The party leadership today met more than 100 business representatives behind closed doors.
Fairfax News
Meanwhile in other news:
Two flax roots Glen Innes housing activists organising against the National Government’s eviction of state tenants and the removal and demolition of state homes in Glen Innes. Have had the invitation extended to them to attend the Labour Party conference, crudely canceled at the last minute.
Why?
Are the neo liberals behind the withdrawal of the housing activist’s invitation to conference?
Will David Shearer’s highly hyped Sunday speech on housing be advancing market solutions to homelessness?
Will GI state tenant Evonne Sainty’s message of protecting state provision of secure long term government tenancies, which build secure communities,* conflict with David Shearer’s views on state provision of housing?
*(Sainty’s vision is in direct conflict with National’s view of state housing as a short term band aid for for homelessness, extended only for a limited period before you are shifted out to find a home in the private sector.)
So almost first thing we see them disappearing behind closed doors with business leaders. What does that tell us? Can this action be”corrected” by a fancy speech tomorrow? Remember, Shearer has stated his intention to focus on the economy and not social issues (like poverty, I imagine).
According to Congressional hearings on illegal lobbying activities ’46 was the year that Milton Friedman and his U Chicago cohort George Stigler arranged an under-the-table deal with a Washington lobbying executive to pump out covert propaganda for the national real estate lobby in exchange for a hefty payout, the terms of which were never meant to be released to the public.
Which goes along quite well with my idea that the free-market is just justification for capitalism rather than a viable economic theory.
Who were the attendees on the “Labour leadership” side?
Were they fully representative of the Labour leadership, or just a section?\
What did the “business representatives” want?
And who were they?
Where they fully representative of the business community, or just a section?
What assurances, if any, were they given?
Why was the meeting held behind closed doors?
Why have all the identities of those involved not been revealed?
Was monetary donations from business for Labour’s election campaign one of the things discussed?
What else was discussed?
Will any of the subjects discussed behind closed doors between anonymous Labour Party leaders and anonymous business leaders be revealed to the membership?
Secret discussions being held prior to conference between unnamed senior Labour Party and Business leaders behind “closed doors” surely is not a good look, does this sort of behaviour by the Labour leadership risk undermining the public’s confidence that the Labour Party conference is the supreme democratic policy making body of the party?
PS. Interesting how Rogue Trooper tried to divert the thread. Someone feeling a little bit sensitive about this issue being raised?
If this is what we can expect from Labour in opposition, what can we expect from them in government? More secret “closed door” meetings with business interests, while social activists are locked out and ignored?
No wonder the non-vote is on its way to becoming the majority.
Today is the day for all members and delegates who want to change how the Labour Party selects its leader. The 40:40:20 remit looks likely to pass. But remember that’s not the critical vote. The trigger within the caucus to start the leadership selection process is your most important vote today. The current remits are focused on 2/3rds, 55%, 51%. You need to understand 51% is the status quo, the current caucus trigger. The trigger needs to be lower if members are going to have real involvement in selecting their leader. In the UK it’s 20%.
If, for example, you want to have the opportunity to choose between Shearer and alternatives such as Cunliffe, that can only happen with a 40% caucus trigger.
Mallard and King have a lock on too many MP’s and if the trigger remains at 51% (or is increased) only they will hold the power to begin a leadership selection process. They can stick with Shearer until they are ready to install Robertson (probably far too close to an election). And where’s the membership involvement there! If you think Cunliffe should just suck it up and wait, think again. If 40% fails today, it’s time for four years of white anting by Mallard and King to stop. Cunliffe’s talents should be used more productively outside the Labour Party. That’s what Mallard and King want. What do you members want today?!
Sorry Ianmac, it was shorthand for Remit 297(d). This is the remit that could finally give members some say on who our leader is. Presently only the caucus decides. The split most likely to be passed is that the vote for the leader will be weighted 40% for caucus, 40% for members, and 20% for affiliated unions.
Goff got pretty good during the election campaign. The problem was the brain-dead policies they were running with – extending “working” for families to people that don’t work and borrowing money to invest in the superannuation fund. CGT was good but people didn’t seem to understand it and seemed to have a lot of exclusions.
I ended up voting Labour, but was seriously tempted to just vote Green.
Imagine the filth that King/Mallards controllers have on them to still be propping them up the way they are, Labour supporters need to have a good hard look in the mirror!
To be honest Cunliffe has no chance of saving NZ unless be fancies a car accident, or getting “sick”, as he has been around long enough to understand the consequences of becoming a genuine “saviour” of NZ.
So all you Cunliffe fans out there, time to get some reality in ya, and accept that he is just another part of the establishment, nothing more!
Tactic: While moving the “left to the center”, all the while moving the center to the right, you in fact succeed in deleting even faded memories of what “left” ever looked or sounded like!
Hence why those still supporting Labour have to be some of the most blinkered, read blindly ignorant people in the country, either that or they’re actually National voters in drag!
Well when Labour go down in a screaming heap in 2014. Coming in 2 nd after the greens with Mallard and co given the well deserved boot. If they’re trying to get back in on the List, then I pity Labour, If dinosaurs like them get back in.
And back on planet earth, one third of kiwi voters still prefer Labour. More after today, I imagine. And even more after the 13th of February.
Still, I wouldn’t be overly concerned if Labour did come second to the Greens, as you suggest. In that fantasy scenario, I’d guess National come third. Fine by me!
well, J T was carrying on like an abandoned ” little Boy” not allowed another piece of cake on the MSM last night; the character of the politically aspirant: I despair. J T and Maggie Barry would make a lovely photogenic couple.
First part – does OK, deals with Smalley (TV’s best interviewer?) well, not too defensive about the economy, he’s comfortable on that turf. Would eat Shearer alive.
Second part – on education, has to defend Parata and Foss, which nobody could, so he struggles. Parata is “outstanding” … hmmm. Gets tetchy on Kim Dotcom. Smalley attacks.
Overall, Key shows that he can still deflect easily with his prepared lines, but gets riled when he comes under sustained pressure.
But let’s not kid ourselves. He’s streets ahead of Shearer as an interviewee.
The United Nations needs to reform to resolve global problems such as conflict in Syria and climate change, former Prime Minister Helen Clark says
“Around the world, people are exposed to media reporting of the human toll of the Syrian crisis, and are asking why the UN cannot act to protect innocent civilians,” Miss Clark said.
She said it was a good time to consider reform of the council, in particular the veto power held by its five permanent members.
Miss Clark also spoke about the risks in failing to co-ordinate a global response to climate change.
“It would be a tragedy for future generations if today’s leaders and decision-makers prove incapable of taking the bold decisions which are necessary to stop catastrophic and irreversible change to the world’s climate (good to see helen has picked up the new buzzword catastrophic, and is repeating if for the start struck auther to quote on!)
She said there was limited accountability for the agreements that had been reached on carbon emissions, and no meaningful consequences for failing to reach reduction targets.
You would like meangingful consequences, and full accountability for those “agreements” though wouldn’t you Stalin, woops I mean Helen!
MOST SHAMELESS LIES OF THE WEEK
Week ending Saturday 17/11/2012
Lie No. 1…. “Israel takes every measure to avoid civilian casualties.” Binyamin Netanyahu, Thursday, 15/11/2012
Lie No. 2….
Reporter: What mark out of ten would you give David Shearer for his performance so far? David Parker: Ahhhhhhhmmmm… ten.
Radio New Zealand National, Focus on Politics, 16/11/2012
Lie No. 3….
“Hekia Parata has done an OUTSTANDING job as minister.” John Key, on The Nation, TV3, 17/11/2012
Lie No. 4….
“Nick Smith has an enormous brain. Sure, he made a few mistakes on the margin…” John Key, on The Nation, TV3, 17/11/2012
Back in the old days when I used to talk to “Directors”, the one thing they all said was they couldn’t delegate, always have too oversee people.
John Keys rhetoric is identical to all those directors’ responses to systemic failure.
The one difference obviously being that the Gnats’ are running our country not a business whos “reputation” may be damged by calling the person responsible an ignoramus.
What business would tolerate someone as substandard as John Banks? Or Hekia Parata?
All right, all right, all right, I know what you’re going to say: there’s the Herald, NewstalkZB, Television New Zealand, the New Zealand Rugby Union, Radio Live….
Temporary employment entry for skilled workers under the New Zealand – China Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
The FTA includes commitments for skilled workers from China to enter New Zealand for temporary employment, without labour market testing (but subject to specified qualifications and work experience requirements, registration if required, and the requirement for a bona fide job offer), if they work in one of the following occupations:
Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners
Chinese chefs
Mandarin teachers’ aides
Wushu martial arts (including tai chi) coaches
Chinese tour guides.
For more information, see China Special Work Category.
In addition, a maximum of 1000 skilled Chinese workers at any one time may be granted temporary employment for up to three years, in specified occupations where New Zealand has a skills shortage. Entry is limited to no more than 100 workers in each occupation at any one time.
The list of occupations (which all have specific qualification and experience requirements) is as follows:
Auditor
Automotive Electrician
Boatbuilder
Computer Application Engineer
Design Engineer – Electronics / Product Engineer
Diesel Mechanic
Early Childhood Teacher
Electrician
Electronics Technician
Film Animator
Fitter and Turner
Fitter / Welder
Medical Diagnostic Radiographer / Medical Radiation Therapist
Motor Mechanic
Plumber
Registered Nurse
Senior Test Analyst
Structural Engineer
University or Higher Education Lecturer/Tutor
Veterinarian.
For more information, see China Skilled Workers Category.
This is the solution offered to appease the Chinese and plug the hole that the abysmal education has left over the last 15 years. I suppose that this ought to help getting NZ on a similar productive level as its pacific rim neighbors. Problem is the cultural divide in terms of employment conditions. NZ had enjoyed a rather civilized arrangement with the British influence but this is going to slowly lean towards modern slavery under the new dogma. The ones that will leave and can do so will and others will just have to endure.
Of cause there are alternative solutions which fit with the current economic and social make up of NZ (as it still is) that makes far more sense and has the same outcome with none of the social reconstruction. But maybe this is not what is wanted.
Heard some excerpts of the PM debating the other day on radio.Thought, ‘who does he sound like?’
Then it hit me.He sounds remarkably like Paul Henry when excited. Listen next time.
Remit #121: End the process of union affiliation and return control of the party to the party members and return transparency of the party direction to the voters.
While thinking about how many ways this story could have “innocently” gone wrong, and consdiering the many ideological laws it broke, the deciding vote – for me – went in favour of writing errors.
James/Jamie, listen, there are more perspectives than just your own in this world, you know that. You hold a priviledged place in our society, yet you’re ignoring the impact a singular perspective can do to groups within that society when the overall message of your words – the theme – is ignored, by you, the writer. Let’s skip past the ins and outs of readily available protection myths that you obviously don’t or can’t know about and concentrate on sources. No one’s asking you to become a feminist ideologue, just approach it from a perspective of good writing.
When this story was formed, did you consider the environment and attitude of the people offering the information and how, if it remained unchecked, it would alter the central message? Did you agree with the basic ideas of the people you met? Do you admire and defer to authority? Do you know your place? Do you believe you are essentially a good person, a team player? Do you believe you can write well without examining these influences? Did you have no choice but to generalise, because the raw information covered such a large group of individuals? Did it not matter, because you wanted to do good? Did you sincerely try for balance by talking to representatives of an alternate viewpoint?
Imagine how the story would have read if it was just about one person – what questions would you have asked in order to explain the whole picture? How far back would you have gone, how far below the surface would you have scratched, which side-tracks would you have trimmed out? Would you investigate the influence of intoxication separately or in parallel? How would that make a difference to the overall message? How many issues are contained in this story, James/Jamie? Would you be able to see everything and not have an opinion about what you saw? Where would you choose to cast the final vote – on the side of the victim, the aggressor, to uphold societal beliefs or attempt a reflection?
Best of luck to you Jamie/James. Take care with the power you have been awarded.
I thought the crux of the story was that if you get so pissed you don’t know what’s going on around you and you then get raped, society will say it’s your own fault (even if they try and say it more neutrally than they used to).
What the article should have done is introduce the policing issue and then focus on Kim McGregor’s statement about the need to look at the behaviour of rapists/offenders (see the pathetic amount of space given to her statement at the end vs the rest of the article). I’m sure she had lots more to say.
They could also have done a completely separate article on the Massey research, looking at all the issues around young women binge drinking, and when they got to the bit bit about rape, again focus on the behaviour of rapists towards drunk women and link to the other article.
In Auckland, Hamilton and other centres, police and other agencies are out in the streets at night, pushing campaigns designed to prevent sexual assault.
Hamilton police are giving the message, among others, that intoxicated or inebriated people who are slurring their words or stumbling around can’t properly consent to having sex.
Great, but who is the message being given to and how? Jamie and James, instead of telling us more about what that actually means, your whole article has just informed rapists and potential rapists that if they rape really drunk women they’re likely to get away with it.
Oh, and Jamie and James and editors of the Herald, rape is not sex, so don’t call it that. Wish I had time to redo the whole article, but here’s a rewrite of the headline
Please produce some evidence that the high levels of rape we have now have always been.
And if you think that the responsibility is on women to avoid rape, please tell me what undrunk women who are unable to give consent or protect themselves should do.
Then tell me what responsibility you think men have in this.
Yes, we all know rape is bad and it’s not the fault of the man/woman/child who gets raped and in a perfect society any one could walk the streets at any time of the day and night, in any state and not get raped or beaten up.
Unfortunately we don’t live in this perfect world and I doubt we ever will,so a bit of personal responsibility needs to happen if you want to stay safe and out of harms way.
BM, you were asked Please produce some evidence that the high levels of rape we have now have always been.
You responded with a Wiki article on rape during war.
Either you’re a disingenuous fuckhead with a vested interest in not confronting societal attitudes which allow rapists to go unpunished, or you’re just a kindly-hearted confused little dweeb who doesn’t understand the circumstances in which the majority of rapes occur.
Sadly for you, I am all out of Benefit Of The Doubt.
Oh, BM. So sad how you can’t even back up your assertions. First you try re-defining things (rape vs. rape during war) and then you claim to be a realist when I’m the one arguing from actual statistics! It’s fucking adorable, to be honest.
You might want to consider why you believe that high levels of rape in society is the norm (despite there being no evidence), and how that relates to what you think can be done about it.
How about you tell me how we could achieve this totally safe society where any woman could walk around at any time of the night without fear of being attacked and raped.
The smarter woman takes steps to reduce the chances of rape happening
I agree, BM. That’s why I live in an underground bunker and refuse to have contact with all men.
After all, the statistics tell us I’m most likely to be attacked by someone I know in my own home, so being a “smarter woman”, I’ve taken the necessary steps to reduce that risk.
The smarter society realises and supports the idea that people should be able to walk around anywhere and not be attacked rather defending the attackers and blaming the victims as you’re doing.
what I often ponder, considering my experiential knowledge of the field, is the neurological damage that this culture of binge-drinking among young people will have, which takes time to heal, and the proportion of these young people who, statistically speaking, will develop “alcohol abuse” and “alcohol dependence” health histories; the DSM IV covers these matters at length, along with narcissism.
People drink to fit in. People fear difference. Intelligent people are different, and can cause huge social angst when they put average citizens down (loss of status). So why is it hard to fathom, that young people fear coming off as intelligent, want to fit in, and so abuse their brains.
Fearful people join groups in order to maintain security.
so the question is why is there so much wealth created by fear mongering? Well simple,
greedy crony capitalism distorts to make money, and creating a society of inequity,
fear of inequity, fear of being isolated, fear of being thrown out of society, being
made a non-citizen, will inevitable lead to gangs, to drinking to fit in, to…
There’s an old saying, what comes around goes around, and I think it means, that if you push values of supremacy then inevitably you are enslaved by your own dealings. Take the recent ponsi collapse, the trusting investors did not appreciate the GFC, National were not explaining the GFC, saying growth is just around the corner, so of course it was easier for investors to think the above market returns were realistic. You see it, National spin turns into shit hitting the fan for National, as Key promised to clear up the investment industry!
As a nation we are peddling lies about the weak taking over, destroying the economy, but in fact the weak are the National party and all hangers on who cannot stand on their own feet but neew no tax on CGT, need the socialism for the wealthy to be successful, be economically drunk and in need of a bonus on the board of a company, because they joined a group out of fear, not for positive reasons.
The need for alcohol or for profit, its all the same, security. Whethe r it be drinking to fit in, or joining a gang, or even supporting the current clueless National fear mongers in the Beehive.
I mean seriously, the rich made vast amounts gaming the system to produce huge indebtedness, and people really think they deserve to avoid tax increases, but this meme is a regular appearance on the news. It was tax decreases that got us into this mess!!!
you often, coherently, make reasonable points, now.
somebody , Tane, from memory, the other day referred to post-structuralist deconstruction as the necessary tools. They are certainly useful tools; what social policy advice influences policy is political, it appears, however, this deconstructive stuff is being written and published everyday; we can but spread the Word.
It is encouraging that young-ish people are likely to read and / or comment here as that is who we who are older are here for, aren’t we?
Now, I been following Chinese politics lightly, (too much audio-visual may be desensitizing, it certainly blows me away when I haven’t seen the bleeding and limp-dead children for a couple of days)
anyway, one quote from a citizen, maybe from the village where the new Leader spent Seven years of his youth living in a cave, said the Party aim is to make every Chinese person wealthy; well I can see they have certainly made some progress towards that aim since The Cultural Revolution. Thing is, where is all that wealth / resource gonna come from in a “finite” system? Maybe from the West, I’m thinking.
And, the new Central Committee members are all very good at One thing; being in a Committee.
very helpful
The potential for this conflict to escalate even further is there, with the Israelis calling up 30,000 reservists and amassing troops and tanks near the Gaza border. Despite a warning from Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Israeli rocket and airstrikes have continued unabated, entirely dwarfing the retaliatory strikes coming from Palestine for the assassination of Hamas military leader Ahmed al-Jabari…
And Israel sits in morbid fear of Iran because of it as well.
They really need to open their eyes to one simple fact “Torture results in Torture”.
If they keep the element white hot simply to justify the “Self Defence” stance then it’s simply an engineered excuse for a fear perspectived suppression.
(i.e Israel starts talking “Terrorists” again )
Thanks Rogue Trooper. It’s good to have some agreement and I think Israel and the United States need to know that not everybody in the west supports such an unjust war on the Palestinians. I think very few people would if they were made aware of the facts of the matter.
It will escalate as there is no solution to the fact that out of 70 odd water wells in Palestinian country more than 50% have been taped from the Israelis leaving the Palestinians – without water. Now you tell me, what solution is there? You can actually say that the Israelis deliberately undermine the survival of the Palestinians with these actions. So what solution would you offer? Albeit the information is accessible, not many report on it. Why? http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/water.html
The solution is simple and easily achieved: the United States must cease funding and supporting Israel’s illegal aggression and settlement programs, just as it was eventually persuaded to cease funding and supporting Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, apartheid South Africa, and the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia.
Overthrew a democratically elected Government.
Murdered between 700 thousand and a million of his own citizens to get into power.
Brutally squashed two independence movements. Now engaged in squashing a third.
Keeps about 2/3 of his country in poverty.
Allows foreign companies to repatriate almost 100% of their profits. Especially Western oil companies.
Has the worst environmental record in the Pacific..
Allows abuse of workers in virtual slave labour.
Sends troops in to kill unionists.
Country has unsustainable debt.
Streets of beggars and homeless.
This Dictator of an oil rich country.
Left his country with no external debt.
Gave interest free loans to citizens.
Had Western standards of living.
Increased literacy from 25% to 83%.
Had the Highest Standard of living in Africa.
A proportion of all oil sales was credited to every citizens bank account.
No beggars in the streets and no homeless.
Guess which one was helped into place by the US Government and is supported by other Western Governments, including ours”.
The United States exists in mortal fear of the large number of its rich and powerful Israeli-born citizens. No President will dare to defy Israel, being so beholden to the vicious politicians in that country.
DODGY JOHN BANKS ….GOING……….GOING………….???
What happens if Graham McCready is successful in his private prosecution of John Banks under s.134(1) of the Local Electoral Act? http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2001/0035/latest/DLM94799.html
134 False return
(1) Every candidate commits an offence who transmits a return of electoral expenses knowing that it is false in any material particular, and is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to a fine not exceeding $10,000.
_________________________________________________
If you want to read Judge Mill’s decision on the granting of a witness summons for John Banks – and not rumour and heresay – a full copy of her decision is available on http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
Seen this folks?
17 November 2012
Media Release:
Protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza – today 2pm, Aotea Square.
As Israeli troops mass at the Gaza border Global Peace and Justice Auckland is organising a march this Saturday to protest Israel’s assassination of a Palestinian leader in the Gaza strip and the deadly rocket attacks in which many Palestinians have lost their lives.
We will be calling on Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully to speak out for New Zealand and urge Israel to stop the carnage it started.
With our silence New Zealand is part of the Israeli killing machine.
Around the world the mainstream media has given an appalling pro-Israeli version of how and why the latest violence started. (See postscript to this release)
We hope to begin to redress the misinformation with a live link to kiwi activist Roger Fowler who is in Gaza on a solidarity mission for the New Zealand group Kia Ora Gaza. Call me for Roger’s international phone if you want to talk to him – and we hope you do.
Todays’ protest will include a mass throwing of old shoes at the US consulate. Throwing shoes is a traditional way of showing disgust at US/Israeli policies in the Middle East following the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at the then US President George Bush in a 2008 media conference.
These latest Israeli attacks continue the brutal victimisation of the Palestinian people of Gaza who are effectively locked in the largest open air prison in the world and treated like animals through an inhuman Israeli blockade.
Israeli justifications for the attacks are hollow. It is Israel’s racist policies and vicious mistreatment of Palestinians which are at the heart of this conflict. Israel policies alone pose the greatest threat to peace in the Middle East and in the world.
As well and blockading Palestinians in Gaza Israel maintain a military occupation of the West Bank while destroying Palestinian homes and farms to make way for Jewish-only settlements. These vicious de-humanising apartheid policies against Palestinians are in defiance of international law and numerous UN resolutions.
yes. the war for the leadeship of the NZ Labour party may in Remembrance of Things Past, be overshadowed by the initiation of a much more significant War…
(go on “ask me ask me ask me..”)
The daily bombardment of Gaza is a “war”? Be careful of your terminology. This is a “war” in the sense the blockading of the Warsaw Ghetto was a war. One side has a massive and overwhelming advantage, the other side is almost entirely unarmed, penned in, and at the mercy of its tormentor.
Clearly the media statements National made following the release of the Pure Advantage Green growth: opportunities for New Zealand report (PDF) were entirely false. The contradictions between them and what Bill English said in parliament on Thursday couldn’t be more apparent…
well, while the “gangs” all here (speaking of scouts, and other conservative establishments, how much more of this sexual manipulation of children by “respectable” persons is gonna be revealed)
I have seen and experienced a lot in my life, and when I was younger and establishing relationships with the opposite gender, I was continuously disturbed by the revelations of “partners” of the sexual abuse that had been visited upon them; now, regretably, in some ways, I had a disproportionate amount of partners for the time, yet, I would estimate at least half had been taken advantage of for the sexual gratification of an older male.
The most disturbing example was a young women, who had become quite “experimental” for the time, sharing with me how her Father, a former school teacher and MoE School Inspector, before he became self-employed, had systematically formed and developed sexual relationships with all Four of his daughters from primary school through to their teens (he is dead now);consequently, they all had deep psycho-social “issues”
anyway
BBC News is in turmoil. Having last year dropped a report on claims of sexual abuse against the late DJ and television presenter Jimmy Savile, the flagship Newsnight programme this month wrongly implicated Tory peer Lord McAlpine in child abuse. As a result, after just 54 days in his job, the BBC director-general, George Entwistle, ‘stepped down’ on November 10. The BBC’s head of news, Helen Boaden, and her deputy, Stephen Mitchell, were then also ‘asked’ to ‘step aside’. Peter Rippon, the Newsnight editor responsible for the Savile decision, had already ‘stepped aside’.
The Lord Patten-led BBC Trust, which is supposed to ensure that the BBC is run in the public interest, has once again been revealed as a useless, dangling appendage.
Newsnight’s journalistic failures on child abuse are bad enough, rightly heaping pressure on the broadcaster. But there was no comparable pressure for senior staff to ‘step aside’ over the BBC’s truly catastrophic failure to challenge US-UK propaganda on Iraq’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction and the country’s supposed ‘threat’ to the West. This failure paved the way to war in Iraq and the subsequent brutal and bloody occupation at a cost of hundreds of thousands of lives. As Media Lens noted recently on Twitter: ‘If you think Newsnight failed badly now, compare with anchor Jeremy Paxman’s 2009 confession on Iraq’: namely, that he and his media colleagues were ‘hoodwinked’ by propaganda about Iraq. Paxman made these extraordinary comments….
Sounds like a lot of antisemitism rubbish to me. Not surprised though. Socialists hate success. The State of Israel is very successful in both defending itself and in making money. Therefore the nasty State of Israel should be kinder to the poor wee Palestinians.
Oh, do grow up, Monique. It’s not anti-semitic to oppose the bullying of the powerless by the powerful. It’s a sign of character. And us socialists love success, we just define it differently from righties. Socialists want success for the majority, your lot see success as entirely personal and something only the minority should enjoy.
The State of Israel shouldn’t exist as people, specifically the Palestinians, already occupied the territory that the Zionists wanted. It came into being as a declaration from the UN and terrorism by the Zionists.
BTW, Palestinians are Semitic as well so where’s the anti-Semitism?
Monique, I will not write what I am sorely tempted to, instead I will let this image illuminate your hate. Your vile sanctimonious wastrel of a comment shows that you seem oblivious to or proud of how ignorant you are, and I cannot decide which is the more pitiful. http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/converted_islam/35446474/13326/13326_original.jpg
I pity her ignorance the most, mainly because if Monique Yea or Nay [sic] Watson actually bothered to learn the truth about the Israeli Palestinian conflict, she wouldn’t have displayed such sanctimonious drivel.
I know nothing about political conferences and this post is probably loaded with naivety but here goes.
Somehow a lot of the remits seemed so last century – where is there anything about taking the fight to the opposition, using some of their tactics against them. It takes time to build up what the last labour government did, but no time to wreck it. Destroying it needs to be made a lot harder.
Take PPP, a left government could sign a contract with the teacher’s unions to provide services to state schools with the appropriate standards and some large break clauses, sort of Serco in reverse,
which would make it more difficult to divert funds to the private sector.
Asset sales. At the moment all the shares in the companies are held by the Minister of finance. Put a block of these shares into a trust for the employees and customers of the company. Most of the time it won’t matter but if something large comes up then the minority provisions of the Companies Act click in and the trustees are bound by their duties which should slow things down considerably.
Groups excluded by National. (Everybody but rich white males) Don’t let the framing be around a “more Interventionist” left but one of leveling a tilted playing field so that all citizens are able to contribute. Look at the benefits we will all gain from Maori stance on water , thanks from us all.
Lastly, I didn’t think David Shearer’s comments about bloggers were smart. If words didn’t matter then why the drive to control MSM by the right. Social media is a way for those not involved or incensed by the MSM to bring otherwise hidden opinions and actions to light. Of course the MSM hate and belittle this, because of the loss of control by them over the discourse but a wise political party should see the benefits.
People who take the time to blog are I suspect likely to be influencers and opinion formers out there in the real world. Just because I blog here doesn’t mean that I don’t try to influence opinions out there in real life on a case by case basis and sometimes I believe I suceed.
I personally, have no idea who the other bloggers on here are apart from some mental pictures and I never will unless Lprent throws a party…..
I can tolerate Shearer but I think he needs to use everything and everybody he has to the maximum capacity not sledge likely supporters.
I don’t think Shearer has “the fire in the belly” (I was going to say, balls, but QOT would then have mine) or the inclination, to lead Labour both into reversing the neo-liberal crap which has failed us to date, and deal with the third way advocates in Labour.
I agree to you both; When Shearer said on tele, a little red-faced, that he will be leader, and lead the party to win in 2014, I thought, hmmm, a little presumptious, but maybe he is a committee man 🙂
Should have expanded. What would it have cost Shearer to
1. Have a punt at the MSM ” Labour values all forms of discourse and social media has a big place in forming and voicing emerging opinion and preventing complacency and the status quo from ruling as the Nacts would like”
2. and keeping the heat off himself ” this may not mean that we agree with everything said but respect right to say it , and of course I’ve been voted in as the man for the job by the party” [small smile on face]
Yes, he could have shown good political judgement. Except – he hasn’t got any.
He is only listening to those he wants to hear, which is usually the kind of thing that happens when politicians have been in power for ages and have lost touch. But – incredibly – Shearer is showing the same disconnect from reality at the start of his leadership. And that’s why he’s doomed.
You know, from a purely tactical point of view, I would say of everything Shearer has been saying lately about his position, something like this:
Of course that’s what he has to say – to say otherwise would be to admit an error or to play into his opponents’ hands.
Really, he can’t say something like this:
Yes indeed, there is a serious threat to my so-called leadership.
Or:
All those bloggers and columnists are longtime Labour supporters and they have legitimate concerns that I really must address.
Let alone:
Yep, when Fran O’Sullivan with the piss-tinted spectacles, Matthew Hooton, Richard Long, David Farrar – AKA The Penguin – and all those other goons are supporting me and respected left-of-centre writers think I’m a pile of dingoes kidneys, I’ve got to admit that I’m probably not the man for the job after all.
He can’t say anything other than what he’s saying because he’s painted himself into a corner and it’s too late.
When the time comes, what he will not say is “Et tu, Brute,” because it will be a surprise to no-one – not even himself. You see, despite the strong resemblance, he’s just a wee, tiny, little bit (but not much) smarter than Dilbert’s pointy-haired boss.
Bye bye Dave. Maybe you should swap that guitar for a violin or maybe in your spare time you could paint your roof.
The present National Party that has been hijacked by banksters, money launderers, gamblers, Big Corporates, and the 1%, extract unfair advantage from the tilted playing field, and they continue to tilt the playing field even more in their own favour and interest.
I saw David Shearer on TV this morning and I while I’m sure he’s a very nice chap, I just wish he’d do the following:
A. Keep his mouth closed at all times except when speaking; and
B. Stop licking his lips all the time. The lizard-like tongue constantly darting out makes him look very nervous and besides that just looks a bit icky.
You cannot tell him because it is highly questionable that he is in fact “a very nice chap” (look how he regards critics from his own party; consider his openly expressed egotism). Regardless, I am rather suspicious of these “very nice chaps” (particularly of the Key variety!) This “very nice chap” phrase has by now become a well worn-out and meaningless cliche.
Yeah, I never got that “Key is a nice guy” thing at all. He always seemed revoltingly smarmy – and likewise, I don’t get the “Shearer is a nice guy” thing either. Sure, you can be a bumbling, incompetent nice guy who ultimately wins through in an Adam Sandler film, but in real life you can be a bumbling incompetent, vain, tin-eared, inarticulate, unsuitable, ignorant, cynical, spineless, focus group-driven, dull, passionless, visionless, unprincipled, egotistical and fundamentally stupid arsewipe of a puppet who’s a sad waste of space too.
People have their tells – Key has that hiss of indrawn breath to show that he knows he’s lying (yes, OK, lips moving and words coming out is a tell that he’s lying, but I mean deliberately since lying is a matter of reflex for him) and Shearer has the lip-licking to show that he’s scared.
With the 2013 elections just months away, Barak sees polls for his now rapidly vanishing party sending him to early retirement, and just like in Hanukkah 2008, Israel decided to break a ceasefire and assassin the Hamas senior military persona, Ahmad Jaberi. Hamas, as expected, responded with firing rockets on Israel’s southern regions, and to the great satisfaction of both Hamas and Israel, a full-scale war is being evolved.
I spoke with an expert on the Israeli military shortly after “Operation Cast Lead,” and when I told him that many argued that the operation was a reaction to Hamas rocket-fire, he laughed. He said that Hamas rocket-fire was deliberately provoked when Israel broke the cease-fire so that Israel could do a little “spring cleaning,” deplete Hamas’s arsenal of weapons. He told me that this happens every few years, and that I should expect it to happen in another few years. Israel will assassinate a Hamas leader, Hamas will have to respond (wouldn’t Israel, under those circumstances?) and Israel will perform a “clean up” operation. If Hamas is smart and doesn’t play into Israel’s hands, then Israel will also come out ahead, because it will be weakened in the eyes of the Palestinian public. It’s win-win for Israel. That’s what having control means.
The assassination of Jaabari was a pre-emptive strike against the possibility of a long term ceasefire. Netanyahu has acted with extreme irresponsibility. He has endangered the people of Israel and struck a real blow against the few important more pragmatic elements within Hamas. He has given another victory to those who seek our destruction, rather than strengthen those who are seeking to find a possibility to live side-by-side, not in peace, but in quiet.
I know not everyone here always thinks particularly highly of Messrs Trotter and Bradbury, but together with Wayne Hope they had a good discussion on Citizen A the other day.about where Labour is at, among other things.
Recent media coverage of The Standard comes up in the discussion.
Searching documentary about the anti-semitic question that I was fortunate to see recently.
Try watching the trailer. Very questioning, and shows some people are thinking seriously about Israel and Jewish attitudes. One thing comes across – how hypersensitive to negative feelings about them, no matter how fleeting or isolated, some Jews are. Doc is called Defamation. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1377278/
People just take a ganders at how the religious racial state was signed up for, and the powers behind making it happen, then take a look at the “peace” in the middle east since then to understand that the Israel story is nothing like what the media or recent history want to paint it as being about!
It is a sick joke on humanity, and like the political correctness movement, if one dares even questions Israel, one is labelled as anti-semetic, and any discusion shut down. What needs to be rememebed is that many Jewish people were sacrificed in odrer to create the State, so in some ways the Jewish people, mostly those who were poor, and hoping to return were those who were sacrificed.
Looking at it, to me the situation is entirely manufactured to serve the purpose, that has been the 64 years of ME war since, which has of course spilled out into Africa, and beyond, its all part of the same game. The planet is living with the pre and post formation of Israel every day, one just needs look at our shameless pro israel media to see the powers behind the story telling, and how will that change!
Only by people waking up and challenging what they believe to know about history, because we are not living in history, we are ALL living in the lies created by others, and passed of as history!
Kierkegaard’s work presents a viable contrast to the “Hegelian” historical determinism of particular peoples that is so often deferred to by the status quo
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Neo liberals in ascension?
Labour leaders meet business leaders in private and state housing activists nowhere.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7962380/Shearer-to-lead-Labour-into-election
Meanwhile in other news:
Two flax roots Glen Innes housing activists organising against the National Government’s eviction of state tenants and the removal and demolition of state homes in Glen Innes. Have had the invitation extended to them to attend the Labour Party conference, crudely canceled at the last minute.
Why?
Are the neo liberals behind the withdrawal of the housing activist’s invitation to conference?
Will David Shearer’s highly hyped Sunday speech on housing be advancing market solutions to homelessness?
Will GI state tenant Evonne Sainty’s message of protecting state provision of secure long term government tenancies, which build secure communities,* conflict with David Shearer’s views on state provision of housing?
*(Sainty’s vision is in direct conflict with National’s view of state housing as a short term band aid for for homelessness, extended only for a limited period before you are shifted out to find a home in the private sector.)
The Return to Egypt; the role of The Islamic Brotherhood for Hamas
meanwhile, back in the Bat/ $hit cave, China have the Formula to rule the world.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10848015
(Flash…ahhh ahhh, he’ll save every one of us…)
So almost first thing we see them disappearing behind closed doors with business leaders. What does that tell us? Can this action be”corrected” by a fancy speech tomorrow? Remember, Shearer has stated his intention to focus on the economy and not social issues (like poverty, I imagine).
I meant to return to dear old Shakespeare with regard to the coming SPEECH:
And ’tis a kind of good deed to say well:
And yet words are no deeds.
hah, this is perhaps more topical than I thought:
Which goes along quite well with my idea that the free-market is just justification for capitalism rather than a viable economic theory.
That’s really depresssing Jenny, but thanks for the information.
Some questions need to be asked.
Who were the attendees on the “Labour leadership” side?
Were they fully representative of the Labour leadership, or just a section?\
What did the “business representatives” want?
And who were they?
Where they fully representative of the business community, or just a section?
What assurances, if any, were they given?
Why was the meeting held behind closed doors?
Why have all the identities of those involved not been revealed?
Was monetary donations from business for Labour’s election campaign one of the things discussed?
What else was discussed?
Will any of the subjects discussed behind closed doors between anonymous Labour Party leaders and anonymous business leaders be revealed to the membership?
Secret discussions being held prior to conference between unnamed senior Labour Party and Business leaders behind “closed doors” surely is not a good look, does this sort of behaviour by the Labour leadership risk undermining the public’s confidence that the Labour Party conference is the supreme democratic policy making body of the party?
PS. Interesting how Rogue Trooper tried to divert the thread. Someone feeling a little bit sensitive about this issue being raised?
If this is what we can expect from Labour in opposition, what can we expect from them in government? More secret “closed door” meetings with business interests, while social activists are locked out and ignored?
No wonder the non-vote is on its way to becoming the majority.
Today is the day for all members and delegates who want to change how the Labour Party selects its leader. The 40:40:20 remit looks likely to pass. But remember that’s not the critical vote. The trigger within the caucus to start the leadership selection process is your most important vote today. The current remits are focused on 2/3rds, 55%, 51%. You need to understand 51% is the status quo, the current caucus trigger. The trigger needs to be lower if members are going to have real involvement in selecting their leader. In the UK it’s 20%.
If, for example, you want to have the opportunity to choose between Shearer and alternatives such as Cunliffe, that can only happen with a 40% caucus trigger.
Mallard and King have a lock on too many MP’s and if the trigger remains at 51% (or is increased) only they will hold the power to begin a leadership selection process. They can stick with Shearer until they are ready to install Robertson (probably far too close to an election). And where’s the membership involvement there! If you think Cunliffe should just suck it up and wait, think again. If 40% fails today, it’s time for four years of white anting by Mallard and King to stop. Cunliffe’s talents should be used more productively outside the Labour Party. That’s what Mallard and King want. What do you members want today?!
“The 40:40:20 remit looks likely to pass. ”
What does that mean Benghazi?
Sorry Ianmac, it was shorthand for Remit 297(d). This is the remit that could finally give members some say on who our leader is. Presently only the caucus decides. The split most likely to be passed is that the vote for the leader will be weighted 40% for caucus, 40% for members, and 20% for affiliated unions.
Thanks Ben.
Stick with Shearer just as they did Goff before him. Great! I almost wish Goff would return, nothing much worse could happen.
Goff got pretty good during the election campaign. The problem was the brain-dead policies they were running with – extending “working” for families to people that don’t work and borrowing money to invest in the superannuation fund. CGT was good but people didn’t seem to understand it and seemed to have a lot of exclusions.
I ended up voting Labour, but was seriously tempted to just vote Green.
Imagine the filth that King/Mallards controllers have on them to still be propping them up the way they are, Labour supporters need to have a good hard look in the mirror!
To be honest Cunliffe has no chance of saving NZ unless be fancies a car accident, or getting “sick”, as he has been around long enough to understand the consequences of becoming a genuine “saviour” of NZ.
So all you Cunliffe fans out there, time to get some reality in ya, and accept that he is just another part of the establishment, nothing more!
Tactic: While moving the “left to the center”, all the while moving the center to the right, you in fact succeed in deleting even faded memories of what “left” ever looked or sounded like!
Hence why those still supporting Labour have to be some of the most blinkered, read blindly ignorant people in the country, either that or they’re actually National voters in drag!
Well when Labour go down in a screaming heap in 2014. Coming in 2 nd after the greens with Mallard and co given the well deserved boot. If they’re trying to get back in on the List, then I pity Labour, If dinosaurs like them get back in.
And back on planet earth, one third of kiwi voters still prefer Labour. More after today, I imagine. And even more after the 13th of February.
Still, I wouldn’t be overly concerned if Labour did come second to the Greens, as you suggest. In that fantasy scenario, I’d guess National come third. Fine by me!
well, J T was carrying on like an abandoned ” little Boy” not allowed another piece of cake on the MSM last night; the character of the politically aspirant: I despair. J T and Maggie Barry would make a lovely photogenic couple.
educated, articulate, compassionate school principal mentors charming young male teacher up North
male teacher’s girlfriend advises principal teacher sleeping and showering with boy students
principal notifies local “bobby”
local “bobby” roughs up teacher and unsettles him
teacher informs fellow staff, and parents, principal informed on him
principal is ostracised and targeted
teacher is transferred; parents take around 40 children out of current school to follow teacher to new position
teacher is found some years later to have interferred sexually with over 40 children
principal now teaches in Nigeria amidst civil conflict and other African realities
Principal concludes; “Children are safer in Nigeria than they are in New Zealand”
(these parents may be the “electorate” the “centrist”- appealing pollies are trying to appeal to)
-the cynical prosecution rests it’s case.
Key on the Nation (Tv3):
First part – does OK, deals with Smalley (TV’s best interviewer?) well, not too defensive about the economy, he’s comfortable on that turf. Would eat Shearer alive.
Second part – on education, has to defend Parata and Foss, which nobody could, so he struggles. Parata is “outstanding” … hmmm. Gets tetchy on Kim Dotcom. Smalley attacks.
Overall, Key shows that he can still deflect easily with his prepared lines, but gets riled when he comes under sustained pressure.
But let’s not kid ourselves. He’s streets ahead of Shearer as an interviewee.
Re Paratas outstanding job.
That is probably fair in terms of Keys standards.
And Key probably can’t understand what she says anyway.
Fancy that, Comrade Helen talking about global government via the UN
You would like meangingful consequences, and full accountability for those “agreements” though wouldn’t you Stalin, woops I mean Helen!
MOST SHAMELESS LIES OF THE WEEK
Week ending Saturday 17/11/2012
Lie No. 1….
“Israel takes every measure to avoid civilian casualties.”
Binyamin Netanyahu, Thursday, 15/11/2012
Lie No. 2….
Reporter: What mark out of ten would you give David Shearer for his performance so far?
David Parker: Ahhhhhhhmmmm… ten.
Radio New Zealand National, Focus on Politics, 16/11/2012
Lie No. 3….
“Hekia Parata has done an OUTSTANDING job as minister.”
John Key, on The Nation, TV3, 17/11/2012
Lie No. 4….
“Nick Smith has an enormous brain. Sure, he made a few mistakes on the margin…”
John Key, on The Nation, TV3, 17/11/2012
“enormous brain”? Key really is an ignoramus.
Yup,
Back in the old days when I used to talk to “Directors”, the one thing they all said was they couldn’t delegate, always have too oversee people.
John Keys rhetoric is identical to all those directors’ responses to systemic failure.
The one difference obviously being that the Gnats’ are running our country not a business whos “reputation” may be damged by calling the person responsible an ignoramus.
Well said Lanthanide (-:
What business would tolerate someone as substandard as John Banks? Or Hekia Parata?
All right, all right, all right, I know what you’re going to say: there’s the Herald, NewstalkZB, Television New Zealand, the New Zealand Rugby Union, Radio Live….
Ae Morissey, It’s a really big problem, these “Underlings” that climb to positions of incompetence.
They “Believe M8!” 😈
POAL!
Temporary employment entry for skilled workers under the New Zealand – China Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
The FTA includes commitments for skilled workers from China to enter New Zealand for temporary employment, without labour market testing (but subject to specified qualifications and work experience requirements, registration if required, and the requirement for a bona fide job offer), if they work in one of the following occupations:
Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners
Chinese chefs
Mandarin teachers’ aides
Wushu martial arts (including tai chi) coaches
Chinese tour guides.
For more information, see China Special Work Category.
In addition, a maximum of 1000 skilled Chinese workers at any one time may be granted temporary employment for up to three years, in specified occupations where New Zealand has a skills shortage. Entry is limited to no more than 100 workers in each occupation at any one time.
The list of occupations (which all have specific qualification and experience requirements) is as follows:
Auditor
Automotive Electrician
Boatbuilder
Computer Application Engineer
Design Engineer – Electronics / Product Engineer
Diesel Mechanic
Early Childhood Teacher
Electrician
Electronics Technician
Film Animator
Fitter and Turner
Fitter / Welder
Medical Diagnostic Radiographer / Medical Radiation Therapist
Motor Mechanic
Plumber
Registered Nurse
Senior Test Analyst
Structural Engineer
University or Higher Education Lecturer/Tutor
Veterinarian.
For more information, see China Skilled Workers Category.
For more information about the FTA, visit http://www.ChinaFTA.govt.nz.
been saying Welcome The Chinese all year; they are coming and politicians will be handing over the keys.
And what’s he gonna do (Keys’) …. Put on the money blinkers ….. Deal Deal Deal …. wins another $50 ….. Onya DunnoKeyo!
😀
This is the solution offered to appease the Chinese and plug the hole that the abysmal education has left over the last 15 years. I suppose that this ought to help getting NZ on a similar productive level as its pacific rim neighbors. Problem is the cultural divide in terms of employment conditions. NZ had enjoyed a rather civilized arrangement with the British influence but this is going to slowly lean towards modern slavery under the new dogma. The ones that will leave and can do so will and others will just have to endure.
Of cause there are alternative solutions which fit with the current economic and social make up of NZ (as it still is) that makes far more sense and has the same outcome with none of the social reconstruction. But maybe this is not what is wanted.
Heard some excerpts of the PM debating the other day on radio.Thought, ‘who does he sound like?’
Then it hit me.He sounds remarkably like Paul Henry when excited. Listen next time.
Remit #121: End the process of union affiliation and return control of the party to the party members and return transparency of the party direction to the voters.
Amendment to Remit #121
Agree to do the above, as soon as National and their proxies embrace complete “transparency” in their funding.
Never ever envisaged saying it, but reckon John Armstrong pretty well nails it this morning…..
Link: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10847973
If women didn’t get so drunk, police would be able to catch the people who attack them.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/james-ihaka/news/article.cfm?a_id=315&objectid=10848010
While thinking about how many ways this story could have “innocently” gone wrong, and consdiering the many ideological laws it broke, the deciding vote – for me – went in favour of writing errors.
James/Jamie, listen, there are more perspectives than just your own in this world, you know that. You hold a priviledged place in our society, yet you’re ignoring the impact a singular perspective can do to groups within that society when the overall message of your words – the theme – is ignored, by you, the writer. Let’s skip past the ins and outs of readily available protection myths that you obviously don’t or can’t know about and concentrate on sources. No one’s asking you to become a feminist ideologue, just approach it from a perspective of good writing.
When this story was formed, did you consider the environment and attitude of the people offering the information and how, if it remained unchecked, it would alter the central message? Did you agree with the basic ideas of the people you met? Do you admire and defer to authority? Do you know your place? Do you believe you are essentially a good person, a team player? Do you believe you can write well without examining these influences? Did you have no choice but to generalise, because the raw information covered such a large group of individuals? Did it not matter, because you wanted to do good? Did you sincerely try for balance by talking to representatives of an alternate viewpoint?
Imagine how the story would have read if it was just about one person – what questions would you have asked in order to explain the whole picture? How far back would you have gone, how far below the surface would you have scratched, which side-tracks would you have trimmed out? Would you investigate the influence of intoxication separately or in parallel? How would that make a difference to the overall message? How many issues are contained in this story, James/Jamie? Would you be able to see everything and not have an opinion about what you saw? Where would you choose to cast the final vote – on the side of the victim, the aggressor, to uphold societal beliefs or attempt a reflection?
Best of luck to you Jamie/James. Take care with the power you have been awarded.
The crux of the story is,
If your going to get so pissed that you have no idea what’s going on around you, the police can’t help you.
I thought the crux of the story was that if you get so pissed you don’t know what’s going on around you and you then get raped, society will say it’s your own fault (even if they try and say it more neutrally than they used to).
What the article should have done is introduce the policing issue and then focus on Kim McGregor’s statement about the need to look at the behaviour of rapists/offenders (see the pathetic amount of space given to her statement at the end vs the rest of the article). I’m sure she had lots more to say.
They could also have done a completely separate article on the Massey research, looking at all the issues around young women binge drinking, and when they got to the bit bit about rape, again focus on the behaviour of rapists towards drunk women and link to the other article.
Great, but who is the message being given to and how? Jamie and James, instead of telling us more about what that actually means, your whole article has just informed rapists and potential rapists that if they rape really drunk women they’re likely to get away with it.
Oh, and Jamie and James and editors of the Herald, rape is not sex, so don’t call it that. Wish I had time to redo the whole article, but here’s a rewrite of the headline
Out-of-it victims stymie sex cases
should be
Men raping women who are unable to give consent
Facts are, rape has been around since human beings got up and walked, It’s not going away.
The smarter woman takes steps to reduce the chances of rape happening, getting so trolleyed you have no idea of what’s going on is not one of them.
Please produce some evidence that the high levels of rape we have now have always been.
And if you think that the responsibility is on women to avoid rape, please tell me what undrunk women who are unable to give consent or protect themselves should do.
Then tell me what responsibility you think men have in this.
Rape and pillage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_rape#Antiquity
Yes, we all know rape is bad and it’s not the fault of the man/woman/child who gets raped and in a perfect society any one could walk the streets at any time of the day and night, in any state and not get raped or beaten up.
Unfortunately we don’t live in this perfect world and I doubt we ever will,so a bit of personal responsibility needs to happen if you want to stay safe and out of harms way.
BM, you were asked Please produce some evidence that the high levels of rape we have now have always been.
You responded with a Wiki article on rape during war.
Either you’re a disingenuous fuckhead with a vested interest in not confronting societal attitudes which allow rapists to go unpunished, or you’re just a kindly-hearted confused little dweeb who doesn’t understand the circumstances in which the majority of rapes occur.
Sadly for you, I am all out of Benefit Of The Doubt.
I’m just a realist, unlike yourself.
Oh, BM. So sad how you can’t even back up your assertions. First you try re-defining things (rape vs. rape during war) and then you claim to be a realist when I’m the one arguing from actual statistics! It’s fucking adorable, to be honest.
You might want to consider why you believe that high levels of rape in society is the norm (despite there being no evidence), and how that relates to what you think can be done about it.
You haven’t answered my other questions.
How about you tell me how we could achieve this totally safe society where any woman could walk around at any time of the night without fear of being attacked and raped.
What steps should be taken, what’s your ideas?
Mmm, your attempted deflection from backing up your own statements is delicious. May I have some more?
“What steps should be taken, what’s your ideas?”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17112012/comment-page-1/#comment-548925
thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17112012/comment-page-1/#comment-548927
Start with those.
The smarter woman takes steps to reduce the chances of rape happening
I agree, BM. That’s why I live in an underground bunker and refuse to have contact with all men.
After all, the statistics tell us I’m most likely to be attacked by someone I know in my own home, so being a “smarter woman”, I’ve taken the necessary steps to reduce that risk.
The smarter society realises and supports the idea that people should be able to walk around anywhere and not be attacked rather defending the attackers and blaming the victims as you’re doing.
+1 Draco T Bastard
What a load of misogynistic crap BM.
what I often ponder, considering my experiential knowledge of the field, is the neurological damage that this culture of binge-drinking among young people will have, which takes time to heal, and the proportion of these young people who, statistically speaking, will develop “alcohol abuse” and “alcohol dependence” health histories; the DSM IV covers these matters at length, along with narcissism.
People drink to fit in. People fear difference. Intelligent people are different, and can cause huge social angst when they put average citizens down (loss of status). So why is it hard to fathom, that young people fear coming off as intelligent, want to fit in, and so abuse their brains.
Fearful people join groups in order to maintain security.
so the question is why is there so much wealth created by fear mongering? Well simple,
greedy crony capitalism distorts to make money, and creating a society of inequity,
fear of inequity, fear of being isolated, fear of being thrown out of society, being
made a non-citizen, will inevitable lead to gangs, to drinking to fit in, to…
There’s an old saying, what comes around goes around, and I think it means, that if you push values of supremacy then inevitably you are enslaved by your own dealings. Take the recent ponsi collapse, the trusting investors did not appreciate the GFC, National were not explaining the GFC, saying growth is just around the corner, so of course it was easier for investors to think the above market returns were realistic. You see it, National spin turns into shit hitting the fan for National, as Key promised to clear up the investment industry!
As a nation we are peddling lies about the weak taking over, destroying the economy, but in fact the weak are the National party and all hangers on who cannot stand on their own feet but neew no tax on CGT, need the socialism for the wealthy to be successful, be economically drunk and in need of a bonus on the board of a company, because they joined a group out of fear, not for positive reasons.
The need for alcohol or for profit, its all the same, security. Whethe r it be drinking to fit in, or joining a gang, or even supporting the current clueless National fear mongers in the Beehive.
I mean seriously, the rich made vast amounts gaming the system to produce huge indebtedness, and people really think they deserve to avoid tax increases, but this meme is a regular appearance on the news. It was tax decreases that got us into this mess!!!
you often, coherently, make reasonable points, now.
somebody , Tane, from memory, the other day referred to post-structuralist deconstruction as the necessary tools. They are certainly useful tools; what social policy advice influences policy is political, it appears, however, this deconstructive stuff is being written and published everyday; we can but spread the Word.
It is encouraging that young-ish people are likely to read and / or comment here as that is who we who are older are here for, aren’t we?
Now, I been following Chinese politics lightly, (too much audio-visual may be desensitizing, it certainly blows me away when I haven’t seen the bleeding and limp-dead children for a couple of days)
anyway, one quote from a citizen, maybe from the village where the new Leader spent Seven years of his youth living in a cave, said the Party aim is to make every Chinese person wealthy; well I can see they have certainly made some progress towards that aim since The Cultural Revolution. Thing is, where is all that wealth / resource gonna come from in a “finite” system? Maybe from the West, I’m thinking.
And, the new Central Committee members are all very good at One thing; being in a Committee.
very helpful
People who drink first have to acknowledge that it is THEM who has the problem – not the rest of society.
AA has personal acknowledgement as part of their Oath.
Addicts don’t abide by laws and regulations so it is then rather pointless to increase ‘barriers’ to alcohol.
Thou shalt not kill
The potential for this conflict to escalate even further is there, with the Israelis calling up 30,000 reservists and amassing troops and tanks near the Gaza border. Despite a warning from Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Israeli rocket and airstrikes have continued unabated, entirely dwarfing the retaliatory strikes coming from Palestine for the assassination of Hamas military leader Ahmed al-Jabari…
And Israel sits in morbid fear of Iran because of it as well.
They really need to open their eyes to one simple fact “Torture results in Torture”.
If they keep the element white hot simply to justify the “Self Defence” stance then it’s simply an engineered excuse for a fear perspectived suppression.
(i.e Israel starts talking “Terrorists” again )
On-To-It
many of your writings are very succinct and timely and timely Jackal
Thanks Rogue Trooper. It’s good to have some agreement and I think Israel and the United States need to know that not everybody in the west supports such an unjust war on the Palestinians. I think very few people would if they were made aware of the facts of the matter.
It will escalate as there is no solution to the fact that out of 70 odd water wells in Palestinian country more than 50% have been taped from the Israelis leaving the Palestinians – without water. Now you tell me, what solution is there? You can actually say that the Israelis deliberately undermine the survival of the Palestinians with these actions. So what solution would you offer? Albeit the information is accessible, not many report on it. Why?
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/water.html
Pure freakin evil, probably defines the entire problem from Day 1 of the Zionists.
Now you tell me, what solution is there?
The solution is simple and easily achieved: the United States must cease funding and supporting Israel’s illegal aggression and settlement programs, just as it was eventually persuaded to cease funding and supporting Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, apartheid South Africa, and the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia.
Stopped supporting the dictatorship in Indonesia. When?
They are still selling them arms. training their military and helping with repressive police tactics.
In fact, so is New Zealand.
http://kjt-kt.blogspot.co.nz/2011/10/kia-ora-this-dictator-of-oil-rich.html
“This Dictator of an oil rich country.
Overthrew a democratically elected Government.
Murdered between 700 thousand and a million of his own citizens to get into power.
Brutally squashed two independence movements. Now engaged in squashing a third.
Keeps about 2/3 of his country in poverty.
Allows foreign companies to repatriate almost 100% of their profits. Especially Western oil companies.
Has the worst environmental record in the Pacific..
Allows abuse of workers in virtual slave labour.
Sends troops in to kill unionists.
Country has unsustainable debt.
Streets of beggars and homeless.
This Dictator of an oil rich country.
Left his country with no external debt.
Gave interest free loans to citizens.
Had Western standards of living.
Increased literacy from 25% to 83%.
Had the Highest Standard of living in Africa.
A proportion of all oil sales was credited to every citizens bank account.
No beggars in the streets and no homeless.
Guess which one was helped into place by the US Government and is supported by other Western Governments, including ours”.
The United States exists in mortal fear of the large number of its rich and powerful Israeli-born citizens. No President will dare to defy Israel, being so beholden to the vicious politicians in that country.
Actual Link
DODGY JOHN BANKS ….GOING……….GOING………….???
What happens if Graham McCready is successful in his private prosecution of John Banks under s.134(1) of the Local Electoral Act?
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2001/0035/latest/DLM94799.html
134 False return
(1) Every candidate commits an offence who transmits a return of electoral expenses knowing that it is false in any material particular, and is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to a fine not exceeding $10,000.
_________________________________________________
If you want to read Judge Mill’s decision on the granting of a witness summons for John Banks – and not rumour and heresay – a full copy of her decision is available on http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’.
Thanks 4 the update Penny 🙂
When is Banks going to get charged with false finance company statements?
I see they charged some housewife who was probably not aware of what her husband was doing.
What about Banks.
Seen this folks?
17 November 2012
Media Release:
Protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza – today 2pm, Aotea Square.
As Israeli troops mass at the Gaza border Global Peace and Justice Auckland is organising a march this Saturday to protest Israel’s assassination of a Palestinian leader in the Gaza strip and the deadly rocket attacks in which many Palestinians have lost their lives.
We will be calling on Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully to speak out for New Zealand and urge Israel to stop the carnage it started.
With our silence New Zealand is part of the Israeli killing machine.
Around the world the mainstream media has given an appalling pro-Israeli version of how and why the latest violence started. (See postscript to this release)
We hope to begin to redress the misinformation with a live link to kiwi activist Roger Fowler who is in Gaza on a solidarity mission for the New Zealand group Kia Ora Gaza. Call me for Roger’s international phone if you want to talk to him – and we hope you do.
Todays’ protest will include a mass throwing of old shoes at the US consulate. Throwing shoes is a traditional way of showing disgust at US/Israeli policies in the Middle East following the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at the then US President George Bush in a 2008 media conference.
These latest Israeli attacks continue the brutal victimisation of the Palestinian people of Gaza who are effectively locked in the largest open air prison in the world and treated like animals through an inhuman Israeli blockade.
Israeli justifications for the attacks are hollow. It is Israel’s racist policies and vicious mistreatment of Palestinians which are at the heart of this conflict. Israel policies alone pose the greatest threat to peace in the Middle East and in the world.
As well and blockading Palestinians in Gaza Israel maintain a military occupation of the West Bank while destroying Palestinian homes and farms to make way for Jewish-only settlements. These vicious de-humanising apartheid policies against Palestinians are in defiance of international law and numerous UN resolutions.
John Minto
Mike Treen
So you think nothing and nobody can revolt you?
You haven’t seen ALEX SELSKY in action….
Go to YouTube and type in the following:
“Gaza War Spiral: RT talks to Israeli PM spokesman”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8VbtRk5ufo&feature=player_embedded
If you are not disgusted by Mr Alex Selsky, there is something wrong with you.
yes. the war for the leadeship of the NZ Labour party may in Remembrance of Things Past, be overshadowed by the initiation of a much more significant War…
(go on “ask me ask me ask me..”)
The daily bombardment of Gaza is a “war”? Be careful of your terminology. This is a “war” in the sense the blockading of the Warsaw Ghetto was a war. One side has a massive and overwhelming advantage, the other side is almost entirely unarmed, penned in, and at the mercy of its tormentor.
National fails the environmental test
Clearly the media statements National made following the release of the Pure Advantage Green growth: opportunities for New Zealand report (PDF) were entirely false. The contradictions between them and what Bill English said in parliament on Thursday couldn’t be more apparent…
well, while the “gangs” all here (speaking of scouts, and other conservative establishments, how much more of this sexual manipulation of children by “respectable” persons is gonna be revealed)
I have seen and experienced a lot in my life, and when I was younger and establishing relationships with the opposite gender, I was continuously disturbed by the revelations of “partners” of the sexual abuse that had been visited upon them; now, regretably, in some ways, I had a disproportionate amount of partners for the time, yet, I would estimate at least half had been taken advantage of for the sexual gratification of an older male.
The most disturbing example was a young women, who had become quite “experimental” for the time, sharing with me how her Father, a former school teacher and MoE School Inspector, before he became self-employed, had systematically formed and developed sexual relationships with all Four of his daughters from primary school through to their teens (he is dead now);consequently, they all had deep psycho-social “issues”
anyway
Big Fat Lies
http://sweetpoison.com.au/?page_id=458
Fetish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_Fetish
now, I better do the garden to reimburse for my time wasted, on the internet that is
🙂
November 16, 2012
Gaza Blitz – Turmoil And Tragicomedy At The BBC
by David Cromwell and David Edwards
http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=706:gaza-blitz-turmoil-and-tragicomedy-at-the-bbc&catid=25:alerts-2012&Itemid=69
BBC News is in turmoil. Having last year dropped a report on claims of sexual abuse against the late DJ and television presenter Jimmy Savile, the flagship Newsnight programme this month wrongly implicated Tory peer Lord McAlpine in child abuse. As a result, after just 54 days in his job, the BBC director-general, George Entwistle, ‘stepped down’ on November 10. The BBC’s head of news, Helen Boaden, and her deputy, Stephen Mitchell, were then also ‘asked’ to ‘step aside’. Peter Rippon, the Newsnight editor responsible for the Savile decision, had already ‘stepped aside’.
The Lord Patten-led BBC Trust, which is supposed to ensure that the BBC is run in the public interest, has once again been revealed as a useless, dangling appendage.
Newsnight’s journalistic failures on child abuse are bad enough, rightly heaping pressure on the broadcaster. But there was no comparable pressure for senior staff to ‘step aside’ over the BBC’s truly catastrophic failure to challenge US-UK propaganda on Iraq’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction and the country’s supposed ‘threat’ to the West. This failure paved the way to war in Iraq and the subsequent brutal and bloody occupation at a cost of hundreds of thousands of lives. As Media Lens noted recently on Twitter: ‘If you think Newsnight failed badly now, compare with anchor Jeremy Paxman’s 2009 confession on Iraq’: namely, that he and his media colleagues were ‘hoodwinked’ by propaganda about Iraq. Paxman made these extraordinary comments….
Read more….
http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=706:gaza-blitz-turmoil-and-tragicomedy-at-the-bbc&catid=25:alerts-2012&Itemid=69
Sounds like a lot of antisemitism rubbish to me. Not surprised though. Socialists hate success. The State of Israel is very successful in both defending itself and in making money. Therefore the nasty State of Israel should be kinder to the poor wee Palestinians.
Yeah, Syrkin, Ben-Gurion, Katznelson, and Meir, all success hating socialists.
Oh, do grow up, Monique. It’s not anti-semitic to oppose the bullying of the powerless by the powerful. It’s a sign of character. And us socialists love success, we just define it differently from righties. Socialists want success for the majority, your lot see success as entirely personal and something only the minority should enjoy.
Shooting 30 or more non-involved Palestinians for every Israeli killed seems to me to be too reminiscent of certain German methods in the 40’s.
Far from being anti Semitic, I know there is a large number of Jewish people who think that Israel should be better than that.
You’re utterly ignorant. You need to read the piece and then think. So far you’ve done neither.
The State of Israel shouldn’t exist as people, specifically the Palestinians, already occupied the territory that the Zionists wanted. It came into being as a declaration from the UN and terrorism by the Zionists.
BTW, Palestinians are Semitic as well so where’s the anti-Semitism?
Monique, I will not write what I am sorely tempted to, instead I will let this image illuminate your hate. Your vile sanctimonious wastrel of a comment shows that you seem oblivious to or proud of how ignorant you are, and I cannot decide which is the more pitiful.
http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/converted_islam/35446474/13326/13326_original.jpg
I pity her ignorance the most, mainly because if Monique Yea or Nay [sic] Watson actually bothered to learn the truth about the Israeli Palestinian conflict, she wouldn’t have displayed such sanctimonious drivel.
I know nothing about political conferences and this post is probably loaded with naivety but here goes.
Somehow a lot of the remits seemed so last century – where is there anything about taking the fight to the opposition, using some of their tactics against them. It takes time to build up what the last labour government did, but no time to wreck it. Destroying it needs to be made a lot harder.
Take PPP, a left government could sign a contract with the teacher’s unions to provide services to state schools with the appropriate standards and some large break clauses, sort of Serco in reverse,
which would make it more difficult to divert funds to the private sector.
Asset sales. At the moment all the shares in the companies are held by the Minister of finance. Put a block of these shares into a trust for the employees and customers of the company. Most of the time it won’t matter but if something large comes up then the minority provisions of the Companies Act click in and the trustees are bound by their duties which should slow things down considerably.
Groups excluded by National. (Everybody but rich white males) Don’t let the framing be around a “more Interventionist” left but one of leveling a tilted playing field so that all citizens are able to contribute. Look at the benefits we will all gain from Maori stance on water , thanks from us all.
Lastly, I didn’t think David Shearer’s comments about bloggers were smart. If words didn’t matter then why the drive to control MSM by the right. Social media is a way for those not involved or incensed by the MSM to bring otherwise hidden opinions and actions to light. Of course the MSM hate and belittle this, because of the loss of control by them over the discourse but a wise political party should see the benefits.
People who take the time to blog are I suspect likely to be influencers and opinion formers out there in the real world. Just because I blog here doesn’t mean that I don’t try to influence opinions out there in real life on a case by case basis and sometimes I believe I suceed.
I personally, have no idea who the other bloggers on here are apart from some mental pictures and I never will unless Lprent throws a party…..
I can tolerate Shearer but I think he needs to use everything and everybody he has to the maximum capacity not sledge likely supporters.
Here ends today’s rant.
+1
I don’t think Shearer has “the fire in the belly” (I was going to say, balls, but QOT would then have mine) or the inclination, to lead Labour both into reversing the neo-liberal crap which has failed us to date, and deal with the third way advocates in Labour.
I agree to you both; When Shearer said on tele, a little red-faced, that he will be leader, and lead the party to win in 2014, I thought, hmmm, a little presumptious, but maybe he is a committee man 🙂
in person
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personalist
Should have expanded. What would it have cost Shearer to
1. Have a punt at the MSM ” Labour values all forms of discourse and social media has a big place in forming and voicing emerging opinion and preventing complacency and the status quo from ruling as the Nacts would like”
2. and keeping the heat off himself ” this may not mean that we agree with everything said but respect right to say it , and of course I’ve been voted in as the man for the job by the party” [small smile on face]
Yes, he could have shown good political judgement. Except – he hasn’t got any.
He is only listening to those he wants to hear, which is usually the kind of thing that happens when politicians have been in power for ages and have lost touch. But – incredibly – Shearer is showing the same disconnect from reality at the start of his leadership. And that’s why he’s doomed.
You know, from a purely tactical point of view, I would say of everything Shearer has been saying lately about his position, something like this:
Of course that’s what he has to say – to say otherwise would be to admit an error or to play into his opponents’ hands.
Really, he can’t say something like this:
Yes indeed, there is a serious threat to my so-called leadership.
Or:
All those bloggers and columnists are longtime Labour supporters and they have legitimate concerns that I really must address.
Let alone:
Yep, when Fran O’Sullivan with the piss-tinted spectacles, Matthew Hooton, Richard Long, David Farrar – AKA The Penguin – and all those other goons are supporting me and respected left-of-centre writers think I’m a pile of dingoes kidneys, I’ve got to admit that I’m probably not the man for the job after all.
He can’t say anything other than what he’s saying because he’s painted himself into a corner and it’s too late.
When the time comes, what he will not say is “Et tu, Brute,” because it will be a surprise to no-one – not even himself. You see, despite the strong resemblance, he’s just a wee, tiny, little bit (but not much) smarter than Dilbert’s pointy-haired boss.
Bye bye Dave. Maybe you should swap that guitar for a violin or maybe in your spare time you could paint your roof.
“but one of leveling a tilted playing field”
– spot on.
The present National Party that has been hijacked by banksters, money launderers, gamblers, Big Corporates, and the 1%, extract unfair advantage from the tilted playing field, and they continue to tilt the playing field even more in their own favour and interest.
I saw David Shearer on TV this morning and I while I’m sure he’s a very nice chap, I just wish he’d do the following:
A. Keep his mouth closed at all times except when speaking; and
B. Stop licking his lips all the time. The lizard-like tongue constantly darting out makes him look very nervous and besides that just looks a bit icky.
Can’t someone just tell him?
The nervous fixed grin doesn’t help other.
You cannot tell him because it is highly questionable that he is in fact “a very nice chap” (look how he regards critics from his own party; consider his openly expressed egotism). Regardless, I am rather suspicious of these “very nice chaps” (particularly of the Key variety!) This “very nice chap” phrase has by now become a well worn-out and meaningless cliche.
Yeah, I never got that “Key is a nice guy” thing at all. He always seemed revoltingly smarmy – and likewise, I don’t get the “Shearer is a nice guy” thing either. Sure, you can be a bumbling, incompetent nice guy who ultimately wins through in an Adam Sandler film, but in real life you can be a bumbling incompetent, vain, tin-eared, inarticulate, unsuitable, ignorant, cynical, spineless, focus group-driven, dull, passionless, visionless, unprincipled, egotistical and fundamentally stupid arsewipe of a puppet who’s a sad waste of space too.
People have their tells – Key has that hiss of indrawn breath to show that he knows he’s lying (yes, OK, lips moving and words coming out is a tell that he’s lying, but I mean deliberately since lying is a matter of reflex for him) and Shearer has the lip-licking to show that he’s scared.
The reality.
http://www.juancole.com/2012/11/wagging-the-dog-in-gaza-netanyahus-skirmish-of-fear-sternfeld.html
With the 2013 elections just months away, Barak sees polls for his now rapidly vanishing party sending him to early retirement, and just like in Hanukkah 2008, Israel decided to break a ceasefire and assassin the Hamas senior military persona, Ahmad Jaberi. Hamas, as expected, responded with firing rockets on Israel’s southern regions, and to the great satisfaction of both Hamas and Israel, a full-scale war is being evolved.
http://www.jeremiahhaber.com/2012/11/israels-pre-election-war.html
I spoke with an expert on the Israeli military shortly after “Operation Cast Lead,” and when I told him that many argued that the operation was a reaction to Hamas rocket-fire, he laughed. He said that Hamas rocket-fire was deliberately provoked when Israel broke the cease-fire so that Israel could do a little “spring cleaning,” deplete Hamas’s arsenal of weapons. He told me that this happens every few years, and that I should expect it to happen in another few years. Israel will assassinate a Hamas leader, Hamas will have to respond (wouldn’t Israel, under those circumstances?) and Israel will perform a “clean up” operation. If Hamas is smart and doesn’t play into Israel’s hands, then Israel will also come out ahead, because it will be weakened in the eyes of the Palestinian public. It’s win-win for Israel. That’s what having control means.
edit: This too.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/15/assassinating-the-chance-for-calm.html
The assassination of Jaabari was a pre-emptive strike against the possibility of a long term ceasefire. Netanyahu has acted with extreme irresponsibility. He has endangered the people of Israel and struck a real blow against the few important more pragmatic elements within Hamas. He has given another victory to those who seek our destruction, rather than strengthen those who are seeking to find a possibility to live side-by-side, not in peace, but in quiet.
I know not everyone here always thinks particularly highly of Messrs Trotter and Bradbury, but together with Wayne Hope they had a good discussion on Citizen A the other day.about where Labour is at, among other things.
Recent media coverage of The Standard comes up in the discussion.
http://youtu.be/FcjopHGLnwU
Searching documentary about the anti-semitic question that I was fortunate to see recently.
Try watching the trailer. Very questioning, and shows some people are thinking seriously about Israel and Jewish attitudes. One thing comes across – how hypersensitive to negative feelings about them, no matter how fleeting or isolated, some Jews are. Doc is called Defamation.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1377278/
Hi Prism.
People just take a ganders at how the religious racial state was signed up for, and the powers behind making it happen, then take a look at the “peace” in the middle east since then to understand that the Israel story is nothing like what the media or recent history want to paint it as being about!
It is a sick joke on humanity, and like the political correctness movement, if one dares even questions Israel, one is labelled as anti-semetic, and any discusion shut down. What needs to be rememebed is that many Jewish people were sacrificed in odrer to create the State, so in some ways the Jewish people, mostly those who were poor, and hoping to return were those who were sacrificed.
Looking at it, to me the situation is entirely manufactured to serve the purpose, that has been the 64 years of ME war since, which has of course spilled out into Africa, and beyond, its all part of the same game. The planet is living with the pre and post formation of Israel every day, one just needs look at our shameless pro israel media to see the powers behind the story telling, and how will that change!
Only by people waking up and challenging what they believe to know about history, because we are not living in history, we are ALL living in the lies created by others, and passed of as history!
Kierkegaard’s work presents a viable contrast to the “Hegelian” historical determinism of particular peoples that is so often deferred to by the status quo