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 Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
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Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
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Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
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The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
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Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
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Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
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In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
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The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
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Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
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The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
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Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
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Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
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New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
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Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
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 The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, 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 ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
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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