paul Holmes – senile old white male syndrome
Once again Paul Holmes has provided an article of pure unimaginative bullshit that deserves all the contempt people can muster…
Sheesh, that really is a shockingly useless piece. It is hard to know where to start…
Do you think people, other then those that have the exact same attitudes and sentiments, would give him and his writing any credit?
You might be surprised about how many racist people there are in New Zealand. Complaining about an article (or any media for that matter) that reaffirms people’s racism and is clearly in breach of New Zealand’s laws is not a useless endeavour vto… unless you’re a defeatist?
Mr Jackal, I think you misread my point. (and then i in haste misread your reply). What I was referring to was Holmes’ piece of poo. That was what was shockingly useless, not yours or your actions – they are to be applauded. Keep it up. Sorry about the mixup – sometimes it can be easy to convey the wrong thing and in this case the complete opposite.
Onwards!
edit:oops again, in reply to below
K fair enough. Please disregard my comment below at 6:13 pm.
I’ll take your continued silence as to the defeatist question as a yes! You’re being a right fuckwit vto in not elaborating on why you think the article and my complaint is “shockingly useless”. Let me know when you find a leg to stand on.
[lprent: don’t use the silence implies agreement tactic here. I class it with other flame making strategies like owned, fire and forget, etc. In other words repeated use gives people holidays. ]
vto had made comments after mine @ 2:39 PM showing he had revisited the page. I was annoyed at the apparent ignoring of my question.
Clearly I was not flaming by defending my article. As vto has cleared up the misunderstanding, I fail to see the need for your holiday comment lprent.
Anyway… Socialistaotearoa is organizing a Paul holmes picket at the NZ Herald Office, 46 Albert Street, Auckland this Thursday from 5.30pm to 6.30pm.
[lprent: I look at the comment first and last when moderating. It is only if I am uncertain that I read the context. The form of your comment triggered a warning, and I didn’t need to look at anything else.
Reread it and think about how a moderator saw it. And remember we see a 100k comments a year here. There isn’t time to waste examining too much context. Change the style of form of your comments so it doesn’t trigger my moderation instincts. ]
Good stuff, go for it. Putting aside the inadvertant palavar above, how does someone like Holmes get away with saying that absolute rubbish? It was just a mad rant from an ignoramus (I should know and recognise them when I see them…) that said absolutely nothing and was full of vindictive hate.
But don’t you think that such a protest will simply reinforce his beliefs and give him more ammunition, rightly or wrongly, for more such mad rantings?
Maybe alongside such a protest he could be invited onto one of those proper and deeper investigative interview programs where he is questioned long and hard on the things he has said and written. Let him stand and try to defend himself through long and pointed questioning. (do those shows exist anymore??)
What a poor man he is.
Hopefully this blast from Holmsey’s past will cheer you up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZseXsysKh0Q
Says it all
vto
Not really. The large backlash and complaints the NZ Herald will receive is an embarrassment for them. Paul Holmes might be an attention seeker, but the Herald will not want the bad publicity of people physically protesting outside their offices. Complaints also take up a lot of time.
Whether the attention elicits further ranting from the deluded Holmes is beside the point. It’s that the ranting is published in New Zealand’s only daily national newspaper that is the problem. Holmes is welcome to rant all he likes in the comfort of his own home where he can be ignored.
But don’t you think that such a protest will simply reinforce his beliefs and give him more ammunition, rightly or wrongly, for more such mad rantings?
Yes.
Excellent article from Keeping Stock just goes to show that Looney Len as they refer to him is floating ideas out from his dream catcher, but doesnt have the support he needs.
[bloody great big paste deleted]
[lprent: Cut’n’paste is not what this site is for. We are interested in your ideas or your reactions to other ideas, not someone else’s who can be linked to.
We’ll tolerate some selected quoting provided that we can see where the damn quotes are (ie use blockquote or italics or even some quote marks) with a link. The only other time it will be tolerated is if there are no links to the material on the net – labvel them as such. And I’d better not be able to find it in a few seconds googling.
I have demonstrated using a link and blockquote. Check out the FAQ on simple HTML tags or switch to using the wsiwyg editor. But don’t let me find you doing this kind of dump-pasting again. ]
At least he’s not gone completely insane and proposed pods.
Just heard the unelected Greek Prime Minister have the cheek to say that the protesting in Greece is unacceptable in a democratic country. Bahahahahaha ……
Fuck me, the things people get away with saying …….
Athens at night. “Get away” with it is becoming a very relative concept methinks.
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2012/01/AV1C_20997-1200_0.jpg
Yeah, well it sucks. The banksters need to take a haircut. It is they, who made these dumb-arse loans, who should be receiving austerity. Make them wait until the people and the country are sorted and then they can be repaid – and with no interest on the loan. In fact interest should be outlawed (like it has been through most of history).
The pain will eventually come anyway, no matter how long the shits in power keep delaying things and printing money with their money-printing machines (you will soon be able to buy them on trademe).
In my opinion nations such as Greece should default. The politicians seem incapable of telling the banksters to take a hike so maybe it should be led by a grass-roots cause of the people. Unite and default on a grand scale. The Occupy movement is perhaps a group to do this (I’ll follow … after everyone else …)
Greece has defaulted 5 times in the “modern era”. They’re still around. You are right, let them default again. Irresponsible lenders need to take their share of responsibility for loading up a country with debt whom they knew could never repay it, and even after that point kept giving Greece even more credit.
Of course massive corruption at all levels of the bureaucracy and the extraordinary number of loopholes exploited by Greek citizens to avoid paying tax have nothing to do with it at all, eh CV?
“massive corruption at all levels of the bureaucracy ” – Correct and it allowed the banking cartel to leverage that corruption to the point where it was so fucked that managed to get an unelected GS banker in as PM – Well we are much more stupid than that, we actually elected ours!
You make risky loans, then you should take the losses when they come your way, but its not about that is it. Its about taking countries over without using armies. They save that for “The Arabs”
Well, no muzza – empire building isn’t very cost effective. Ultimately costs always exceed returns, so history largely disproves your little paranoid conspiracy fantasy. You may have noticed that the US is really trying very hard to get itself out of its resource sucking muddle in Iraq, and for the record Afgahnis are predominantly Pashtun, and Iranians are Persian/Farsi.
Italy is corrupt at all levels and rife with powerful organised crime families. Also Berlusconi was a baboon.
I don’t know enough about the Spanish economy to comment, but I was actually surprised as I thought it was more robust than that.
Ireland went the cheap worker/low wage economy route – which did fantastically well for rich pricks (who invested it all in a property bubble) and then it went tits up because the Irish government (which had ethics, unlike our Natzis) actually raised wages in keeping with living costs and then all of the corporates fled back to Asia.
Also, I have a feeling that all three had large underdeveloped parts of their economies and regions that were so virtually third world that they qualified their nations for massive EU subsidies.
Fuck you are stone stupid for someone so smart.
Let me clue you in. The financial failure of the bank (or the country or the empire) is not necessarily a failure of the fraud and corruption.
The perps who run the fraud and corruption tend to simply walk away from the burning wreckage they created with a smile and their pockets full of money and gold.
Jon Corzine is but the latest example; he’s walked away as rich as ever from the lifeless bodies of MF Global and all its clients even though billions in segregated accounts have simply “vapourised”.
No CV, even someone as stone stupid as me can see that the fraud and corruption is a failure of “the bank (or the country or the empire)” – not the other way around.
In a “control fraud” (look it up) the individuals who control the bank (or the country or the empire) use the organisation as a vehicle to commit fraud and corruption.
People performing control frauds circumvent or subvert all the normal controls and checks in an organisation.
This is the most ridiculous, fantasy driven and inaccurate representation of the Irish situation that I have ever read.
Bank debt and asset bubble fraud was at the heart of the Irish problems. And that was driven by the Irish lowering corporate tax rates to become a legalised western tax haven, while deregulating its financial system to suit those kinds of corporates.
Did I leave out the Leprechauns?
Asset bubble primarily in the form of property, as I said. Of course you’re right about the tax haven and deregulation – I’m afraid I lost my train of thought in the wee small hours, but those also go hand in hand with low wage economies.
Agreed muzza – I should have restated that instead of assuming it as read within the context of the thread. Though, as below, by no means the only cause, and I still don’t buy into the organised global capitalist conspiracy angle
I don’t think purposefully defaulting on loans would work, because that implies there is still a contract that needs to be honoured at some stage. In many casses it is not the money that the banks want anyway.
What you’re talking about vto is breaking the contract and nullifying the debt, like Fidel Castro and Muammar Gaddafi did concerning the Rothschild-centered global banking cartel. Considering how vindictive the bankers and the governments they control can be, I’m not sure that is the best solution.
For New Zealand, we need to remove whatever politicians work towards our indebtedness as quickly as possible. What I don’t get about the current bunch, is that they’ve cut jobs and a lot of funding but have hugely increased borrowing… so where has all the saved and borrowed money gone? It cannot have just disappeared and there will be a paper trail to show their treachery.
The danger that National has created in borrowing so much is that it will be used as an excuse to sell off our assets and instigate socially destructive austerity measures. New Zealand is currently experiencing a corporate driven raid that is being orchestrated by offshore interests that have little concern for New Zealand’s future. Unfortunately 21% of the eligible voters (including Kiwi’s in other countries) are not aware of the secret agenda, and elected John Key to oversee their economic destruction.
If we’re not careful, similar unrest as that seen in Greece could well become a regular occurrence in New Zealand.
In breaking Law and Order news, David Garratt has pled guilty to yet another crime. Stopping short of claiming that it was a case of mistaken identity and that a dead baby was at the wheel, the former SST MP has finally admitted driving while pissed.
isn’t that garretts’ ‘third-strike’..?
[email look alike deleted].
ha ha, quite.
Third strike and you’re out. In this case, lets say, at the least, no driving licence ever again ….
What say David Garrett I wonder…
I think that’s Garrett’s fifth strike. 1. Stole babies identity. 2. Assault conviction in Tonga. 3. Failed to provide information that is required by law in the false passport court case. 4. Failed to properly inform Parliament prior to becoming a Minister of the Crown and now the drunk driving conviction.
Where is the SST when we REALLY need them…?
Sic ’em onto this Garratt character. ASAP.
So how do Aucklanders get to vote for cutting back council services and selling assets to grow other assets. No such option on offer. Shows a tax and spend socialist mentality
Create a petition and show a mandate. Of course the fact that they voted an undeniably left-wing mayor like Len Brown in the first place rather suggests you’ll be pissing in the wind.
They had an election, you wally. That was the option. The ‘give the assets to our mates’ block lost, remember? Lord knows what happened to their mayoral candidate, but no doubt he’ll be found employment in some menial, subservient role in one of the duller suburbs.
‘Cutting back council services’.
So you *DO* think libraries should be cut then…
And Ngapuhi are just maintaining tradition
MMP Review is open today. More here:
http://lemattjuste.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/submit/
🙂
If John Clarke did John Key it may go something like this…
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/if-john-clark-was-still-in-new-zealand.html
That was excellent.
What’s this country coming to.Port of Auckland mis-management have sought urgent injunction to stop The Maritime Union distributing pamphlets to the community of Auckland.Well it’s abit late for that over 360.000 have already gone out with a clear message that states the facts.I find it completely unbelievable that big buisiness thinks it can gag the working man.SO SORRY POA BUT THE HORSE HAS BOLTED!
Hi Wharfie
Have you got a link to this? I am more than happy to go out today and deliver a couple of thousand before the injunction is granted if at all …
So why exactly should one community’s votes count for more than another’s?
http://afinetale.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/every-vote-counts.html