However, Russia itself had its own neo-nazi groups. And, as the article points out, Putin was using some of these groups for his own ends. Also, Putin has strong parallels with Hitler. For instance, the Z symbol being parallel to the swastika. The mass meetings that Putin has held trying to galvanise support. The war crimes, and apparent attempts at genocide etc.
So, those who still bleat about Nazis in Ukraine need to think about where the problem truly is.
So, those who still bleat about Nazis in Ukraine need to think about where the problem truly is.
The problem lies with the US. Even if Russia wins in Ukraine the US, like Robert the Bruce, will keep on trying until Russia is crushed. Who will be their next lot of "cannon fodder" after the Ukraine? The Finns. perhaps?
Putting aside the fact that you are not answering my comment about Nazism in Russia, what you are asserting is complete nonsense.
It doesn't take much history research to realise that there is no way that Ukraine, Finland, Poland et al will willingly submit to Russia regardless of whether they are getting help from the west. Sure, Ukraine would likely be occupied by Russia now if it wasn't for the west. But the Ukrainians would still be fighting via an insurgency. There is no way they would be giving up. It would end up being another Afghanistan for Russia.
All that the west is doing is enabling the Ukrainians to fight more effectively. And it isn’t like the west is forcing these weapons down the Ukrainian’s throats. Ukraine is not getting anything like what they are asking for. If anything, the west has been dragging its heels in supplying weaponary.
And, your myopic focus on the US is a bit ridiculous considering that a lot of heavy weaponary is now coming from NATO countries, including heavy tanks.
Russia is the aggressor, the war will and can not end until Russia stops attacking.
Ukraine is the defender, the war will and can not end while Ukraine keeps defending.
As long as Russia keeps attacking, Ukraine will never stop resisting.
Even if the West withdraw their support for Ukraine. Ukrainians will fight an insurgent gorilla war against the Russia Federation occupation for as long as it takes. And Russia eventually withdraws.
France could not win in Vietnam.
America could not win in Vietnam
The USSR could not win in Afghanistan
America could not win in Afghanistan
The US war in Afghanistan is America's longest war and the US still could not win against an insurgent population.
No matter how long the Russian Federation continues the war they cannot win in Ukraine. History is against them.
The Post WW2 Ukrainian Insurgency wasn't snuffed out until 1956 in far Western Ukraine with help from Kim Philby & Anthony Blunt who passed information onto the KGB when Para Drops were due etc and successful penetration of the UPA.
When Khrushchev & his deputy for West Ukrainian affairs A.A. Stoiantsev started to run show following a massive restructuring within NKVD & the Ukrainian Communist Party Apparatus in Western Ukraine.
There was another Ukrainian Insurgency during the Inter-War Period but there is next to no information on it & it's probably a fair assumption that Holodomor probably has alot to do with destroying all of the oral & written History?
Russia won't "win" in Ukraine. That chance went up in smoke when they failed to capture Kiev in the first 72 hours of the invasion. The rest of the war is essentially a face saving exercise for Putin to allow him to shift the blame for any defeat somewhere else.
The only way Tsar Poot's can take Kivi now? If he changes his axis advance on 2 separate broad Armoured fronts attacking either side of Kivi from Belarus and encircle the city unlike the previous attempt on a very narrow front which favour the Ukranian Defenders.
But Poot's Logistics is so shit house, its ability to gain any form of Air Parity over the Battle Space is a complete joke & its unlikely the Army would achieve its objective without massive losses manpower & equipment.
The Russians still have to locate the Ukranian Theater Reserve Troops & its Armoured Corp Reserve Commanded by an ex Russian Officer who is Ukranian born. Who with the Chief of General Staff help plan & led the auturm offensive has disappear off the radar again with his merry band of Armoured Knights & Panzer Grenadiers (Mech Infantry).
Most if not all of Poot's FSU & SF Units have been captured, so he is running out of eyes & ears on ground in the rear. Thats an interesting story there from what I've heard.
Unless Poot's finds the Ukranian Reserves and it Armoured Corp, this phase of the War is going to be an old fashion meat grinder of Infantry Frontal Attacks with Artillery Support with Long Range/ Deep Fires using UAV's, Missiles on Civilian Tgts by the Russians. The Ukrainian's hitting Russian Military Tgt's & Log Hubs until Summer rolls in, with one eye on Belarus again.
The UK government is going to use a “section 35” order to block Scottish legislation for the first time. It is daring the SNP to make the legislation a cause in their fight for another referendum (the self ID gender legislation is not popular in Scotland).
… UK ministers are concerned about the potential impact on the Equality Act and its protections for women-only spaces, as well as the implications for UK-wide documents.
Yes, they all signed on to it. L, N, G and A. Every single one happy to throw women and children under the gravy train that is gender ideology, 'gender' affirmation and medical care in the form of extreme body modification. So much gravy!!!!
disclaimer:
women – adult human females (large gametes havers)
boy – human male child (small gamete havers)
girl – human female child (large gamete havers)
hard to tell what's happened there but I would guess either the removed tweet used the word man but the tweets saying male survived (which is interesting). Or it's the tweet saying male that got her suspended.
Well that is a science we are to deny. Men are what ever men say they are, and women (the ones born without penises) better shut up, put up and swallow.
The McCarthy led majority in the House of Representatives is threatening the world economy, refusing to enable funding for US debt repayment unless there are cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
I guess that explains why a reply upthread got eaten when I went to copy a quote from another tab. I may leave it until later in the week to comment on the site. Cheers for all the work you put in to keep it going anyway; lprent.
Any nation with a CGT, an assets/land tax, wealth tax or estate tax will gather some revenue from the huge increase in wealth at some point in time. Only a nation with no taxes in any of these areas will fail to do so … such as … well here in New Zealand.
The ideal time to have introduced a CGT would have been two years ago.
If it is started during a decline in asset values, then there will be a lot of tax credits floating around that need to be soaked up before a CGT starts generating income for the government.
Not that I am a fan of CGTs. If it were levied across all assets (including the family home) then it would probably be OK. But if there are lots of exclusions it starts becoming less and less workable IMO.
The issue becomes complex when you look at kinds of capital gain resulting from activities other than real estate speculation and inflation.
An engineering or manufacturing business, and some forms of horticulture or agriculture, may grow their business through improvements, R&D, growing their customer base and so forth. They ought not to be treated identically to rent-seeking entities inflicting a deadweight cost upon the economy.
When it gets to valuing business assets etc, it just becomes God's gift to valuers and creates unnecessary churn on business activity, and is not good for employers or employees.
And if it is limited to houses, but not privately owned ones, it starts looking quite lite-weight in terms of revenue gained. Especially if the housing market is quite flat or declining.
So, you either end up with something that is highly complex in terms of exclusions, or something that is a nightmare in terms of administration for those it is inflicted on.
So, you either end up with something that is highly complex in terms of exclusions, or something that is a nightmare in terms of administration for those it is inflicted on.
And yet some well-to-do countries have a CGT – compare NZ and Norway.
Pity those 'poor' Nordmenn inflicted with their highly complexnightmare
The Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation was an agreement between Ukraine and Russia, signed in 1997, which fixed the principle of strategic partnership, the recognition of the inviolability of existing borders, and respect for territorial integrity and mutual commitment not to use its territory to harm the security of each other.
Of course after the events of 2014 (Russian support for secession in the Donbass and annexation of Crimea) there came a review.
History and Content of the Treaty
The Treaty was signed on 31 May 1997 by the second President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma and the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin. The Treaty entered into force on 1 April 1999.
The Treaty was concluded for ten years, but provided for the possibility to be renewed automatically for successive 10-year periods, if neither party intended to terminate the Treaty (Article 40). If the party did intend to terminate the Treaty, it had to notify the other party at least six months before the expiry of the current 10-year period. In 2008, the Treaty was automatically renewed for another ten years. On 17 September 2018, President Poroshenko initiated the process of the Treaty termination before another 10-year renewal. On 21 September 2018, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified the Russian Federation about the intention not to renew the treaty.
Russian View on Termination
The Kremlin Press Secretary criticised Ukrainian move towards termination of the Treaty, calling it ‘shooting yourself in the foot’. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded with denying the violation of the Treaty and ‘declared readiness’ to hold negotiations to update the bilateral legal framework, which ‘may admittedly have become somewhat outdated.’ The Russian Federation also accused Ukraine in violation of a number of provisions of the Treaty, including Article 6 of the Treaty, prescribing the parties ‘not to enter into any agreements with any countries directed against the other party’ and Article 12 of the Treaty, ensuring the ‘protection of the ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious identity of national minorities on their territory’ and promoting ‘the creation of equal opportunities and conditions for the study of […] the Russian language in Ukraine.’ According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, these provisions were violated by Ukraine’s ratification of the Memorandum of Understanding between Ukraine and the Alliance on Host Nation Support for NATO Operations, amending Ukraine’s Military Doctrine to proclaim the strategic goal of joining NATO, and adopting a number of laws ‘waging a consistent offensive against the Russian language and the rights of Russian speakers in Ukraine’
Of course Russian interference in its internal politics has had an impact on Ukraine 's perception of its place as a nation state in the world.
During my tenure in Kyiv, State Department–sponsored public opinion polling never showed a majority of Ukrainian public support for NATO membership. Private sector polling showed that as late as 2012, only 28 percent of Ukrainians wished to join NATO. Not surprisingly, pro-Russian sentiment was stronger in the east, but the largest plurality was for neutrality. The 2014 Russian seizure of Crimea and the fomenting of a violent separatist movement in eastern Ukraine sharply shifted Ukrainian public opinion. A poll by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation in June 2017 found 69 percent supported joining the alliance.
That 1997 Friendship Treaty was seen as an extension of the Lisbon Protocol & Budapest Memorandum.
The Friendship Treaty was to provide a foundation stone to Russia Guarantees that it signed. From what I can gather things began to slowly change when Poot's replace Yeltsin as the Russian President.
This was also during a period in Ukraine where corruption was also starting to taking root which allowed the Russian Mafia to move in, which btw are linked to Poot's & slowly the snowball/ avalanche got bigger until the young population of Ukraine realise the old corrupt farts running the show wanted to go back to a backward looking Russia instead of forward looking EU.
Thence the uprising in 2014 where basically Western Ukraine booted out Poot's Toady's. Now when we go back through History from now ie previous National Polling Results & through to Imperial Russia Eastern Ukraine has naturally aligned itself with Russia. But it isn't much in IRT percentage points or population.
One could see similarities to Nth'en Ireland, the former Yugoslavia or the divide between West & East German through the political & religious lenses.
In April 1963, King was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, after he defied a state court’s injunction and led a march of black protesters without a permit, urging an Easter boycott of white-owned stores. A statement published in The Birmingham News, written by eight moderate white clergymen, criticized the march and other demonstrations.
This prompted King to write a lengthy response, begun in the margins of the newspaper. He smuggled it out with the help of his lawyer, and the nearly 7,000 words were transcribed. The eloquent call for “constructive, nonviolent tension” to force an end to unjust laws became a landmark document of the civil-rights movement. The letter was printed in part or in full by several publications, including the New York Post, Liberation magazine, The New Leader, and The Christian Century.
The Atlantic published it in the August 1963 issue, under the headline “The Negro Is Your Brother.”
Cancelled our Herald sub in 2005 after a particularly disgusting front page feature after the Election night that I will not repeat here. I won't have it in the house, and I "return to sender" the 6 monthly exhortations to renew my sub with exactly what I think of them written on the envelope.
I actually find the NZ Herald quite left leaning. Other than Steven Joyce a lot of the writers lean to the left. I think Stuff is even more left leaning.
Looks that way. Keep 'em lean and hungry – they're not starving – hur hur hur.
Why poverty in New Zealand is everyone's concern
Liang describes poverty as a "heritable condition" that perpetuates and amplifies through generations: "It is also not hard to see how individual poverty flows into communities and society, with downstream effects on economics, crime and health, as well as many other systems. Loosen one strand and everything else unravels."
A Kete Half Empty Poverty is your problem, it is everyone's problem, not just those who are in poverty. – Rebecca, a child from Te Puru
The Herald is traditionally a centre-right newspaper, and was given the nickname "Granny Herald" into the 1990s.
The Herald's stance on the Middle East is supportive of Israel, as seen most clearly in its 2003 censorship and dismissal of cartoonist Malcolm Evans following his submission of cartoons critical of Israel.
In 2007, an editorial strongly disapproved of some legislation introduced by the Labour-led government, the Electoral Finance Act, to the point of overtly campaigning against the legislation.
sure. And your 'centre right' position is why you see NZH as a left leaning paper. But what you consider centre right is actually solid right wing. It’s a feature of the Overton Window.
My wife insists on a Herald subscription, even though it is more a newsletter than a paper these days. Its all about the crossword before work. I am horrified, but she makes me breakfast most days so I can live with my compromised principles.
Crosswords, like many other puzzles, can be bought in book form. Though I must confess the most visited pages of my daily paper, aka 'the two minute silence', are the puzzles. That and the death notices….. The first keeps me alive, the second tells me I am.
It was the same name, in full. Then I got to the name of his wife, and kids, and discovered I could start breathing again. And yes, it was disconcerting for a few seconds.
Just about every person I know has been dumping their herald subscriptions – online or paper – mostly because the news that they provide is either just a repeat from offshore, or it is what I'd class as unsupported opinions sourced off of the net.
As far as I can tell, you now have to be way older than me and operating a sub by rote, or you'd class twitter as being a legitimate well researched news source to still be on the site.
Even their business news was total drivel last time I looked at it. These days I have a subscription to and read BusinessDesk instead. There is a pile of hard information in what is in BD with a lot less of the bullshit spin that seems to be in all parts of the NZH these days.
Can't read the Herald comments – but if anyone wants to see a range of (probably) similar ones – the article has also been opened for comments on the Herald's facebook page (I've converted to a tinyurl – since the actual FB link was 5 lines long!)
If anybody deserves to drown in their own bodily fluids. Fuckers.
//
In November, 80 smiling faces appeared on the front page of a fringe Canadian newspaper called Druthers. The headline read: “80 Canadian MDs VAXXED and Dead.”
Underneath each photograph: the doctor’s name, age, hometown, date of death, occupation and a few words about how they died. Many simply say “died unexpectedly.”
In many cases, this is true. But not in the way it is implied.
[…]
Social media was awash with dire warnings of the fourth booster, and the three doctors’ names were jotted down alongside an expanding group of Canadian physicians whose deaths were falsely linked to the vaccine, without cause or explanation.
The burgeoning conspiracy theory was soon picked up by tech-millionaire turned anti-vaccination advocate Steve Kirsch, who in August wrote about “14 young Canadian docs” who died after getting a shot of COVID vaccine.
In November, U.S. conservative radio show host Stew Peters, who also produced Died Suddenly, claimed in a Facebook video that “hundreds” of Canadian doctors had died. The video has reached countries as far away as New Zealand, spawning other country-specific, dead-doctor theories.
people were moaning on twitter yesterday about the full lockdowns and how people weren't allowed to go for a run out in the fresh air. As always, I can't tell if the moaners are really fucking stupid (as if everyone can be trusted to go on a run and not congregate), or disingenuous.
I don’t know what they think is going on with the pandemic. I guess in five years when we can more easily see the burden of repeated infections they’ll have a deeper kind of denial.
I don't think that's cognitive dissonance. Not entirely sure what it is tbh, other than it's batshit. Cognitive dissonance seems to me that people know something is real but they dissociate from it. Brad is on another planet altogether.
And when the penny drops that infection, and especially multiple infections, likely knocks holes in acquired immunity..hooboy..
If you have a kid at home, there’s a good chance they spent the last couple of months snotty, feverish, barfy or worse. Young people in particular have been pummelled by the tridemic of RSV, influenza and Covid-19—and you’ve probably heard that “immunity debt” is to blame. Even Justin Trudeau has parroted this popular theory that our immune systems have gotten weak after two years of coddling behind masks and under lockdowns. There’s just one problem: “It is totally, totally wrong,” says Colin Furness, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information who believes that Covid infections, not public health measures, are to blame for weakened immunity. Here, he explains why.
"China’s population shrank in 2022 for the first time in more than 60 years, a new milestone in the country’s deepening demographic crisis with significant implications for its slowing economy.
The population declined in 2022 to 1.411 billion, down some 850,000 people from the previous year, China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced during a Tuesday briefing on annual data."
"Since sampling is not perfectly uniform, it is not possible to pinpoint the number of people in each age group nationwide; but the overall pattern of the age distribution is consistent with past censuses. It suggests that post-1990 births continued to decline faster than I had predicted, and in fact did not peak in 2004 or 2011. That means China’s real population is not 1.41 billion (the official figure) and could be even smaller than my own estimate of 1.28 billion. It also means that China’s economic, social, foreign, and defense policies – as well as those of the United States and other countries toward China – are based on erroneous demographic data."
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
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The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
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Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
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Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
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Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
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Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
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Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
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The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
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Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
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One of the stated reasons for the invasion of Ukraine was so Ukraine could be "denazified". That is despite the far right only winning 2.15% of the vote in the 2019 election.
However, Russia itself had its own neo-nazi groups. And, as the article points out, Putin was using some of these groups for his own ends. Also, Putin has strong parallels with Hitler. For instance, the Z symbol being parallel to the swastika. The mass meetings that Putin has held trying to galvanise support. The war crimes, and apparent attempts at genocide etc.
So, those who still bleat about Nazis in Ukraine need to think about where the problem truly is.
So, those who still bleat about Nazis in Ukraine need to think about where the problem truly is.
The problem lies with the US. Even if Russia wins in Ukraine the US, like Robert the Bruce, will keep on trying until Russia is crushed. Who will be their next lot of "cannon fodder" after the Ukraine? The Finns. perhaps?
Putting aside the fact that you are not answering my comment about Nazism in Russia, what you are asserting is complete nonsense.
It doesn't take much history research to realise that there is no way that Ukraine, Finland, Poland et al will willingly submit to Russia regardless of whether they are getting help from the west. Sure, Ukraine would likely be occupied by Russia now if it wasn't for the west. But the Ukrainians would still be fighting via an insurgency. There is no way they would be giving up. It would end up being another Afghanistan for Russia.
All that the west is doing is enabling the Ukrainians to fight more effectively. And it isn’t like the west is forcing these weapons down the Ukrainian’s throats. Ukraine is not getting anything like what they are asking for. If anything, the west has been dragging its heels in supplying weaponary.
And, your myopic focus on the US is a bit ridiculous considering that a lot of heavy weaponary is now coming from NATO countries, including heavy tanks.
What does Russia vs USA/USA vs Russia have to do with nations defending themselves from foreign invasion (England of Scotland or Russia of Ukraine)?
Sounds logical.
The USA is trying to destroy Russia, by forcing Russia to plan and conduct unprovoked invasions of her neighbours.
How many times has Ukraine invaded Russia lately?
"Even if Russia wins in Ukraine….." Mikesh
Mikesh, there's no chance of that ever happening.
Russia can never win in Ukraine.
Russia is the aggressor, the war will and can not end until Russia stops attacking.
Ukraine is the defender, the war will and can not end while Ukraine keeps defending.
As long as Russia keeps attacking, Ukraine will never stop resisting.
Even if the West withdraw their support for Ukraine. Ukrainians will fight an insurgent gorilla war against the Russia Federation occupation for as long as it takes. And Russia eventually withdraws.
France could not win in Vietnam.
America could not win in Vietnam
The USSR could not win in Afghanistan
America could not win in Afghanistan
The US war in Afghanistan is America's longest war and the US still could not win against an insurgent population.
No matter how long the Russian Federation continues the war they cannot win in Ukraine. History is against them.
The Post WW2 Ukrainian Insurgency wasn't snuffed out until 1956 in far Western Ukraine with help from Kim Philby & Anthony Blunt who passed information onto the KGB when Para Drops were due etc and successful penetration of the UPA.
When Khrushchev & his deputy for West Ukrainian affairs A.A. Stoiantsev started to run show following a massive restructuring within NKVD & the Ukrainian Communist Party Apparatus in Western Ukraine.
There was another Ukrainian Insurgency during the Inter-War Period but there is next to no information on it & it's probably a fair assumption that Holodomor probably has alot to do with destroying all of the oral & written History?
Russia won't "win" in Ukraine. That chance went up in smoke when they failed to capture Kiev in the first 72 hours of the invasion. The rest of the war is essentially a face saving exercise for Putin to allow him to shift the blame for any defeat somewhere else.
The only way Tsar Poot's can take Kivi now? If he changes his axis advance on 2 separate broad Armoured fronts attacking either side of Kivi from Belarus and encircle the city unlike the previous attempt on a very narrow front which favour the Ukranian Defenders.
But Poot's Logistics is so shit house, its ability to gain any form of Air Parity over the Battle Space is a complete joke & its unlikely the Army would achieve its objective without massive losses manpower & equipment.
The Russians still have to locate the Ukranian Theater Reserve Troops & its Armoured Corp Reserve Commanded by an ex Russian Officer who is Ukranian born. Who with the Chief of General Staff help plan & led the auturm offensive has disappear off the radar again with his merry band of Armoured Knights & Panzer Grenadiers (Mech Infantry).
Most if not all of Poot's FSU & SF Units have been captured, so he is running out of eyes & ears on ground in the rear. Thats an interesting story there from what I've heard.
Unless Poot's finds the Ukranian Reserves and it Armoured Corp, this phase of the War is going to be an old fashion meat grinder of Infantry Frontal Attacks with Artillery Support with Long Range/ Deep Fires using UAV's, Missiles on Civilian Tgts by the Russians. The Ukrainian's hitting Russian Military Tgt's & Log Hubs until Summer rolls in, with one eye on Belarus again.
What happens in Summer is anyone's guess atm?
The UK government is going to use a “section 35” order to block Scottish legislation for the first time. It is daring the SNP to make the legislation a cause in their fight for another referendum (the self ID gender legislation is not popular in Scotland).
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-64288757
Pity nobody blocked self ID here.
Agree!
Wholeheartedly!
Yes, they all signed on to it. L, N, G and A. Every single one happy to throw women and children under the gravy train that is gender ideology, 'gender' affirmation and medical care in the form of extreme body modification. So much gravy!!!!
disclaimer:
women – adult human females (large gametes havers)
boy – human male child (small gamete havers)
girl – human female child (large gamete havers)
Meanwhile, (Watson is a detrans woman)
https://twitter.com/wekatweets/status/1615115810594512896
hard to tell what's happened there but I would guess either the removed tweet used the word man but the tweets saying male survived (which is interesting). Or it's the tweet saying male that got her suspended.
Well that is a science we are to deny. Men are what ever men say they are, and women (the ones born without penises) better shut up, put up and swallow.
Here’s a thought experiment for Francecsa, and the other Putin apologists.
Back before Te Tirit was signed, New Zealand was governed by Australia.
What could happen is that some idiot Aussie PM, (Morrison?) needing a poll boost claims that NZ is Australia’s by right, and launches an invasion.
Does Aotearoa defend itself, and call upon its allies the USA and GB to help? Or does it roll over?
According to our resident Russophiles, it rolls over.
The McCarthy led majority in the House of Representatives is threatening the world economy, refusing to enable funding for US debt repayment unless there are cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
They're going to do it.
https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1615080979042893825
Had a report of caching issues between desktop and mobile for people not logged in, so I have chopped the max cache time to minutes.
I'm going to adjust it a bit for just the HTML. But there may a bit of fiddling over today and some mysterious slowdowns.
I guess that explains why a reply upthread got eaten when I went to copy a quote from another tab. I may leave it until later in the week to comment on the site. Cheers for all the work you put in to keep it going anyway; lprent.
Any nation with a CGT, an assets/land tax, wealth tax or estate tax will gather some revenue from the huge increase in wealth at some point in time. Only a nation with no taxes in any of these areas will fail to do so … such as … well here in New Zealand.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2023/01/top-1-percent-captured-nearly-twice-as-much-new-wealth-as-rest-of-world-over-last-two-years.html
Greens a 1% tax on net wealth over $1M is one party with a policy fit for the modern world. TOP has an across the board land tax.
The ideal time to have introduced a CGT would have been two years ago.
If it is started during a decline in asset values, then there will be a lot of tax credits floating around that need to be soaked up before a CGT starts generating income for the government.
Not that I am a fan of CGTs. If it were levied across all assets (including the family home) then it would probably be OK. But if there are lots of exclusions it starts becoming less and less workable IMO.
The issue becomes complex when you look at kinds of capital gain resulting from activities other than real estate speculation and inflation.
An engineering or manufacturing business, and some forms of horticulture or agriculture, may grow their business through improvements, R&D, growing their customer base and so forth. They ought not to be treated identically to rent-seeking entities inflicting a deadweight cost upon the economy.
I agree. And another reason I am not a fan.
When it gets to valuing business assets etc, it just becomes God's gift to valuers and creates unnecessary churn on business activity, and is not good for employers or employees.
And if it is limited to houses, but not privately owned ones, it starts looking quite lite-weight in terms of revenue gained. Especially if the housing market is quite flat or declining.
So, you either end up with something that is highly complex in terms of exclusions, or something that is a nightmare in terms of administration for those it is inflicted on.
And yet some well-to-do countries have a CGT – compare NZ and Norway.
Pity those 'poor' Nordmenn inflicted with their highly complex nightmare
Yes they do. But, again it seems very complex.
https://www.tradeclub.standardbank.com/portal/en/market-potential/norway/taxes
We do have, in effect, a very simple CGT on property called the Bright line test.
The question would be whether the marginal gain by widening the net would be worth the effort.
"Very complex" or "very simple" might depend on where you're sitting
Only one way to find out for sure. https://taxworkinggroup.govt.nz/
Once upon a time
The Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation was an agreement between Ukraine and Russia, signed in 1997, which fixed the principle of strategic partnership, the recognition of the inviolability of existing borders, and respect for territorial integrity and mutual commitment not to use its territory to harm the security of each other.
Of course after the events of 2014 (Russian support for secession in the Donbass and annexation of Crimea) there came a review.
http://opiniojuris.org/2019/05/01/termination-of-the-treaty-of-friendship-between-ukraine-and-russia-too-little-too-late-%EF%BB%BF/
Ukraine and its history with NATO.
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_37750.htm#:~:text=A%20few%20years%20later%2C%20in,individual%20partner%20countries%20and%20NATO.
Of course Russian interference in its internal politics has had an impact on Ukraine 's perception of its place as a nation state in the world.
https://afsa.org/did-nato-expansion-really-cause-putins-invasion
That 1997 Friendship Treaty was seen as an extension of the Lisbon Protocol & Budapest Memorandum.
The Friendship Treaty was to provide a foundation stone to Russia Guarantees that it signed. From what I can gather things began to slowly change when Poot's replace Yeltsin as the Russian President.
This was also during a period in Ukraine where corruption was also starting to taking root which allowed the Russian Mafia to move in, which btw are linked to Poot's & slowly the snowball/ avalanche got bigger until the young population of Ukraine realise the old corrupt farts running the show wanted to go back to a backward looking Russia instead of forward looking EU.
Thence the uprising in 2014 where basically Western Ukraine booted out Poot's Toady's. Now when we go back through History from now ie previous National Polling Results & through to Imperial Russia Eastern Ukraine has naturally aligned itself with Russia. But it isn't much in IRT percentage points or population.
One could see similarities to Nth'en Ireland, the former Yugoslavia or the divide between West & East German through the political & religious lenses.
Because it's MLK day.
https://twitter.com/davenewworld_2/status/1614654819851010048
In April 1963, King was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, after he defied a state court’s injunction and led a march of black protesters without a permit, urging an Easter boycott of white-owned stores. A statement published in The Birmingham News, written by eight moderate white clergymen, criticized the march and other demonstrations.
This prompted King to write a lengthy response, begun in the margins of the newspaper. He smuggled it out with the help of his lawyer, and the nearly 7,000 words were transcribed. The eloquent call for “constructive, nonviolent tension” to force an end to unjust laws became a landmark document of the civil-rights movement. The letter was printed in part or in full by several publications, including the New York Post, Liberation magazine, The New Leader, and The Christian Century.
The Atlantic published it in the August 1963 issue, under the headline “The Negro Is Your Brother.”
https://archive.li/XjXWD
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/letter-from-a-birmingham-jail/552461/
Simon Wilson doing his best to talk up the Labour party, but the NZ Herald has opened the comments……..not too many of them going his way.
Unfortunately it is paywalled so unless you subscribe you cant really get the gist of it.
Simon Wilson: The 2023 election is a choice between the best Government yet, and the worst – NZ Herald
And you posted it because supporters of the government subscribe to RW rags. Right?
/
lots of left wing people here have NZH subs.
Fools and their money…
I don't have a Herald subscription.
1. I don't subscribe to any other news sites either but I do have far too many subscriptions elsewhere. Enough is enough.
2. By subscribing to the NZ Herald you are directly contributing to their overt, overall RW campaign for a change in government. Don't do it!
Cancelled our Herald sub in 2005 after a particularly disgusting front page feature after the Election night that I will not repeat here. I won't have it in the house, and I "return to sender" the 6 monthly exhortations to renew my sub with exactly what I think of them written on the envelope.
I don't even look at them on line.
I actually find the NZ Herald quite left leaning. Other than Steven Joyce a lot of the writers lean to the left. I think Stuff is even more left leaning.
it looks that way because you are so far right wing.
Looks that way. Keep 'em lean and hungry – they're not starving – hur hur hur.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/16-08-2022/the-side-eyes-two-new-zealands-the-table
I consider myself centre right.
But The Herald is centre right:
Therefore, by definition, you must be far right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Zealand_Herald
sure. And your 'centre right' position is why you see NZH as a left leaning paper. But what you consider centre right is actually solid right wing. It’s a feature of the Overton Window.
My wife insists on a Herald subscription, even though it is more a newsletter than a paper these days. Its all about the crossword before work. I am horrified, but she makes me breakfast most days so I can live with my compromised principles.
I just discovered Newsroom's crossword (online, so not quite the same, but still).
Crosswords, like many other puzzles, can be bought in book form. Though I must confess the most visited pages of my daily paper, aka 'the two minute silence', are the puzzles. That and the death notices….. The first keeps me alive, the second tells me I am.
It'd be a bit disconcerting if you read your own death notice 😈
Ah, but bloggers and online personas as just constructs and figments of imagination and implication 😉
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/482544/romance-writer-s-fake-death-reminds-us-the-author-is-a-construct
I did do that once.
It was the same name, in full. Then I got to the name of his wife, and kids, and discovered I could start breathing again. And yes, it was disconcerting for a few seconds.
🙂
I once played the banjo, yes shock horror, in a show, "Spamalot", for a song called 'I am not dead yet."
Here's a video from "The Holy Grail"of the original scene.
And the song.from Spamalot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTg0WpJLyhA
it's the pattern of a new crossword every day that's attractive I think. Different than getting a book all at once.
I bought The Listener a few weeks ago and did the cryptic crossword, really enjoyed it. It used to be a regular weekly staple.
RWH. A regular treat.
Indeed. Not such a fan of Mr Tossman.
Just about every person I know has been dumping their herald subscriptions – online or paper – mostly because the news that they provide is either just a repeat from offshore, or it is what I'd class as unsupported opinions sourced off of the net.
As far as I can tell, you now have to be way older than me and operating a sub by rote, or you'd class twitter as being a legitimate well researched news source to still be on the site.
Even their business news was total drivel last time I looked at it. These days I have a subscription to and read BusinessDesk instead. There is a pile of hard information in what is in BD with a lot less of the bullshit spin that seems to be in all parts of the NZH these days.
Ummm.. nonpaywalled article at BD to give non-readers an idea of the relative quality. "Hotel bill for MIQ surpassed $1 billion"
Almost worth taking the time to write a opinion post on.
Please do.
Lots of access via a local library subscription but not the easiest format for reading.
Another pointless comment from you. When will you start contributing to debate?
So why don't you do a cut and paste, or if that offends then cut & paste the gist from your issue and put it on here with the link.
I am not surprised that the NZH subscribers have pushed back but good on him for writing such an article.
a full cut and paste will get the ire of the mods, but certainly a selection of quotes would work.
Can't read the Herald comments – but if anyone wants to see a range of (probably) similar ones – the article has also been opened for comments on the Herald's facebook page (I've converted to a tinyurl – since the actual FB link was 5 lines long!)
https://tinyurl.com/ymaxe3x6
Well done.
If anybody deserves to drown in their own bodily fluids. Fuckers.
//
In November, 80 smiling faces appeared on the front page of a fringe Canadian newspaper called Druthers. The headline read: “80 Canadian MDs VAXXED and Dead.”
Underneath each photograph: the doctor’s name, age, hometown, date of death, occupation and a few words about how they died. Many simply say “died unexpectedly.”
In many cases, this is true. But not in the way it is implied.
[…]
Social media was awash with dire warnings of the fourth booster, and the three doctors’ names were jotted down alongside an expanding group of Canadian physicians whose deaths were falsely linked to the vaccine, without cause or explanation.
The burgeoning conspiracy theory was soon picked up by tech-millionaire turned anti-vaccination advocate Steve Kirsch, who in August wrote about “14 young Canadian docs” who died after getting a shot of COVID vaccine.
In November, U.S. conservative radio show host Stew Peters, who also produced Died Suddenly, claimed in a Facebook video that “hundreds” of Canadian doctors had died. The video has reached countries as far away as New Zealand, spawning other country-specific, dead-doctor theories.
https://globalnews.ca/news/9405373/covid-conspiracy-theory-doctors-canada/
people were moaning on twitter yesterday about the full lockdowns and how people weren't allowed to go for a run out in the fresh air. As always, I can't tell if the moaners are really fucking stupid (as if everyone can be trusted to go on a run and not congregate), or disingenuous.
I don’t know what they think is going on with the pandemic. I guess in five years when we can more easily see the burden of repeated infections they’ll have a deeper kind of denial.
The finding out stage will be along soon enough.
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1613944007138189313
I don't get how people cannot see this nor the cumulative effect. The cognitive dissonance is astoundingly strong.
Yep.
I don't think that's cognitive dissonance. Not entirely sure what it is tbh, other than it's batshit. Cognitive dissonance seems to me that people know something is real but they dissociate from it. Brad is on another planet altogether.
And when the penny drops that infection, and especially multiple infections, likely knocks holes in acquired immunity..hooboy..
If you have a kid at home, there’s a good chance they spent the last couple of months snotty, feverish, barfy or worse. Young people in particular have been pummelled by the tridemic of RSV, influenza and Covid-19—and you’ve probably heard that “immunity debt” is to blame. Even Justin Trudeau has parroted this popular theory that our immune systems have gotten weak after two years of coddling behind masks and under lockdowns. There’s just one problem: “It is totally, totally wrong,” says Colin Furness, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information who believes that Covid infections, not public health measures, are to blame for weakened immunity. Here, he explains why.
https://torontolife.com/city/i-was-appalled-to-see-the-prime-minister-making-those-comments-a-u-of-t-epidemiologist-on-the-myth-of-immunity-debt-and-the-real-reason-everyones-getting-sick/
China just shrank.
I remember back in the day China was just a source of perpetual youth and drive.
Looks like their population growth just peaked a decade earlier than expected.
China records first population decline in 60 years | CNN Business
"China’s population shrank in 2022 for the first time in more than 60 years, a new milestone in the country’s deepening demographic crisis with significant implications for its slowing economy.
The population declined in 2022 to 1.411 billion, down some 850,000 people from the previous year, China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced during a Tuesday briefing on annual data."
(641) China Population Pyramid 1950-2100 – YouTube
"Since sampling is not perfectly uniform, it is not possible to pinpoint the number of people in each age group nationwide; but the overall pattern of the age distribution is consistent with past censuses. It suggests that post-1990 births continued to decline faster than I had predicted, and in fact did not peak in 2004 or 2011. That means China’s real population is not 1.41 billion (the official figure) and could be even smaller than my own estimate of 1.28 billion. It also means that China’s economic, social, foreign, and defense policies – as well as those of the United States and other countries toward China – are based on erroneous demographic data."
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/chinese-population-smaller-than-stated-and-shrinking-fast-by-yi-fuxian-2022-07