ship strike and coincidence stated in article but 'so long….' was first thought that sprang to mind ….some 'odd' shark behaviour been reported recently as well
Article 1 Section 9 Clause 8 of the US Constitution states:
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
Article 2 Section 1 Clause 7 of the US Constitution states:
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
One or both of these clauses gets violated every time any foreign delegation stays at a Trump Organisation property, or the Secret Service has to pay for the rooms their agents use when protecting the Prez when he goes to a Trump Organisation property.
But the greatest grifter of them all isn't content with forcing the minor cognitive dissonance of ignoring or defending this level of corruption on his cultists. No sirree, he has to go for the big kahuna of using one of his properties to host the G-7 meeting, thereby forcing the US government and all participating foreign governments into massive tribute payments.
I think what this shows, and all the other examples in recent times (whether NZTA, MSD cruelty, the T&C examples, MoBIE employees calling people "scum", etc., etc., etc.), is that if you give state agencies an opportunity, certain elements within will go rogue. EVEN IF they think its all with the best of intentions.
Far worse now as parts of our public service operate as little feifdoms with KPIs et all to meet. Proper oversight and accountability is well overdue
EVEN IF they think its all with the best of intentions.
It's a return to the degrading attitudes of Victorian times and the rigid class distinctions and who is entitled to respect and who not, with punitive punishments meted out by the people in society who see themselves as domatrixes? over the lower class. It's ugly and so are the thoughts behind the well-made up and expensively dressed group. It actually becomes so embedded in society without it being noticed, examined and condemned that it becomes a caste system, with untouchables at the base of it.
Self-delusion is strong amongst UK Conservatives. How do you diagnose the Madness of the Entitled deep into group-think?
The Telegraph passed on this gem from Rees-Mogg (Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council since 2019, Eton and Trinity Colleges), from a report by Asa Bennett, Brexit Commissioning Editor.
Meanwhile, don't miss Jacob Rees-Mogg's column, in which he urges his fellow MPs to pass the deal, adding: "It is a great injustice meted upon the British people by the political class that the joyful decision they took, born out of confidence and resolution, should have become so associated with stasis and stagnation."
I think the time has come to stop taking the p out of Simon. He will end up getting a sympathy vote for being mocked and picked-on. The emotional responses of all our educated citizens are high, compared to the informed judicious approach when deciding on election choice.
A large number of deaths of apparently healthy antelope. Why?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/25/mass-mortality-events-animal-conservation-climate-change Feb 2018 The scientists on the ground pinpointed blood poisoning as the cause, but were puzzled as to why whole herds were dying so quickly. After 32 postmortems, they concluded the culprit was the bacterium Pasteurella multocida, which they believe normally lives harmlessly in the tonsils of some, if not all, of the antelopes. In a research paper published in January in Science Advances, Kock and colleagues contrasted the 2015 MME with the two from the 1980s. They concluded that a rise in temperature to 37C and an increase in humidity above 80% in the previous few days had stimulated the bacteria to pass into the bloodstream where it caused haemorrhagic septicaemia, or blood poisoning.
The weather link raises the spectre of climate change. Just as it is rarely wise to link a single extreme weather event – whether it’s the Australian heatwave, last summer’s Hurricane Harvey or this winter’s North American cold snap – to climate change, it is equally difficult to blame an MME on global warming. But what can be said with confidence is that the sorts of extreme weather events linked to MMEs – such as the temperature and humidity rise that nearly wiped out the saiga – will become more frequent.
And more climate change problems for animals and us?
More than half a century ago, conservationist Rachel Carson sounded an alarm about human impacts on the natural world with her book Silent Spring. Its title alluded to the loss of twittering birds from natural habitats because of indiscriminate pesticide use, and the treatise spawned the modern conservation movement. But new research published Thursday in Science shows bird populations have continued to plummet in the past five decades, dropping by nearly three billion across North America—an overall decline of 29 percent from 1970.
The answer is apparently for ths hoi polloi to elect someone like Harper in Canada 2014 who sacked 2000 scientists and encouraged destruction of archived records. and buffoon politicians with an air of confidence who lie about the conditions, and then there is no need to think. I think this proves that democracy tends to fall into the hands of finaglers and connivers and people are lulled into thinking they don't need to participate in the running of their country and so democracy is never really tried, as has also been said of Christianity.
Hard to see Luxon getting a high (enough) placing on the List and not aiming for a win in his electorate (if he’s selected to stand). OTOH, he could stand and do a Goldsmith.
It would be cynical to parachute Luxon high into the party when he hasn’t done the hard yards yet and not proven himself. That said, he might get a high listing if he takes one for the team in Botany, i.e. do a Goldsmith. I can’t see it nor can I see JLR play along with it but in politics anything is possible.
How the voters vote will depend on the cues from the party (National) and the campaign.
Apparently, having to give up state-of-the-art bang-bangs makes some gun owners "feel like victims".
Fair point, from one perspective. Fuckwits in the world are why we can't have a lot of nice or fun things. Skyrockets, for example.
But I also have the impulse to say "awwww, having your toy taken away makes you feel like you were just going about your daily routine when some fuckwit put several high-velocity projectiles through your body? You poor dear."
Phil Twyford on Q&A was pointing at targeted rates. Where private finance is brought in (such as infrastructure bonds) and paid back through targeted rates or a levy to be added on top of current rate bills. Shifting the debt off council books (helping to address their problem) but which Twyford admitted, will do nothing for ratepayer affordability.
And of course, this will have a flow on effect. Putting further upward pressure on rents, thus putting further pressure on incomes. Which in turn, reduces spending elsewhere.
To better address households ability to pay, rates should be funded through income tax. Which is far more progressive, thus far better suited to address household affordability issues. As those that earn the most pay a larger share.
Nevertheless, while income tax is not perfect, it's the most progressive from of taxation we have, thus the most suited to address household affordability issues.
Central government needs to stop pushing stuff onto councils without thinking of the unintended consequences e.g. increasing immigration as a matter of government policy increases the infrastructure requirements that councils have to meet but the government at the same time as pushing these costs up sides with the developers moaning about the cost of putting in such infrastructure.
Or funding private landlords to buy rental properties through both tax incentives and rent subsidies while at the same time reducing state rentals (both proportionally to population and in some councils in actuality) putting undue pressure on council housing which receives zero central government support for housing.
It was an original accord between councils and government that the state would pick up most of the need for state housing and councils some for the elderly and the disabled. Councils who have retained their housing (and thanks to the ones that have) should get a cash injection from government to upgrade and replace their aging housing. This to compensate for the years of support private landlords have had.
Twyford's subtext for this "uplift" is the light rail deal, and how HLC uplifts development profit out of that deal. Although with TV3 selling out of their Eden Terrace property, there's scope for CRLL to buy it as it's an adjacent property and would then be able to be pulled into a wider redevelopment deal. More scope for betterment there.
If he wants to fund rates through income tax, he should have a sit-downwith an actual tax policy specialist, such as Deb Russel who runs the Finance Committee.
Otherwise he should stop putting up tax policy balloons that have no support.
I think it was The Chairman, not Phil Twyford, who is pushing for nation-wide income tax as mechanism to fund local projects and services at Council level.
Unfortunately, The Chairman did not include a link in his comment @ 12, which would have been helpful.
And the reason I didn't provide a link is because I clearly stated it was on Q&A.
[Whether it is “correct” use of tax funding is a matter of opinion.
Without a link people have to do a search to find what you are referring to in order to verify your comment. How many times has Phil Twyford appeared on Q & A? This does not make for good debate and does not show good faith. It would take you a few seconds to find and post the link here so please correct your omission – Incognito]
I guess we will never know what was fact and what was your opinion. So, sadly, this debate never got off the ground in a good way because of lack of appropriate sharing of information, IMHO.
Commenters here often link to stuff that’s behind paywalls and usually warn about it too. A small gesture goes a long way. In any case, linking gives others an opportunity to go to same source and make up their own minds. Subsequently, a debate might ensue and if new information needs to be included, a new link will appear in the discussion thread, et cetera. It is really that simple.
The rates burden wont be solved by redesignating the collector …regardless the increasing costs will continue (unless you advocate further austerity) as it must occur for as the sum of infrastructure increases so does its maintenance…..such is growth
And there will be the, or should be, the extra personnel keeping an eye on infrastructure for cracks, bulges etc when the materials start breaking down or not performing as required.
Indeed, Pat.With growth comes cost. However, to improve the sustainability in meeting those costs, how rates are collected (or more precisely how the burden is shared) needs to change to a more progressive form.
The Government can't expect people who are currently struggling to take on more costs without the wheels falling off. Which, of course, will result in wider, negative ramifications for the economy and society overall.
Sounds to me you’re conflating a number of things and pushing for some kind of privatising profits/benefits and socialising losses/costs (AKA externalising). Intuitively, the user-pays argument makes a lot of sense. You will have to argue hard to convince a wage earner in Invercargill to pay effectively income tax for a swimming pool in a suburb of Auckland.
Sounds to me you’re conflating a number of things and pushing for some kind of privatising profits/benefits and socialising losses/costs
Not at all. I talking about peoples ability to pay ever increasing costs. Thus, the need to find a more sustainable source of funding.
In this regard, all the Government has done thus far is to come up with a way (infrastructure bonds) to keep the cost off of councils books, while largely overlooking peoples ability to pay growing, ongoing costs moving forward.
And in the case of infrastructure bonds, one would assume the rate will be higher than the rate it currently costs the Government to borrow.
As a funding source, the use of infrastructure bonds will privatize profits. The use of taxes won't.
As for a taxpayer in Invercargill paying for projects elsewhere, taxpayer funding already pays for spending elsewhere throughout the country. Therefore, in that context, what I'm suggesting wouldn't change a thing.
How do Council progress projects and services if they cannot borrow more?
Who will pay for those Infrastructure Bonds?
Will these help to reduce Council debt?
Please provide evidence that a portion of income tax paid by a wage earner in Invercargill goes towards local projects and services elsewhere in the country that are paid for by targeted rates. In any case, if your suggestion “wouldn’t change a thing” what nation-wide projects and services will receive less of the taxpayers’ dollar?
Are you thinking of an extension of the Provincial Growth Fund for local Councils?
Ratepayers largely fund council, thus their costs/debt.
Moody's highlighted Auckland Council could suffer a future credit downgrade if it faces reduced support from the government to deliver its infrastructure program.
Back in April, there was currently $1.2 billion of debt headroom against the internal debt-to-revenue ceiling of 265%. This headroom was projected to be fully utilised over the next couple of years.
The Auditor-General released a report in February which talked about the increasing pressures many of the country’s councils are facing as they tried to deal with increasing costs associated with infrastructure and growth in the face of growing debt levels.
Please provide evidence that a portion of income tax paid by a wage earner in Invercargill goes towards local projects and services elsewhere in the country that are paid for by targeted rates.
I didn't state that. I said as for a taxpayer in Invercargill paying for projects elsewhere, taxpayer funding already pays for spending elsewhere throughout the country. So in that context, nothing would change.
In any case, if your suggestion “wouldn’t change a thing” what nation-wide projects and services will receive less of the taxpayers’ dollar?
Again, you are changing the context. I was alluding to there being no change in the fact tax dollars obtained from one region is already being spent elsewhere. Some even goes offshore as in foreign aid.
In the wider context, as for what nation-wide projects and services will receive less taxpayer funding as a result? That depends on whether or not the Government would opt for an additional infrastructure tax (largely targeted at high income earners, reducing downward in the income scale) opposed to cutting back tax spending elsewhere. Such as defense spending, offshore aid, etc…
Ultimately, I would like to see a total shift away from rates (which are less progressive and don't really take into account people’s income, thus people's ability to pay) moving to all council rates being funded directly via income taxes. Which, of course, does take into account people’s income hence ability to pay, thus is far more sustainable going forward.
Infrastructure bonds will help slow the build up of council debt, but they are not the only solution. Furthermore, they come at a far greater public cost.
I’m afraid you’re shifting the goalposts (context) and roping in all sorts of stuff that have nothing to do with the original discussion topic (hint: it was about what Phil Twyford said during an interview). In other words, you’re conflating a number of things, as I said previously. Please re-read your comment @12 that started this thread. If you want to discuss foreign aid or defense spending, which I know is one bee in your bonnet, and then start a new thread.
Foreign aid and defense spending were examples brought up due to your questioning. Nevertheless, as your questioning indicates, the two are interconnected – i.e. funding and expenditure.
Fascinating that you blame my questioning for you not staying on topic and bringing your hobbyhorses into the conversation. For your convenience, please let me remind you of the topic as started by you @ 12: (alternative) ways of funding/financing targeted rates and reasoning from a Council’s perspective as raised by Phil Twyford in his interview that you couldn’t link to (you got close, in the end). Even within your starting comment @ 12, you already went off track and avoided addressing Twyford’s points with your idiosyncratic way of criticising negatively. You claim to come here to build consensus, which IMHO relies on finding and acknowledging commonality. Your MO, OTOH, is to find and highlight distinction, separation, discord, and discontent, to name just a few, which usually are based on assumptions that you and only you seem to make and rarely based on hard facts.
Talk about not staying on topic, I’m not the topic.
The Government knows the high cost of housing is a problem which has wider, negative ramifications.Yet, they seem intent on adding to it.
Addressing council's affordability via private sector investment will add to household costs (privatizing profits) while also encouraging councils to spend more (via removing current funding constraints) putting more affordability pressures on households.
Can you not see the problems this is going to create going forward?
Nice try of deflecting that you cannot and did not stay on topic and only used Twyford’s interview to spew your usual concern about this country going to hell in a handbasket thanks to the Labour-led Government. Of course, Twyford is flavour target of the month.
Yes, living costs are (too) high and so are Council debts. Projects and services need to be delivered/executed in a timely fashion or costs will rise astronomically – do you follow the NZTA story at all?
Twyford was addressing a possible alternative for Councils to move forward and clear their debts, which are paid for by ratepayers who are likely to benefit, which is one argument for targeted rates, which happened to be one of Twyford’s talking points. You still haven’t given a single decent argument why a wage earner in Invercargill should pay income tax to pay for a local project or service in Auckland, for example, that is/should/could be funded by targeted rates. That argument will, of course, never eventuate because foreign aid and defense spending blablabla.
Could this create (unintended?) problems? Possibly, but neither your problems nor your ‘solutions’ seem to have been thought through for more than a fleeting moment; they just feel good to you so they/you must be right.
I’d never climb a mountain if I were you because the Labour Yetis will get you.
Twyford was addressing a possible alternative for Councils to move forward and clear their debts…
No. Twyford was addressing a possible alternative for Councils to overcome their debt constraints. An alternative that is likely to come in at a higher cost to households.
You still haven’t given a single decent argument why a wage earner in Invercargill should pay income tax to pay for a local project or service in Auckland, for example, that is/should/could be funded by targeted rates.
But I have. To better address household's affordability to pay, avoiding wider, negative ramifications for the economy and society overall. Was one. So can you explain why you don't see that as being a decent argument?
Helping to fund infrastructure throughout the nation is one of the reasons we pay tax.
Unintended problems you say. More like foreseeable problems such as an exacerbation of many of our current problems.
As for my proposal, it's open to suggestions of improvement or do you prefer to continue to dis me?
The intention is for MediaWorks to sell the television side of the business while retaining ownership of radio and QMS. The Flower Street property will also be put up for sale with a lease back option for a buyer to continue to operate television from that location.
Wasn't Media works helped out with a lessening of its licence some years ago when there were money troubles? If it is going to sell up, then we must put our hand out and recover that foregone money.
Media works had their licence payments changed from paying them in advance to in arrears. So there are no foregone money, just the timing on when they pay and the govt received the income. it was made out to be a larger issue than what is was, but that is the game of politics 😉 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10711051
Investigation of Clinton emails ends, finding no 'deliberate mishandling'
The state department has completed its years-long internal investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of private email and found “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information”.
The investigation, launched more than three years ago, did find violations by 38 people, some of whom may face disciplinary action.
Investigators determined that those 38 people were “culpable” in 91 cases of sending classified information that ended up in Clinton’s personal email, according to a letter sent to Republican senator Chuck Grassley this week and released on Friday. The 38 are current and former state department officials but were not identified.
Can the Trumpkins and Alt Left Wing Trolls now please give this a rest.
The speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, said he had selected for a vote a proposal to withhold support for Johnson's Brexit deal until formal ratification legislation has passed.
The amendment was put forward by former Conservative MP Oliver Letwin and is backed by a cross-party alliance of opposition MPs. If it passes, it would force Johnson to request an extension to Brexit by the end of Saturday…
Labour –
Main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told parliament Johnson's deal risks jobs, rights, the environment and health service.
"This deal would be a disaster for working people," he said, adding it was "even worse" than the one it replaces, which was voted down three times.
"Voting for a deal today won't end Brexit. It won't deliver certainty and the people should have the final say," Corbyn said.
He had earlier reiterated that Labour MPs would vote against the revised withdrawal agreement in a post on Twitter.
The BovverBoy –
(Johnson is now casting himself as the clear decision maker turning the Brexit matter around after the unfortunate decision of the referendum.The fact that it was the Conservatives who held it, and then acted on it on a whim really (it appeared), does not enter into the situation.)
They won't give up easily as getting out of Europe will mean changing laws in a swingeing way that give the workers standards under EU rules. Plus everything else and throwing away an Irish solution that resolved the deadly bombings and British shootings and prison sentences with excrement smearing and fasting and men desperate at the intransigence of Britain.
The Cons are so irresponsible and greedy, and Forage is a conniver, schemer and demagogue; a toxic mix.
Carbon is not only bad for Our environment is bad for one's health to. Let do the logical thing and drop carbon out of our society.
Scores more heart attacks and strokes on high pollution days, figures show
Data reveals acute impact on people’s health and the strain it puts on emergency services
Scores of children and adults are being rushed to hospital for emergency treatment on days of high pollution in cities across England, figures show.
Each year emergency services see more than 120 additional cardiac arrests, more than 230 additional strokes and nearly 200 more people with asthma requiring hospital treatment on days of high pollution compared with the average on days of lower pollution
Scores of children and adults are being rushed to hospital for emergency treatment on days of high pollution in cities across England, figures show.
Each year emergency services see more than 120 additional cardiac arrests, more than 230 additional strokes and nearly 200 more people with asthma requiring hospital treatment on days of high pollution compared with the average on days of lower pollution.
The data, to be published in full next month, shows the extra strain that poor air quality is putting on already stretched NHS emergency resources.
Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, said: “These new figures show air pollution is now causing thousands of strokes, cardiac arrests and asthma attacks, so it’s clear that the climate emergency is in fact also a health emergency. Since these avoidable deaths are happening now, not in 2025 or 2050, together we need to act now
Much of the recent research on air pollution has focused on the lifelong effects of chronic exposure, including cognitive decline, stunted growth in children and premature death. However, it can also bring on serious illness more immediately.
Jenny Bates, an air pollution campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “Many people may not realise how dangerous air pollution at high levels can be, and that it can trigger heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks as well as having long-term health effects. These figures will be a wake-up call for city leaders to take the strongest possible action.”
The reason the system is failing comes down to that thing called Greed its greed for Putea its greed Mana.
The wealthy do want to ceed Mana to the many pohara tangata they don't want the pohara tangata to become food and energy independent as these 2 thing is what controls the World and control is power they don't want to leave carbon in the ground were mother earth put it because having everyone depending on their carbon is controlling the %99 they would even put humanity’s future in grave jeopardy because of their GREED The wealthy could easily set the pohara tangata up to become independent food and energy producers but that old human Sin stops them from doing the correct things in respecting others tangata happiness and well-being. We are all Tamariki of the Earth and we all deserve to share her bounty EQUALLY.
Failing' food system leaves millions of children malnourished or overweight
Unicef report finds poorest children at greatest risk, while price of healthy food in rich nations drives food poverty
In the UK, the situation is a growing crisis. Almost two million children in England live in food poverty and one in three are overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school, Unicef said.
Globally almost 200 million children under five are malnourished, mostly due to poverty and deprivation, while 340 million suffer from hidden hunger in the form of vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
Poor children are carrying “the greatest burden of all forms of malnutrition”, the agency said, stressing that only one in five children aged six months to 23 months from the poorest families “is fed the minimum recommended diverse diet for healthy growth and brain development
In south Asia 50% of children are undernourished or overweight. The malnutrition rate in east and southern Africa is 42%, and 39% in west and central Africa
Globally, 149 million children under five are stunted, meaning they have low height for their age, and almost 50 million are wasted, with low weight to height ratio
“The number of stunted children has declined in all continents, except in Africa, while the number of overweight children has increased in all continents, including in Africa,” the report said.
Obesity is rapidly rising among children and young people around the world, driving early outbreaks of type 2 diabetes. At least 40 million children over the age of five are overweight. From 2000–2016, the number of overweight children aged five to 19 has doubled from one in 10 to one in five.
“Ten times more girls and 12 times more boys in this age group suffer from obesity today than in 1975,” the agency said.
Poorer children in the UK are twice as likely to be obese compared with those from the wealthier backgrounds. So-called “food swamps” – areas abundant in high-calorie, low-nutrient, processed foods – are disproportionately concentrated in deprived areas. In England, less than one in five children aged five to 15 eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day and the poorest areas have five times more exposure to fast-food chains and corner shops
The report also looks at how globalisation, urbanisation and the climate emergency are compounding unhealthy diets. Just 100 giant firms dominate 77% of global sales of processed food. “Climate shocks, loss of biodiversity and damage to water, air and soil are worsening the nutritional prospects of millions of children and young people, especially among the poor,” said the report.
In Bangladesh alone, up to 19 million children are on the frontline of climate disasters
That's awesome Te Japanese tangata whenua Te Ainu building their own style Marae
I Maori always get the short end of the stick.
I don't think that Kura should turn down our Government funding for free Kai for their tamariki. If you need a new kitchen then get the parents to build it there are many ways to solve a problem.
I was very sceptical with shonky trying to stay in the medias EYE. Here you go Whanau he want his cake and to be able to eat it too as the old saying goes.
He wants to line his pocket with billions and still having a political influence on Aotearoa IE Whanau he is cheating.
Why Is John Key Running Around Trying to Organise a New Political Party?
National is panicking. They have started to realise that they need friends and they’ve also realised that the blue/green party is a stillborn nonsense.
That probably explains why John Key has been tasked with gathering up support for a new political party and has been busily talking up such a prospect to senior and wealthy business people
This is how it works. John Key gets an invite to dinner or a group to talk about whatever. Discussions inevitably steer towards the dreadful leadership of Simon Bridges and the need for a partner for National. At this point John Key suggests that the only viable option is for Judith Collins to go off and start her own party. Otherwise, he says they will have to deal with Winston Peters and he would rather see them booted from parliament than have to deal with him. He then says, that in his considered opinion, it is the only viable option. Those gullible business people, still thinking that John Key is the messiah then run around playing Chinese whispers and spreading the idea.
Quite how he thinks he can go around making such pronouncements is beyond this writer’s comprehension, save the only reasonable assumption one could make and that is that he is doing this with the approval and blessing of Simon Bridges and his leadership team.
However, it does expose Key somewhat as he retired from politics, got his knighthood, and a couple of cushy government appointments
It is obvious that he is still playing politics, but that causes him problems with his board positions, particularly the position he holds at Air New Zealand. That is a government-appointed position, and he has meddled in the selection processes in attempting to anoint Christopher Luxon.
John Key had his time in the sunlight, he got his knighthood, but failed in his other two goals of winning a fourth term and being the longest serving National PM. He should quietly bugger off and do his business thing and stop playing politics. He’s either in politics and out of business, or he’s in business and out of politics. He can’t do both. Not if he wants to keep his government board appointments.
John Key has always had a desire to sit on the board of one of the big Chinese Banks, a desire he expressed often enough to his political colleagues.
Global Warming is here and now it's not a phenomenon of our future its is a phenomenon we have to minimise and mitigate NOW.
Melting glaciers reveal five new islands in the Arctic
Russian navy discovers yet-to-be-named islands previously hidden under glaciers
An expedition in August and September charted the islands, which have yet to be named and were previously hidden under glaciers, said the head of the northern fleet, Vice-Admiral Alexander Moiseyev
Mainly this is of course caused by changes to the ice situation,” Moiseyev, who headed the expedition, said at a press conference in Moscow. “Before these were glaciers; we thought they were (part of) the main glacier.Melting, collapse and temperature changes led to these islands being uncovered.”
Glacier loss in the Arctic in the period from 2015 to 2019 was more than in any other five-year period on record, a United Nations report on global warming said last month
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Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
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Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
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 ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
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 ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
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 ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
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 ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
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 ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
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 ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
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 ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
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 ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
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 ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
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. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
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 ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
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So long, and thanks for all the fish.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/18/second-whale-in-10-days-found-dead-in-river-thames
whales have been dying in the US this years in large numbers. Just washed up in numbers of one to three here and there every other day.
No whales showing up around cape town where they supposed to come by every year and this is after no sharks showed up.
I think we are doing a bang on job of killing everything we can as fast as we can because why not.
here https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/03/humpback-whales-unusual-mortality-event/
https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/whales-are-dying-round-alaska-and-scientists-dont-know-why/
https://phys.org/news/2019-06-feds-declare-emergency-gray-whale.html
ship strike and coincidence stated in article but 'so long….' was first thought that sprang to mind ….some 'odd' shark behaviour been reported recently as well
Japanese whale meat consumption has sky rocketed this year ?
We're removing millions of sharks each year for consumption, some just remove the fin and toss them back.
The experts say ecosystem collapse is inevitable with Apex predators removed.
Article 1 Section 9 Clause 8 of the US Constitution states:
Article 2 Section 1 Clause 7 of the US Constitution states:
One or both of these clauses gets violated every time any foreign delegation stays at a Trump Organisation property, or the Secret Service has to pay for the rooms their agents use when protecting the Prez when he goes to a Trump Organisation property.
But the greatest grifter of them all isn't content with forcing the minor cognitive dissonance of ignoring or defending this level of corruption on his cultists. No sirree, he has to go for the big kahuna of using one of his properties to host the G-7 meeting, thereby forcing the US government and all participating foreign governments into massive tribute payments.
https://www.vox.com/2019/10/17/20919414/trump-g7-doral-resort-2020-mulvaney
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/116039166/prison-spying-scandal-drugs-the-unauthorised-operation-and-the-police-investigation
I think what this shows, and all the other examples in recent times (whether NZTA, MSD cruelty, the T&C examples, MoBIE employees calling people "scum", etc., etc., etc.), is that if you give state agencies an opportunity, certain elements within will go rogue. EVEN IF they think its all with the best of intentions.
Far worse now as parts of our public service operate as little feifdoms with KPIs et all to meet. Proper oversight and accountability is well overdue
OwT +100
EVEN IF they think its all with the best of intentions.
It's a return to the degrading attitudes of Victorian times and the rigid class distinctions and who is entitled to respect and who not, with punitive punishments meted out by the people in society who see themselves as domatrixes? over the lower class. It's ugly and so are the thoughts behind the well-made up and expensively dressed group. It actually becomes so embedded in society without it being noticed, examined and condemned that it becomes a caste system, with untouchables at the base of it.
Unfortunately you can add the police and the military to that list.
Self-delusion is strong amongst UK Conservatives. How do you diagnose the Madness of the Entitled deep into group-think?
The Telegraph passed on this gem from Rees-Mogg (Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council since 2019, Eton and Trinity Colleges), from a report by Asa Bennett, Brexit Commissioning Editor.
Meanwhile, don't miss Jacob Rees-Mogg's column, in which he urges his fellow MPs to pass the deal, adding: "It is a great injustice meted upon the British people by the political class that the joyful decision they took, born out of confidence and resolution, should have become so associated with stasis and stagnation."
Rats:
Bad news in the USA. New York in 2018
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/21/new-york-rat-crisis-climate-change
Good news in agricultural Canada – Alberta. 2018 Vigilance and death.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/15/alberta-rat-catcher-phil-merill-canada-pest-free
I think the time has come to stop taking the p out of Simon. He will end up getting a sympathy vote for being mocked and picked-on. The emotional responses of all our educated citizens are high, compared to the informed judicious approach when deciding on election choice.
Japanese whale meat consumption has sky rocketed this year ?
Whats that got to do with the price of fish?
A large number of deaths of apparently healthy antelope. Why?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/25/mass-mortality-events-animal-conservation-climate-change Feb 2018
The scientists on the ground pinpointed blood poisoning as the cause, but were puzzled as to why whole herds were dying so quickly. After 32 postmortems, they concluded the culprit was the bacterium Pasteurella multocida, which they believe normally lives harmlessly in the tonsils of some, if not all, of the antelopes. In a research paper published in January in Science Advances, Kock and colleagues contrasted the 2015 MME with the two from the 1980s. They concluded that a rise in temperature to 37C and an increase in humidity above 80% in the previous few days had stimulated the bacteria to pass into the bloodstream where it caused haemorrhagic septicaemia, or blood poisoning.
The weather link raises the spectre of climate change. Just as it is rarely wise to link a single extreme weather event – whether it’s the Australian heatwave, last summer’s Hurricane Harvey or this winter’s North American cold snap – to climate change, it is equally difficult to blame an MME on global warming. But what can be said with confidence is that the sorts of extreme weather events linked to MMEs – such as the temperature and humidity rise that nearly wiped out the saiga – will become more frequent.
And more climate change problems for animals and us?
Ticks. 2018
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/as-winters-warm-blood-sucking-ticks-drain-moose-dry/
https://geographical.co.uk/nature/wildlife/item/3008-ghost-moose
Caring idealists doing what they can to help themselves and species survive.
https://www.dw.com/en/dying-fish-and-drying-rivers-consequences-of-europes-summer-heat-wave/a-45019500
.
Uncaring idealists who are too purist and sensitive for this world! 2017
https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/nov/01/animal-rights-activists-inuit-clash-canada-indigenous-food-traditions
We're going to kill everything.
More than half a century ago, conservationist Rachel Carson sounded an alarm about human impacts on the natural world with her book Silent Spring. Its title alluded to the loss of twittering birds from natural habitats because of indiscriminate pesticide use, and the treatise spawned the modern conservation movement. But new research published Thursday in Science shows bird populations have continued to plummet in the past five decades, dropping by nearly three billion across North America—an overall decline of 29 percent from 1970.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/silent-skies-billions-of-north-american-birds-have-vanished/
A new study suggests that 40 percent of insect species are in decline, a sobering finding that has jarred researchers worldwide.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/02/why-insect-populations-are-plummeting-and-why-it-matters/
The answer is apparently for ths hoi polloi to elect someone like Harper in Canada 2014 who sacked 2000 scientists and encouraged destruction of archived records. and buffoon politicians with an air of confidence who lie about the conditions, and then there is no need to think. I think this proves that democracy tends to fall into the hands of finaglers and connivers and people are lulled into thinking they don't need to participate in the running of their country and so democracy is never really tried, as has also been said of Christianity.
including ourselves
https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2095707/great-tea-robbery-how-british-stole-chinas
China has been 'got at' by the west. This may be at the back of their minds as they organise their political blocs in the world.
Laying the narrative for Kiwibank to be sold?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/115992087/18yearold-kiwibank-still-has-only-4-per-cent-of-the-market-whats-happened
Not a chance in Hell, unless Nats get back to power. They'd sell their mothers if it helps with funding tax cuts for the rich and moar roads.
Unfortunately, at some stage, National will get back into power.
Hopefully they spend a bit of time in the wilderness first, meditating on their wretched failure to govern.
you have misunderstood conservative.
they don't give up on their plans.
they don't worry about the time it takes
and they can never failed, they can only ever befailed. ( see republicans in the us, or tories in england, or cdu/csu germany etc etc etc )
only liberals need to reflect, pontificate, meditate and be bipartisan. 🙂 And sadly more often then not they are.
What's the chance of Jami-Lee Ross winning Botany come next election?
And if he did, what's the chance he'd help National over the line if need be?
Ross has NO chance.The true blues in Botany are staunch to the Natz.JLR needs to be given a job.
Yes, but they can party vote National and also vote for JLR. Which may provide National with help getting over the line.
Good thinking JLR is well disposed to the Natz=a match made in..heaven.
When it comes to National not having friends, could this be the "space" that Simon keeps telling us to watch for?
Simon Luxon?
Bridges.
Luxon
If National voters vote strategically, they can party vote National and for JLR as a potential to help National over the line.
Luxon doesn't offer them that potential. And if he (Luxon) has a high listing, he'll get in regardless.
I don’t smoke my own dope.
Hard to see Luxon getting a high (enough) placing on the List and not aiming for a win in his electorate (if he’s selected to stand). OTOH, he could stand and do a Goldsmith.
He (Luxon) may aim to win but ultimately that will come down to how strategically National voters in Botany decide to vote.
Considering his high profile, one would expect a safe listing.
A high or high enough listing?
It would be cynical to parachute Luxon high into the party when he hasn’t done the hard yards yet and not proven himself. That said, he might get a high listing if he takes one for the team in Botany, i.e. do a Goldsmith. I can’t see it nor can I see JLR play along with it but in politics anything is possible.
How the voters vote will depend on the cues from the party (National) and the campaign.
Apparently, having to give up state-of-the-art bang-bangs makes some gun owners "feel like victims".
Fair point, from one perspective. Fuckwits in the world are why we can't have a lot of nice or fun things. Skyrockets, for example.
But I also have the impulse to say "awwww, having your toy taken away makes you feel like you were just going about your daily routine when some fuckwit put several high-velocity projectiles through your body? You poor dear."
Phil Twyford on Q&A was pointing at targeted rates. Where private finance is brought in (such as infrastructure bonds) and paid back through targeted rates or a levy to be added on top of current rate bills. Shifting the debt off council books (helping to address their problem) but which Twyford admitted, will do nothing for ratepayer affordability.
And of course, this will have a flow on effect. Putting further upward pressure on rents, thus putting further pressure on incomes. Which in turn, reduces spending elsewhere.
To better address households ability to pay, rates should be funded through income tax. Which is far more progressive, thus far better suited to address household affordability issues. As those that earn the most pay a larger share.
What are your thoughts?
As those that earn the most pay a larger share.
Yeah, Right. TUI!
Yeah, sure.
Nevertheless, while income tax is not perfect, it's the most progressive from of taxation we have, thus the most suited to address household affordability issues.
Central government needs to stop pushing stuff onto councils without thinking of the unintended consequences e.g. increasing immigration as a matter of government policy increases the infrastructure requirements that councils have to meet but the government at the same time as pushing these costs up sides with the developers moaning about the cost of putting in such infrastructure.
Or funding private landlords to buy rental properties through both tax incentives and rent subsidies while at the same time reducing state rentals (both proportionally to population and in some councils in actuality) putting undue pressure on council housing which receives zero central government support for housing.
It was an original accord between councils and government that the state would pick up most of the need for state housing and councils some for the elderly and the disabled. Councils who have retained their housing (and thanks to the ones that have) should get a cash injection from government to upgrade and replace their aging housing. This to compensate for the years of support private landlords have had.
Twyford's subtext for this "uplift" is the light rail deal, and how HLC uplifts development profit out of that deal. Although with TV3 selling out of their Eden Terrace property, there's scope for CRLL to buy it as it's an adjacent property and would then be able to be pulled into a wider redevelopment deal. More scope for betterment there.
If he wants to fund rates through income tax, he should have a sit-downwith an actual tax policy specialist, such as Deb Russel who runs the Finance Committee.
Otherwise he should stop putting up tax policy balloons that have no support.
I think it was The Chairman, not Phil Twyford, who is pushing for nation-wide income tax as mechanism to fund local projects and services at Council level.
Unfortunately, The Chairman did not include a link in his comment @ 12, which would have been helpful.
Yes, that's correct re use of tax funding.
And the reason I didn't provide a link is because I clearly stated it was on Q&A.
[Whether it is “correct” use of tax funding is a matter of opinion.
Without a link people have to do a search to find what you are referring to in order to verify your comment. How many times has Phil Twyford appeared on Q & A? This does not make for good debate and does not show good faith. It would take you a few seconds to find and post the link here so please correct your omission – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 3:03 PM.
Latest episode.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a/episodes
This one: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a/episodes/s2019-e32?
That’s no good because you need to “Login to unlock this video.”
It could have been this clip: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a/clips/twyford-says-pressure-on-councils-to-grow-cities-up-and-out
But you didn’t link to that one!?
I guess we will never know what was fact and what was your opinion. So, sadly, this debate never got off the ground in a good way because of lack of appropriate sharing of information, IMHO.
Yes, I was referring to the latest episode and of course the clip from it that you linked too.
I have no control over who can and can’t log into TVNZ. Therefore, what clips and episodes people can see.
This proposal (not Twyford's one re infrastructure bonds) is all my opinion.
Thank you.
Commenters here often link to stuff that’s behind paywalls and usually warn about it too. A small gesture goes a long way. In any case, linking gives others an opportunity to go to same source and make up their own minds. Subsequently, a debate might ensue and if new information needs to be included, a new link will appear in the discussion thread, et cetera. It is really that simple.
Speaking of light rail, have you seen this?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/116705422/light-rail-reality-the-six-power-point-slides-that-stopped-a-city
The rates burden wont be solved by redesignating the collector …regardless the increasing costs will continue (unless you advocate further austerity) as it must occur for as the sum of infrastructure increases so does its maintenance…..such is growth
And there will be the, or should be, the extra personnel keeping an eye on infrastructure for cracks, bulges etc when the materials start breaking down or not performing as required.
Indeed, Pat.With growth comes cost. However, to improve the sustainability in meeting those costs, how rates are collected (or more precisely how the burden is shared) needs to change to a more progressive form.
The Government can't expect people who are currently struggling to take on more costs without the wheels falling off. Which, of course, will result in wider, negative ramifications for the economy and society overall.
Sounds to me you’re conflating a number of things and pushing for some kind of privatising profits/benefits and socialising losses/costs (AKA externalising). Intuitively, the user-pays argument makes a lot of sense. You will have to argue hard to convince a wage earner in Invercargill to pay effectively income tax for a swimming pool in a suburb of Auckland.
Not at all. I talking about peoples ability to pay ever increasing costs. Thus, the need to find a more sustainable source of funding.
In this regard, all the Government has done thus far is to come up with a way (infrastructure bonds) to keep the cost off of councils books, while largely overlooking peoples ability to pay growing, ongoing costs moving forward.
And in the case of infrastructure bonds, one would assume the rate will be higher than the rate it currently costs the Government to borrow.
As a funding source, the use of infrastructure bonds will privatize profits. The use of taxes won't.
As for a taxpayer in Invercargill paying for projects elsewhere, taxpayer funding already pays for spending elsewhere throughout the country. Therefore, in that context, what I'm suggesting wouldn't change a thing.
Who’s currently paying for Council debt?
How do Council progress projects and services if they cannot borrow more?
Who will pay for those Infrastructure Bonds?
Will these help to reduce Council debt?
Please provide evidence that a portion of income tax paid by a wage earner in Invercargill goes towards local projects and services elsewhere in the country that are paid for by targeted rates. In any case, if your suggestion “wouldn’t change a thing” what nation-wide projects and services will receive less of the taxpayers’ dollar?
Are you thinking of an extension of the Provincial Growth Fund for local Councils?
Ratepayers largely fund council, thus their costs/debt.
Moody's highlighted Auckland Council could suffer a future credit downgrade if it faces reduced support from the government to deliver its infrastructure program.
Back in April, there was currently $1.2 billion of debt headroom against the internal debt-to-revenue ceiling of 265%. This headroom was projected to be fully utilised over the next couple of years.
The Auditor-General released a report in February which talked about the increasing pressures many of the country’s councils are facing as they tried to deal with increasing costs associated with infrastructure and growth in the face of growing debt levels.
https://www.interest.co.nz/bonds/98926/auckland-councils-12-bln-debt-headroom-keeps-credit-rating-agency-happy-meantime-using
I didn't state that. I said as for a taxpayer in Invercargill paying for projects elsewhere, taxpayer funding already pays for spending elsewhere throughout the country. So in that context, nothing would change.
Again, you are changing the context. I was alluding to there being no change in the fact tax dollars obtained from one region is already being spent elsewhere. Some even goes offshore as in foreign aid.
In the wider context, as for what nation-wide projects and services will receive less taxpayer funding as a result? That depends on whether or not the Government would opt for an additional infrastructure tax (largely targeted at high income earners, reducing downward in the income scale) opposed to cutting back tax spending elsewhere. Such as defense spending, offshore aid, etc…
Ultimately, I would like to see a total shift away from rates (which are less progressive and don't really take into account people’s income, thus people's ability to pay) moving to all council rates being funded directly via income taxes. Which, of course, does take into account people’s income hence ability to pay, thus is far more sustainable going forward.
Infrastructure bonds will help slow the build up of council debt, but they are not the only solution. Furthermore, they come at a far greater public cost.
I’m afraid you’re shifting the goalposts (context) and roping in all sorts of stuff that have nothing to do with the original discussion topic (hint: it was about what Phil Twyford said during an interview). In other words, you’re conflating a number of things, as I said previously. Please re-read your comment @12 that started this thread. If you want to discuss foreign aid or defense spending, which I know is one bee in your bonnet, and then start a new thread.
Foreign aid and defense spending were examples brought up due to your questioning. Nevertheless, as your questioning indicates, the two are interconnected – i.e. funding and expenditure.
Fascinating that you blame my questioning for you not staying on topic and bringing your hobbyhorses into the conversation. For your convenience, please let me remind you of the topic as started by you @ 12: (alternative) ways of funding/financing targeted rates and reasoning from a Council’s perspective as raised by Phil Twyford in his interview that you couldn’t link to (you got close, in the end). Even within your starting comment @ 12, you already went off track and avoided addressing Twyford’s points with your idiosyncratic way of criticising negatively. You claim to come here to build consensus, which IMHO relies on finding and acknowledging commonality. Your MO, OTOH, is to find and highlight distinction, separation, discord, and discontent, to name just a few, which usually are based on assumptions that you and only you seem to make and rarely based on hard facts.
Talk about not staying on topic, I’m not the topic.
The Government knows the high cost of housing is a problem which has wider, negative ramifications.Yet, they seem intent on adding to it.
Addressing council's affordability via private sector investment will add to household costs (privatizing profits) while also encouraging councils to spend more (via removing current funding constraints) putting more affordability pressures on households.
Can you not see the problems this is going to create going forward?
Nice try of deflecting that you cannot and did not stay on topic and only used Twyford’s interview to spew your usual concern about this country going to hell in a handbasket thanks to the Labour-led Government. Of course, Twyford is
flavourtarget of the month.Yes, living costs are (too) high and so are Council debts. Projects and services need to be delivered/executed in a timely fashion or costs will rise astronomically – do you follow the NZTA story at all?
Twyford was addressing a possible alternative for Councils to move forward and clear their debts, which are paid for by ratepayers who are likely to benefit, which is one argument for targeted rates, which happened to be one of Twyford’s talking points. You still haven’t given a single decent argument why a wage earner in Invercargill should pay income tax to pay for a local project or service in Auckland, for example, that is/should/could be funded by targeted rates. That argument will, of course, never eventuate because foreign aid and defense spending blablabla.
Could this create (unintended?) problems? Possibly, but neither your problems nor your ‘solutions’ seem to have been thought through for more than a fleeting moment; they just feel good to you so they/you must be right.
I’d never climb a mountain if I were you because the Labour Yetis will get you.
No. Twyford was addressing a possible alternative for Councils to overcome their debt constraints. An alternative that is likely to come in at a higher cost to households.
But I have. To better address household's affordability to pay, avoiding wider, negative ramifications for the economy and society overall. Was one. So can you explain why you don't see that as being a decent argument?
Helping to fund infrastructure throughout the nation is one of the reasons we pay tax.
Unintended problems you say. More like foreseeable problems such as an exacerbation of many of our current problems.
As for my proposal, it's open to suggestions of improvement or do you prefer to continue to dis me?
channel 3 for sale.
The intention is for MediaWorks to sell the television side of the business while retaining ownership of radio and QMS. The Flower Street property will also be put up for sale with a lease back option for a buyer to continue to operate television from that location.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1910/S00422/mediaworks-to-pursue-a-sales-process-for-television-business.htm
Wasn't Media works helped out with a lessening of its licence some years ago when there were money troubles? If it is going to sell up, then we must put our hand out and recover that foregone money.
CRL's Mt Eden Station – now under construction – is right next door to the TV3 site.
CRLL should buy it and fold it into their post-CRL construction plan.
Media works had their licence payments changed from paying them in advance to in arrears. So there are no foregone money, just the timing on when they pay and the govt received the income. it was made out to be a larger issue than what is was, but that is the game of politics 😉
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10711051
Thanks I thought it important then, so am glad they did pay it back.
But her emails!
Can the Trumpkins and Alt Left Wing Trolls now please give this a rest.
Brexit –
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/uk-brexit-showdown-latest-updates-191019080100527.html
The speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, said he had selected for a vote a proposal to withhold support for Johnson's Brexit deal until formal ratification legislation has passed.
The amendment was put forward by former Conservative MP Oliver Letwin and is backed by a cross-party alliance of opposition MPs. If it passes, it would force Johnson to request an extension to Brexit by the end of Saturday…
Labour –
Main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told parliament Johnson's deal risks jobs, rights, the environment and health service.
"This deal would be a disaster for working people," he said, adding it was "even worse" than the one it replaces, which was voted down three times.
"Voting for a deal today won't end Brexit. It won't deliver certainty and the people should have the final say," Corbyn said.
He had earlier reiterated that Labour MPs would vote against the revised withdrawal agreement in a post on Twitter.
The BovverBoy –
(Johnson is now casting himself as the clear decision maker turning the Brexit matter around after the unfortunate decision of the referendum.The fact that it was the Conservatives who held it, and then acted on it on a whim really (it appeared), does not enter into the situation.)
They won't give up easily as getting out of Europe will mean changing laws in a swingeing way that give the workers standards under EU rules. Plus everything else and throwing away an Irish solution that resolved the deadly bombings and British shootings and prison sentences with excrement smearing and fasting and men desperate at the intransigence of Britain.
The Cons are so irresponsible and greedy, and Forage is a conniver, schemer and demagogue; a toxic mix.
Kia Ora Breakfast.
Kia Kaha to all the Teams who didn't make the semi finals at the Rugby World Cup.
Tui
Still Lives Book by Maderlin all humans should be treated humanly by other people.
Ka kite Ano
Te Tui is my favourite Titi
Carbon is not only bad for Our environment is bad for one's health to. Let do the logical thing and drop carbon out of our society.
Scores more heart attacks and strokes on high pollution days, figures show
Data reveals acute impact on people’s health and the strain it puts on emergency services
Scores of children and adults are being rushed to hospital for emergency treatment on days of high pollution in cities across England, figures show.
Each year emergency services see more than 120 additional cardiac arrests, more than 230 additional strokes and nearly 200 more people with asthma requiring hospital treatment on days of high pollution compared with the average on days of lower pollution
Scores of children and adults are being rushed to hospital for emergency treatment on days of high pollution in cities across England, figures show.
Each year emergency services see more than 120 additional cardiac arrests, more than 230 additional strokes and nearly 200 more people with asthma requiring hospital treatment on days of high pollution compared with the average on days of lower pollution.
The data, to be published in full next month, shows the extra strain that poor air quality is putting on already stretched NHS emergency resources.
Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, said: “These new figures show air pollution is now causing thousands of strokes, cardiac arrests and asthma attacks, so it’s clear that the climate emergency is in fact also a health emergency. Since these avoidable deaths are happening now, not in 2025 or 2050, together we need to act now
Much of the recent research on air pollution has focused on the lifelong effects of chronic exposure, including cognitive decline, stunted growth in children and premature death. However, it can also bring on serious illness more immediately.
Jenny Bates, an air pollution campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “Many people may not realise how dangerous air pollution at high levels can be, and that it can trigger heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks as well as having long-term health effects. These figures will be a wake-up call for city leaders to take the strongest possible action.”
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/21/scores-more-heart-attacks-and-strokes-on-high-pollution-days-figures-show
Kia Ora 1 News.
Japan can be proud of the way there Rugby team played and hold their heads up they have made vast improvement in their team and games.
The engineered stone used for kitchen bench tops cutting causeing lung damage is quite a bit of a hazard.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
That's cool more putea for trade training for our youth I will be making sure my mokopuna get a good education.
Rudolph being treated badly is sad because he was different people can be cruel.
We do need more Maori teachers in university but I say we are discriminated against I have seen the proof.
Good on Te Tai tokarau for their WAKA build with the Tahitians. I want to see Ngāti Porou WAKA building revived.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Breakfast.
I tau toko tangata who champion mitigating Global Warming.
(Well Hello)
Ka kite Ano
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
https://youtu.be/Mu3H_vf70GA
The reason the system is failing comes down to that thing called Greed its greed for Putea its greed Mana.
The wealthy do want to ceed Mana to the many pohara tangata they don't want the pohara tangata to become food and energy independent as these 2 thing is what controls the World and control is power they don't want to leave carbon in the ground were mother earth put it because having everyone depending on their carbon is controlling the %99 they would even put humanity’s future in grave jeopardy because of their GREED The wealthy could easily set the pohara tangata up to become independent food and energy producers but that old human Sin stops them from doing the correct things in respecting others tangata happiness and well-being. We are all Tamariki of the Earth and we all deserve to share her bounty EQUALLY.
Failing' food system leaves millions of children malnourished or overweight
Unicef report finds poorest children at greatest risk, while price of healthy food in rich nations drives food poverty
In the UK, the situation is a growing crisis. Almost two million children in England live in food poverty and one in three are overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school, Unicef said.
Globally almost 200 million children under five are malnourished, mostly due to poverty and deprivation, while 340 million suffer from hidden hunger in the form of vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
Poor children are carrying “the greatest burden of all forms of malnutrition”, the agency said, stressing that only one in five children aged six months to 23 months from the poorest families “is fed the minimum recommended diverse diet for healthy growth and brain development
In south Asia 50% of children are undernourished or overweight. The malnutrition rate in east and southern Africa is 42%, and 39% in west and central Africa
Globally, 149 million children under five are stunted, meaning they have low height for their age, and almost 50 million are wasted, with low weight to height ratio
“The number of stunted children has declined in all continents, except in Africa, while the number of overweight children has increased in all continents, including in Africa,” the report said.
Obesity is rapidly rising among children and young people around the world, driving early outbreaks of type 2 diabetes. At least 40 million children over the age of five are overweight. From 2000–2016, the number of overweight children aged five to 19 has doubled from one in 10 to one in five.
“Ten times more girls and 12 times more boys in this age group suffer from obesity today than in 1975,” the agency said.
Poorer children in the UK are twice as likely to be obese compared with those from the wealthier backgrounds. So-called “food swamps” – areas abundant in high-calorie, low-nutrient, processed foods – are disproportionately concentrated in deprived areas. In England, less than one in five children aged five to 15 eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day and the poorest areas have five times more exposure to fast-food chains and corner shops
The report also looks at how globalisation, urbanisation and the climate emergency are compounding unhealthy diets. Just 100 giant firms dominate 77% of global sales of processed food. “Climate shocks, loss of biodiversity and damage to water, air and soil are worsening the nutritional prospects of millions of children and young people, especially among the poor,” said the report.
In Bangladesh alone, up to 19 million children are on the frontline of climate disasters
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/oct/15/failing-food-system-means-millions-of-children-are-malnourished-or-overweight-unicef
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
https://youtu.be/hT_nvWreIhg
https://youtu.be/QAB6aXOfUmU
Kia Ora 1 News.
Hope that they can get the fire under control in Tamiki Makaru before to much damage is caused.
That explaine the small swam today
There you go.
Congratulations to the left Canadian Prime Minister for his re election Kia Kaha
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Condolences to Tommy's Whanau for their loss.
Big fires at sky city convention centre.
That's awesome Te Japanese tangata whenua Te Ainu building their own style Marae
I Maori always get the short end of the stick.
I don't think that Kura should turn down our Government funding for free Kai for their tamariki. If you need a new kitchen then get the parents to build it there are many ways to solve a problem.
I learnt never turn down koha putea or Kai
Kia Kaha Albe.
I tau toko Te Anglican Church.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Breakfast.
Richard.
Isn't it deja vu Whutu paoro
I can carry on with my project
Ka kite Ano
I was very sceptical with shonky trying to stay in the medias EYE. Here you go Whanau he want his cake and to be able to eat it too as the old saying goes.
He wants to line his pocket with billions and still having a political influence on Aotearoa IE Whanau he is cheating.
Why Is John Key Running Around Trying to Organise a New Political Party?
National is panicking. They have started to realise that they need friends and they’ve also realised that the blue/green party is a stillborn nonsense.
That probably explains why John Key has been tasked with gathering up support for a new political party and has been busily talking up such a prospect to senior and wealthy business people
This is how it works. John Key gets an invite to dinner or a group to talk about whatever. Discussions inevitably steer towards the dreadful leadership of Simon Bridges and the need for a partner for National. At this point John Key suggests that the only viable option is for Judith Collins to go off and start her own party. Otherwise, he says they will have to deal with Winston Peters and he would rather see them booted from parliament than have to deal with him. He then says, that in his considered opinion, it is the only viable option. Those gullible business people, still thinking that John Key is the messiah then run around playing Chinese whispers and spreading the idea.
Quite how he thinks he can go around making such pronouncements is beyond this writer’s comprehension, save the only reasonable assumption one could make and that is that he is doing this with the approval and blessing of Simon Bridges and his leadership team.
However, it does expose Key somewhat as he retired from politics, got his knighthood, and a couple of cushy government appointments
It is obvious that he is still playing politics, but that causes him problems with his board positions, particularly the position he holds at Air New Zealand. That is a government-appointed position, and he has meddled in the selection processes in attempting to anoint Christopher Luxon.
John Key had his time in the sunlight, he got his knighthood, but failed in his other two goals of winning a fourth term and being the longest serving National PM. He should quietly bugger off and do his business thing and stop playing politics. He’s either in politics and out of business, or he’s in business and out of politics. He can’t do both. Not if he wants to keep his government board appointments.
John Key has always had a desire to sit on the board of one of the big Chinese Banks, a desire he expressed often enough to his political colleagues.
This is yet another dog that won’t hunt
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://thebfd.co.nz/2019/10/why-is-john-key-running-around-trying-to-organise-a-new-political-party/
Global Warming is here and now it's not a phenomenon of our future its is a phenomenon we have to minimise and mitigate NOW.
Melting glaciers reveal five new islands in the Arctic
Russian navy discovers yet-to-be-named islands previously hidden under glaciers
An expedition in August and September charted the islands, which have yet to be named and were previously hidden under glaciers, said the head of the northern fleet, Vice-Admiral Alexander Moiseyev
Mainly this is of course caused by changes to the ice situation,” Moiseyev, who headed the expedition, said at a press conference in Moscow. “Before these were glaciers; we thought they were (part of) the main glacier.Melting, collapse and temperature changes led to these islands being uncovered.”
Glacier loss in the Arctic in the period from 2015 to 2019 was more than in any other five-year period on record, a United Nations report on global warming said last month
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/22/melting-glaciers-reveal-five-new-islands-in-the-arctic
Kia Ora 1 News.
A referendum would be OK.
I think that it would be sad if the aluminium smelter shut down with the cleaner aluminium that's produced by our Awa power.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
The building has heaps of carbon in it.
Every culture has to abide by the rules.
Ka pai to Tangata Whenua getting a stronger voice in the Rotorua lakes councils kia kaha.
Awsome to see Te Carving Hinemateioro back in Turangi A Kiwa.
Its great to see Te reo being digitised that will make tangata learning Te reo easer to learn .
Jo Joe rabbit will be a good move to watch.
Ka kite Ano.