Will we have. to have similiar rallies here before our law makers start taking climate change seriously?
:“I hope that Americans are fed up with being ignored and with having Congress controlled by the big polluting industries and that they have decided that they are simply not going to stop until their voices are heard.”
Did anyone just hear our beloved leader on Radio New Zealand this morning? He sounded well under the weather and as if he had a hard night the night before.
Anyone else detecting signs Key has developed a drinking problem?
He was slurring at the RWC opening, something politely overlooked by the media – but hey, he a Kiwi guy just like us and who would deny the man a drink?
John Key “fainted” in a Christchurch restaurant, and no real suitable explaination was given. it was immediately after his holiday, so fatigue could hardly be the reason.
Audrey Young sent out a not so subtle hint Key was suffering a hangover recently in Queenstown:
“…During a wreath-laying ceremony, Key appeared to have difficulty keeping his eyes open for a couple of minutes. He kept rubbing his eyes, but no sooner had he opened them than they would shut. He said later, through a spokeswoman, that the problem was because of the glare on the war memorial, which made his eyes water…”
Muldoon famously announced an election drunk as a skunk, and our media studiously avoided mentioning that.
Alcohol abuse is probably endemic in parliament, like hospo I would imagine it is an occupational hazard linked to ready access, long hours and work pressure. But would our media have the courage to expose a drunkard PM?
I worked in Parliament for about 3 years and never saw any of this binge drinking you mention. And as a heavy drinker myself I would have loved to have joined in but alas – it doesn’t really exist.
And if John Key had a drinking problem then the opposition would be all over it. How better to win an election than to portray your opponent as a drunk?
It could be any number of things.
Hell, he might have brain cancer, hence the desire to finish his bucket list.
Whatever it is, it might be getting worse – hopefully for him it’ll clear up when he leaves office. Less stress and all that. I don’t think anyone can fuck up a country this badly without it having a corrosive effect on their soul.
I didn’t think it sounded like him,maybe he has a speech double.He sounded like he either had a hangover or had taken meds for something or other. Probably something to “relax” him.
Increasingly looking like, despite Labour’s best efforts, it’s status quo for the next few years.
We’re on our people.
Look after your mums, your neighbours and by the grace of dog, we’ll all make it through.
God forbid that women should decline to take contraception that has risks and side effects. Why is the govt not free funding other kinds of contraception?
God forbid the media ask why men aren’t sharing responsibility for contraception. I say we offer free vasectomies along with all types of contraception.
This poll was on TV1 breakfast news yesterday. Extract from today’s Herald
The poll also had good news for National, with a 5 percentage point jump in support taking them to 49 per cent. Labour was on 33 per cent and the Greens 11 per cent.
Mr Key also gained five points, according to the preferred prime minister measure, giving him 44 per cent, with Labour leader David Shearer on 15 per cent.
“TheDailyBlog.co.nz will bring together 30 of the best left-wing bloggers and progressive opinion shapers in NZ all onto one site to critique the news, the media, and politics to provide the other side of the story.”
“Launching March 1st TheDailyBlog.co.nz will feature: Chris Trotter, Selwyn Manning, Professor Jane Kelsey, Keith Locke, Sue Bradford, John Minto, David Slack, Morgan Godfery, Gareth Renowden, Coley Tangerina, Phoebe Fletcher, Dr Wayne Hope, Queen of Thorns, Burnt out Teacher, Steve Grey, Aaron Hawkins, Marama Davidson, Tim Selwyn, James Ritchie, Efeso Collins, Robert Winter, Lynn Prentice, Frank MacsKasy, Matt McCarten, Wayne Butson, Chris Flatt, Allan Alach, TheDailyBlog Reposts and The Liberal Agenda.”
I am just scared about what happens when you put that many self satisfied, know it alls in the same place. The mix of with pathetic whinging and misplaced sense of entitlement could blow up the internet.
“The Daily Blog” sounds like a sterling idea with a big enough roster to pace people or let them quietly slide off if the pace is too much. BUT it had better have like buttons, moderation and one off registration not the the google account login nightmare Tumeke is, if this daily blogger is going to use it.
Yeah that’s what pissed my off about Tumeke as well. I didnt want to log in under my real name to post. I would very much prefer to post under “millsy”, the post name I have had for the past 13 years…
Bloody awesome. Sounds bloody good. A powerhouse of good decent left wingers who belive in things like taxing the rich to pay for schools and hospitals and locking up all DOC land from mining forever.
Ill definitely be going there on my daily web trawls.
This is what is needed! Combining voices and forces, using the power of synergy, to establish a resolute opposition to what we get served up by incompetent, indifferent or even damned biased, misinforming, manipulating and increasingly disgusting privately controlled, commercial mainstream media.
I look forward to this blog.
Just one worry I have, I hope it does not come with the features and technical hiccups that Tumeke has caused. Just trying to open that website once again, it instantly made my browser collapse.
Also I hope it will allow pseudonyms and fair, open debate, similar to what we have here on TS.
“Also I hope it will allow pseudonyms and fair, open debate, similar to what we have here on TS.”
As do I. No point in haven’t a big blog with numerous editors if you are just going to shut off dissenting POV’s which unfortunately seems to be the case at Tumeke
Now that’s a really good leftie line-up, including many people whose posts I usually read.
When Bomber dropped his teasers, I was hoping for something with an audio component (like radio) rather than print based. Maybe a left radio/TV station is still something waiting for it’s time to come.
However, hopefully it’s a line-up that will gain critical mass, and widespread significant mainstream attention. Also, Bomber will likely include some of his bloggers (if not all) as guests on Citizen A.
Hmm… some of us can’t listen to the radio at work. But, I agree a leftie radio station would be an excellent innovation – could be done online. Could be listened to while traveling/commuting.
Is this legal?
The insurance industry does not know much about it.
Insurance Council insurance manager John Lucas had never heard of such a charge.
“From discussions I’ve had with insurers, it would appear to be a new practice.”
And if it is legal, can accident victims recover costs if the road is not up to standard?
Jeeze, is there no such thing as an accident any more? Wouldn’t NZTA have to prove that the ‘accident’ was the fault of the car owner, if that’s who they are billing?
Generally people take out insurance to cover their mistakes. The only people who might go bankrupt from this are the selfish who expect everyone else to pick up the tab for their fuck ups.
It’s called “being a prick to people who have better things to worry about than your 0.03% increase in budget expenditure”.
The issue seems to be that the fuel levy and other incomes no longer fund our roads, so regional cost centres are forced to be fuckwits to worried or grieving relatives.
Because the chances are the insurance won’t pay for it. The NZTA has determined that the driver was at fault and such a determination will let the insurance companies off. It’d be the same as not having a WoF on your car even though the car was up to standard.
As this would seem to be part of the cost of an accident, guess who will be paying for this piece of stupidity, and i am talking about the billing of this person for these costs as the stupidity,
The arms of the State shuffling paperwork in an idiots dance will result by the time all the shuffling is done in the costs being double what the original bill was…
depends under what circumstances. Were they billing families of hospitalised drivers ten years ago? I reckon they were probably billing people for vandalism or diesel on the roads for donuts, and it’s encroached from there into full fuckwitted behaviours.
I can confirm charging of some kind has been going on for some years. A nephew of mine took out a guardrail in the Cromwell Gorge ’bout 2007 and got billed for it.
This is shocking stuff. Assistance to citizens should be part of the national support of road users. If it is a commercial vehicle being used for business then it could be argued that this be done.
How can it be that daft bu..s go off to sea or on tramping trips with no proper equipment, or tourists hit their emergency beacon for a helicopter and I don’t think there is a charge for this.
Yachties floating around on the sea, wanting to be rescued of course, if their lifestyle or sport goes badly wrong. Do they pay the ships diverted to help them?
Some things are just unreasonable – like tenants being asked to pay for a house they were renting if it burns down. How can ordinary people have to shoulder these extra costs which should be borne elsewhere?
Coastguard does not charge for rescuing people, only if you want them to save your boat as well. Even this is free if you have paid the, modest, membership fee.
Same with shipping companies. I have never heard of a shipping company charging for rescueing people after a Mayday. There is a fund available to reimburse rescuers. I don’t think it has ever been claimed.
Loss of income, or damage, from having to divert for a mayday is, however, covered in marine insurance.
Which means we can come and rescue you without worrying being sued for risking the owners ship, so long as you have made it a “Mayday”.
If you want a commercial vessel to go to the time, trouble and expanse of picking up your boat as well, though, expect to pay. In most cases this risks the ships insurance cover as well as extra delays and costs. At 50k plus a day they add up quick.
We’re all very highly critical of the government, but I think we should applaud Cabinet’s decision to go ahead with plain packaging on cigarette packets. I think it will remove the cachet some brands have – like Marlboro, Dunhill, Lucky Strike and Camel. I don’t think it will deter those who stick with more downmarket brands, but it will take some of the glamour away for those who might take up smoking. A positive move, in my opinion.
Lolz, i don’t think it will have the slightest effect on those who take up smoking, having been a smoker during the limited amount of time i spent at college and also having had the displeasure of watching the same (mis)behavior from my nieces during their incarceration at the same institution i can assure you that for the young smoker ‘brand’ isn’t a consideration,
These days cigarettes aren’t shared as freely as they were when i was a young smoker, but, the size of the school of smokers that gather in those out of the way places on the college campus for a quick puff befor class looks to be remarkably the same in number as it was during my stint in the corridors of such august edifices of learning,
These days in the ‘smoking school’ one person usually has found the cash with which to buy a packet of filtered cigarettes and the other smokers in the ‘school’ usually have a dollar each to buy a smoke,
Bit like a ‘drunks school’ or a ‘druggies school’ it’s the addiction what brings them together as they know that the numbers mean at least one of them on any given occasion will have the means to supply the group with whatever the addiction is…
As far as applauding the Government on this issue i fell that you are viewing the whole issue very simplistically through the lens of the manipulation of your mind,
With at least a billion dollars of tobacco tax being collected from users being over and above the actual cost to society of the use of tobacco products the Health budget could now be said to be being propped up by that taxation on tobacco products,
Should the use of the products decrease radically from Government taxation and other ‘moves’ against the product Government would have to ‘find’ that extra billion dollars from somewhere else or cut that money from the Health or other budgets,
The Government tho knows that very few users will actually quit the product and within 6 months most of those who quit have taken to using the product again,
The chairman of the Quit program admitted in its annual report 2011 that ‘they’ only reach 2% of smokers and a study by a university Professor, (both of which i have provided links to befor on open mike),says that only 1.9% of smokers who try end up actually quitting the addiction,
Meanwhile there is an unknown number of young people who take up the habit and become addicted constantly replacing the small % of users who have managed to kick their addiction,
The only means of actually reducing the number of addicts to this product would be to declare tobacco a prescription poison only available via Doctor’s prescription and register all the present cohort of addicts with their Doctors,
Within a year of such a registration program tobacco could then be made only available to registered addicts thus dramatically curtailing access to the product for anyone not a registered addict…
lol
whatever, pete.
Now I’m not allowed to see what they have to sell me, they’re not allowed to tell me, and I can’t see what they sold me. The absurdity of zealotry.
If it weren’t for the inevitable organised crime, I’d outlaw tobacco entirely. If you’re buying it, I’d question your wisdom to make rational purchasing decisions in the first place.
Luckily for me, my personal habits are none of your business.
Maybe I looked at the relative odds and decided it’s better to live life and have fun than to live in fear. My level of smoking is probably about as harmful to me as your sanctimonious attitude is to you. Each to their own, I guess.
On what point?
That what I do in my own home is none of your business?
Or that stress is a major cause of early mortality, on a par with <3 cigarette equivalents per day?
As the largest cohort of the 20 odd % of the population who do indulge in the product are in the lowest income brackets ‘health issues’ are merely a smokescreen for Government revenue farming off of those who are addicted,
There is one ‘thing’ that will kill a person faster than will the tobacco addiction and that is ‘poor diet’ and extremely poor diet will speedily result in a number of health issues becoming apparent in those that suffer from that poor diet,
So, constant revenue farming of tobacco products by Governments simply leaves those addicted and suffering low and extremely low incomes then have a ‘choice’, kick the addiction or face a severely restricted diet as the food spend is in most cases for the poor the only area of expense where cuts can be made,
As i point out above, the chairman of the quit program admitted in the annual report,(first sentence), that the program is accessed by barely 2% of smokers, the further study i allude to above,(which i have previously posted a link to) shows that barely 2% of those who try actually manage to quit the addiction,
What then going forward will be the health results for the other 98% of tobacco addicts unable to quit their addictions and being forced to exist on an increasingly severe poor diet,
i wont argue here about the rationality of purchasing the product except to say what addict do you know of that makes an entirely rational decision to support such an addiction, it is however given the facts, totally irrational for governments to attempt to stop addicts accessing the product at the center of their addiction by continuously raising the price of that product thus putting the health of those addicted in as much if not more danger from another causative than the original addiction,
All of that tho is only relevant if you believe the raising of such taxation is based upon rational health decisions by that Government…
A new website has been set up by someone, to offer a forum for those that have suffered bad, unfair treatment, wrong decisions and whatever else at the hands of NZ’s largest government department/agency:
I am not sure who is behind this, and “fascist” may be over the top for some, but it seems, that the increasing harrassment, denial of rights and entitlements, off-loading from some benefits and shifting of claimants and applicants onto other, lower rated ones (e.g. from sickness to UB or invalid’s benefit to SB), is leading to increasing anger and people seeing a need to let off steam.
Bennett is creating a lot of adversaries with the policies she and her government are introducing, now forcing not only sole parents, but also increasingly sick, and soon even disabled, into some kinds of work, same as the Department of Work and Pensions have been doing in the UK for years, using private assessor ATOS and bizarre work capability tests, that led to over 1,100 deaths from Jan. to August 2011 alone:
See also Bennett’s speech that is considered to be a “game changer” in the way seriously, longer term sick and disabled will be put under pressure in future:
She is clearly a fan of those assessments and test that are used in the UK, and she was already consulted and lobbied by the man who saw to it, that the tests (designed in principle by highly controversion US insurance giant Unum) were implemeted by governments in Britain.
So lots to be worried about, that is on top of what WINZ and MSD throw at beneficiaries already now, to make life a misery.
Perhaps use this website to vent your anger, WINZ dependent, disentitled and disowned NZers?
Hah, Kathryn Ryan on RadioNZ nine to noon trying to twist what Economics and Business commentator Rob Oram was saying about ‘the living wage’ into some right wing political framing,
Oram told that tool that He was talking economics not politics, that shut Her up…
Needing some ideas….friend of mine is only 19 with a 10 week old baby, yes she is a solo mum, currently back at school and working part time also. She currently lives in the redzone and has until May to leave. She like so many others is having a hell time finding a rental. Her rental payments are guaranteed, thanks to Paula B – her landlord is happy to be a referee….I have been sending out emails for housing rentals and the tone of the reply is all about her being a young solo mum, and then declining her. She has good credit, no previous rental issues…can anyone suggest a way to get past the stigma of being a young solo mum. 🙂
Tell her to meet with the agents/landlord with a grown up (preferably one in a suit) and then state her case ie she is studying and working and will always meet the rent payments. This is what I did in the same situation and got a rental when they were in short supply.
Also tell them you are happy to have inspections more frequently. Don’t take baby (but of course tell them about baby) and make sure she is dressed well.
Lolz, if there is no specifics in the ad for the places your mate is trying to rent about babies DON’T TELL THEM, there is nothing in any legislation that would require Her to do so,
Suggest you also tell them that your friend is a ‘student’ who works part-time and can pay the rent through the help of the accommodation supplement, might have to stretch the ‘student’ one to include the field of study,
The only other suggestion which probably is a non starter is that your friend shift to a city/town that doesn’t have the accommodation problems currently being experienced there which are probably going to get worse as the re-build ramps up…
Hi Anakereiti. There is nothing about your friend that would indicate that landlords should be wary of her. In fact, she has things in favour as a tenant, regular guaranteed rent payments, a referal, part time work and is in education. So I would say its the landlords that have the problem and doesn’t their response sound like discrimination?
I wonder what the tenancy act would have to say about declining a reliable prospective tenant on the grounds of solo parenting?
Sorry not that helpful but maybe call the DBH on 0800 83 62 62 to clarify her rights
Don’t think the tenancy law says anything about a landlord discriminating against anyone, if anyone wanted to buy into a fight, a long one, with landlords appearing to discriminate the Human Rights Commissioner would be the place to start,
Wouldn’t tho solve the immediacy of the housing problem…
Hi bad12. I think its wise to always be aware of your rights, not necesssarily in the event that you will take issue with another party and take it up at a formal level – its just something that may help at an informal level and maybe can be used in an opportunistic way. Nothing like a subtle mention of the other parties legal obligations/or your rights to get things moving.
Sometimes works. Sometimes doesn’t.
We have had the experience on two occasions of being selected as tenants due to our child free status and have been chosen over couples with children. I’ve found this out later once via the landlord herself and once via a friend of the landlord. Great to get a flat but sucks to be partly responsible for an outcome in that discriminates against children. It happens, landlords are excluding children from their right to housing. This is happening in Anakereiti’s friends’ instance.
I think if Anakereiti is receiving regular responses that refer to the prospective tenant being a “solo Mum” then it wouldn’t hurt to look into her rights as parent seeking accomodation. No it won’t solve the immediate problem (and it is a major one especially if she’s settled into study). Its not for the tenant to carry stigma and work out ways around that to get into a flat, its up to the landlord to put their prejudice aside. Easier said than done I know, but I wish her well for finding a good place to live soon.
True, the one answer i forgot to put to AnaKereiti was her friend could apply to the State for housing as, (i assume),Her friend is on a low income and a single parent,
Unfortunately the friend also appears to live in Christchurch where accommodation is becoming scarcer,
Other than suffer renting a wreck of a house which i have seen highlighted on the TV i cannot think of any other good advice,
Yes the problem with ‘our rights’ is that while many of us know them,(or know discrimination when we are subject to it), in most cases we are left to fight such battles on our own behalf which can be one hell of a battle for those without the skills,
This is the uneven playing field of the past 30 years of deregulation, instead of having a relevant Government department to complain to which then investigates such complaints and prosecutes in the case of wrong-doings being found we all have been left having to investigate and prosecute on our own behalves,
Such ‘thinking’ which presupposes the honesty and integrity of those in ‘higher’ positions in society is obviously failed ideology and we need return to a system where alleged breaches of rules and laws across all facets of society are investigated and ,(if warranted), prosecuted by the relevant Government Department which deals with that legislation…
I agree with you there TRP. But Charles performed quite a specialised and important role. Carol is and will be good because she is staunch and understands the party and the trade union movement very well.
In CB we have a good union presence in Parliament. I think you have to go back to the 30’s to see the same amount of union bod in parliamentary Labour.
(Matthew Hooton will be crying in his beer tonight, he has been worrying about this for a while)
I’m really curious to see what will happen in Ohariu now. We desparately need to get rid of Peter Dunne in this area for the sake of the electorate but most importantly for the sake of the country. (I know I’m repeating myself) Looking at previous election results, it could be done.
He is pretty much embedded in there really I am afraid. I think he is the reason why the 5th Labour government drifted to the right back from 02-08.
Hopefully Labour and the Greens will win enough seats to render him irrelevant in the post election horse trading, and he will spend 3 years in the wilderness.
Kiwibank, Radio New Zealand and the water supply should be ruled out of any future asset sales programmes, UnitedFuture Leader Peter Dunne said today.
Speaking to the Auckland Rotary Club, he said that given that National has a manifesto that includes asset sales, New Zealanders need to start a proper debate on the future limits of those sales.
“To this point there has not been a proper national debate beyond National saying yes and Labour saying no.
“We need a conversation that is more detailed and drills down into what New Zealanders really think are acceptable bottom lines,” he said.
“New Zealanders, I believe, are not definitively pro-asset sales, but under certain conditions, it is no longer the bogeyman issue that Labour would have you believe.”
Mr Dunne said UnitedFuture’s role as a support partner is not just to contribute its own policies, but to help keep a government to a reasonable, centrist path.
……….. ”
In my considered opinion – the voting public of Ohariu were thus effectively misled by United Future and Peter Dunne on the issue of support for the ‘Mixed Ownership Model’ for State-Owned electricity assets and Air New Zealand.
In my considered opinion, United Future and Peter Dunne SOLD OUT the voting public of Ohariu by voting in support of the Public Finance (Mixed Ownership) Amendment Act 2012.
Had Peter Dunne kept faith with the voting public of Ohariu – the Public Finance (Mixed Ownership Model) Amendment Bill should have BEEN DEFEATED 60 – 61.
I thus believe that I am absolutely correct in my statement that THERE IS NO MANDATE FOR ASSET SALES – given that this minority National Government (which DID campaign on asset sales) has only 59 out of 121 MPs.
ACT did not specifically campaign on asset sales – but their support for privatisation is hardly a secret.
However –
” UF did not specifically campaign for the ‘mixed ownership model for the electricity companies and Air New Zealand’ because it was not UF policy”
National said what they were going to do if they won, they won so now they’re trying to do what they said they were going to do, I’m not surprised the left arn’t keen on this but National are in power because the majority of voters wanted them in power
Don’t want this to happen? Then make sure Labour get the majority, quite simple really
National did not get a majority, Chris. That’s why they are in a coalition. They rely on John Banks and the vote of Peter Dunne to get the sales passed and Dunne didn’t even campaign on the issue, preferring to stay silent to fool the electors of Ohariu into trusting that he wouldn’t do it.
War memorials may be chattels of nationhood, built of the lives lost in endless blood they are also mausoleums for the freedoms sold long afore their sacrifice, but this embroiders every campaign badge with shame
Dom-on T.V; risk of having a criminal conviction by early adulthood increases approx 30% with every hour (?) children and teens spend watching T.V on an average weeknight.-Professor Bob Hancox, Otago Uni.
conclusion: a strong association
“We read all our mail. We welcome leaks, news-tips, feedback, and suggestions for content. Please feel free to email us: thestandardnz@gmail.com. One or more of the editors look at this during the day.”
Yeah right!
Does anyone really read the emails that get sent to the Standard or is that line from the contact page a joke? I don’t want to get sniffy about it, but for the second time, I’ve sent through a guest post and not heard diddly back. Fine if you’re not going to publish it, that’s your call, but I’m confused as to why I’m not at least worth the courtesy of a reply.
Cheers.
TRP
[yeah, it’s not easy finding good help when you’re offering no pay and lots of hours. Your post is already in the queue for tomorrow. Eddie]
[lprent: I looked at this (again) this morning. But after staggering home at or after 2000 after a hard days coding, cooking, blobbing in front of the TV before bed, and then heading to work at 0630 the following day for the last few weeks…. Well the last few bugs are all that stands between me and a life. The time required to set up a guest post is a bit too long. But the guest posts have been a bit neglected over the last month or so. I think we’re all a bit busy. ]
Cheers, my blue skinned friend. And thanks to LP, and all the other authors and mods. It’s easy to forget that TS is volunteer run; its just looks a million bucks because of the efforts of some pretty cool people.
What point are you actually trying to make here???, if you are attempting to pillory Hone for the actions of His nephews you would also have to pillory Nick Smith over His brother being prosecuted by the Canterbury Regional Council…
Carry on with your defamation, i hope Hone reads that and drags you through the courts to ransack every last cent you possess from what can only be described as a sorry sack of you what…
What get’s me is that there’s no “valour” or “exceptionalism” involved – what counts as exceptional drone flying? It’s basically down to logged hours and maybe attributed deaths.
I don’t think they’re too far from going back to “citizen-soldiers”, but someone comes home from work, logs on, plays a computer game for a couple of hours, and gets experience points that count towards a medal.
The only change from today is that people on the other side of the planet die.
It’s a bad thing to be able to do it too easily, with little or no effort. Becomes easier than thinking about a long term solution – or at least that’s one point the General quoted in the article made.
And of course, it’s all very well being able to blow shit up and then bounce the rubble around, but the acid test is whether your guy can walk down the street in broad daylight. But then that particular debate goes back to Douhet.
It’s a bad thing to be able to do it too easily, with little or no effort.
– Depends if you’re the one sitting safely at HQ or the one at the pointy end I guess…
The risk is in the degrees of control which these methods lead to. Are drones patrolling skies in war zones and out, really something which is going to take humanity in a positive direction!
If you’re a parent, or going to be, I hope for your families sake that your comments are not reflective of your actual views!
I’m thinking of the poor grunt at the sharp end that has to implement the policies of whatever government of the day is running…hes the one that has to go and do the dirty work.
Someones son, brother, nephew, father, cousin, uncle, friend has to go and do it and if theres a safer way for that guy to do the job then I’m all for it.
There ia always a choice, nobody has to do the dirty work, they chose to, situational or not, you’re talking about taking lives by remote control, based on it being safer for someone else, this is madness.
Scope creep, mission creep etc, your words are supporting it!
You can tell your family and friends that your position lead to NZ skies being droned, because thats where its headed!
Correct, they chose to do a job…kill the enemy without (preferably) being killed yourself. They have the technology to do the job safer then ever so it would be morally wrong to deny them the opportunity to do so.
You want the killing stopped then look at the governments not the soldiers, its not the soldiers (at least in western democratic countries) that decide to go to war its the politicians and the people that elect (or keep electing them)
its the politicians and the people that elect (or keep electing them)
Actually its nothing to do with the politicians deciding anything, The decisions to go to war run far deeper than any front facing political entity, which is not elected!
That’s why its even more important that people do not buy into this system, and as such the choice being made to wage war using remote control, is trite!
True. But that’s the difference between political leadership and soldiers. The leader needs to not just take the easy course, but to find a long term solution to the situation.
Because if drone strikes happen in perpetuity, what are the odds of people responding to that constant terror putting a bomb in the pilot’s local shopping mall? Or the areas involved shift geopolitically to China or Russia to preserve their internal stability, so the US loses some regional influence, and fifty years down the line the drone pilots’ grandkids end up on the pointy end of ww3? And what happens when opponents get the hang of evading detection/slipping through the surveillance filters – classic assymetric problem. If you kill the chaps as soon as you think you’ve found them, you don’t find out who their friends are or what they’re doing.
sooo, the Ozzie “manufacturing confidence” index is in the low 40’s (N0rty)
Cosgrove-“significant losses of sub-contractors due to Mainzeal flattening may have an effect on the entire construction industry…
Williamson up against the wall
Excellent work by Eugenie Sage nailing and hoeing into Tremain (HBRC debt to increase in excess of 500% by 2021; don’t we love spending other peoples money!)
Spirituality is In The House, thanks to Winning some tutae 🙂
If I may briefly slip into my professional field – the Overseas parliamentary news has this fascinating snippet about archiving of email for Danish MPs (it’s about half way down the page).
MPs will be able to select emails for preservation by the State Archives as part of their day to day email management. Members’ correspondence held in the Archives is generally accessible to the public after 75 years.
I will be fascinated to see how it will actually work in practice (in my experience recordkeeping is not one of the strengths of most politicians).
Interesting in light of the recent responses to the Law Commission’s recommendation to extend our OIA to cover Parliament.
Pssst, when you get time to look Lprent, the edit function has thrown a spaz, i can access it but none of the comment that needs editing is showing up…
Seriously, the amount of mistakes I make, the edit function was the second thing I looked for after the ‘self publicise’ button.
Never found either, even if I only really need the one.
I run music studio software without breaking (many) synapses, and I’m getting really envious when I read posts with *edit in them. :grrr: 😆
I’m on Chrome, with pop ups blocked and that’s about it. No edit button.
Seriously, i mean hell pull the other one,leg that is, it plays Jesus my Lord come unto me, that’s with the backing of the full NZ Symphony orchestra as well,
The edit function appears next to the delete function on the bottom of your posted comment, Yeee-essss, i feel so computer literacerially superior after having said that,
And even more so with my coining of a brand new word, wonder if i can patent it…
I can only say how saddened i am for your loss as i eagerly await seeing both functions appear as my comment comes up on the page,
i also now have the sudden urge to deliberately make a large number of errors, both spelling and grammatical, in this latest comment just so i may avail myself of such functions others are not in possession of,
i will tho resist such an egotistical aberration in character as the aforementioned function tonight only leads to the production of a blank page which in turn leads me to thoughts that perhaps this is the true value of my posted comments…
The edit function has not been working for me for a couple of hours; javascript is turned on in my browser and I don’t believe that i have made any system changes.
Is David Shearer still the leader of the Labour Party?
And is the Labour Party still the major opposition party?
There’s been so much going on and it seems that neither David Shearer or anyone else in the Labour party have anything to say. About anything…
Aw god not another one, next you will be telling us all your a disgruntled member and, ”shrill voice” you wont be voting for them again with that Shearer there….
Apart from female dogs is there an actual point here that you are trying to get across to me, i fear that if there is my attempts to de-cypher this point,limited i must admit, have failed…
Well I was unclear whether you were being sarky in your first comment, so chose to hedge my bets and be sarky in response.
I am commenting on this trend of criticizing people’s views that express concern about Labour’s or Mr Shearer’s effectiveness, and how it is seeming kind of arse about face in a democracy.
Despite apparently living in a democracy there appears to be an increasing message that we have to “be nice” and not express dissent to the sham that is going on on both sides of the parliamentary house.
I mean if everyone just shut up and voted for Labour, it stands to reason they would win. Guess that is how the logic goes.
I understand that people are paid good money to play the role of political strategist and if any ordinary person not in parliament did their job as badly, as both this government and the Labour party strategists over the last 5 years we would have our arses fired; so a wee bit of negative feedback here and there, really is a very small price to pay, and if listened to, would improve their game.
In answer to that, how many comments have you seen the commenter i was replying to make on the Standard,
There ‘seems’ to be a trend developing here, and i highlight the word ‘seems’ as this is only a personal observation, that when the ‘i hate Dave S’ crew quiets down it’s criticism of Him up will pop a few ‘names’ here and there who will poke the anti-Shearer fire for signs of life, or to get it raging again,
These odd commenters who seem like strangers to me could be genuine in their concern about Shearer and having found this site cannot but help unloading such concerns into whatever post they have ‘landed in’ so to speak be that open mike or a specific post on a topic,
Because of this i give far more ‘weight’ to comments from ‘names’ i recognize as having commented on the site befor and tend to view comments such as the one we are discussing above as just as likely to be posted into the site by those with the specific goal of attempting to destabilize the current Labour leadership for reasons other than concern for that Party…
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
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Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
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 ...
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Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
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 ...
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The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
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Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
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It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
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The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
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Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
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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. ...
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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. ...
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Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
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Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
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Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
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ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
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Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
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Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
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Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
‘
“The biggest climate change rally in US history”
Will we have. to have similiar rallies here before our law makers start taking climate change seriously?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/17/keystone-xl-pipeline-protest-dc
Did anyone just hear our beloved leader on Radio New Zealand this morning? He sounded well under the weather and as if he had a hard night the night before.
Audio is at http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2546817/pm-confident-report-will-clear-way-for-convention-centre.asx
Anyone else detecting signs Key has developed a drinking problem?
He was slurring at the RWC opening, something politely overlooked by the media – but hey, he a Kiwi guy just like us and who would deny the man a drink?
John Key “fainted” in a Christchurch restaurant, and no real suitable explaination was given. it was immediately after his holiday, so fatigue could hardly be the reason.
Audrey Young sent out a not so subtle hint Key was suffering a hangover recently in Queenstown:
“…During a wreath-laying ceremony, Key appeared to have difficulty keeping his eyes open for a couple of minutes. He kept rubbing his eyes, but no sooner had he opened them than they would shut. He said later, through a spokeswoman, that the problem was because of the glare on the war memorial, which made his eyes water…”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10864459
Muldoon famously announced an election drunk as a skunk, and our media studiously avoided mentioning that.
Alcohol abuse is probably endemic in parliament, like hospo I would imagine it is an occupational hazard linked to ready access, long hours and work pressure. But would our media have the courage to expose a drunkard PM?
Well, who do you think he is drinking with half of the time?
And yes, binge drinking is endemic in Parliament. MPs, staffers, advisors, what have you.
I worked in Parliament for about 3 years and never saw any of this binge drinking you mention. And as a heavy drinker myself I would have loved to have joined in but alas – it doesn’t really exist.
And if John Key had a drinking problem then the opposition would be all over it. How better to win an election than to portray your opponent as a drunk?
*cough* Maybe no one liked you *cough*
🙂
“well dressed and all that”
Surely the Armani would have made a difference.
And you know this because alot of MP’s and Parliamentary staffers carry out this binge drinking in your back bedroom in Dunedin?
KK. Parliament has not been in Dunedin for a very long time.
“Anyone else detecting signs Key has developed a drinking problem?”
It’s hard to tell – he has such lazy speech. As mother used to say….. ‘Lazy speech, lazy thinking, lazy mind’
It’s why he has to rely on an ideology learned parrot-fashion – and a failed one at that!
I thought it was a speech impediment he had as a child. Read it somewhere though can’t find any reference for it.
It could be any number of things.
Hell, he might have brain cancer, hence the desire to finish his bucket list.
Whatever it is, it might be getting worse – hopefully for him it’ll clear up when he leaves office. Less stress and all that. I don’t think anyone can fuck up a country this badly without it having a corrosive effect on their soul.
Yep, it’s a speech impediment.
Oddly enough it only seems to surface when he’s on the piss.
Sound’s like he’s still half shickered. must have been a big nite last nite.
That was a mean all-nighter !
I didn’t think it sounded like him,maybe he has a speech double.He sounded like he either had a hangover or had taken meds for something or other. Probably something to “relax” him.
More on the horror of ATOS in the U$K. Coming here if Johnny Keyshine can only work up the nerve:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm4UHyurzjY&list=UUGThM-ZZBba1Zl9rU-XeR-A&index=2
Oh look that Shearer person is a really tolerant fellow. He says there is room in the Labour Party for MPs with homophobic views.
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2013/02/shearer_on_homophobes_and_labour.html#comments
Hardly breaking news since two Labour MPs met an anti-marriage equality petition on Parliament’s steps. And they’re still MPs. New diversion thanks.
Increasingly looking like, despite Labour’s best efforts, it’s status quo for the next few years.
We’re on our people.
Look after your mums, your neighbours and by the grace of dog, we’ll all make it through.
35 women are saved from having more babies while they are on a benefit or low income. Victory!
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2013/01/free_contraception_uptake.html
God forbid people actually pay for their own kids instead of lumping them on to everyone else.
God forbid we create an extra 150,000 jobs so that everyone who wants a family can have a working income.
God forbid that women should decline to take contraception that has risks and side effects. Why is the govt not free funding other kinds of contraception?
God forbid the media ask why men aren’t sharing responsibility for contraception. I say we offer free vasectomies along with all types of contraception.
That’s not a bad idea. Problem is, Bennett wants teenagers to stop having babies, and I doubt many young men want to get the snip.
Virtually all forms of contraception are majority funded by the state in NZ.
available to the middle class as well as the rich, then.
So, in your view, what is the purpose of the economy?
This poll was on TV1 breakfast news yesterday. Extract from today’s Herald
The poll also had good news for National, with a 5 percentage point jump in support taking them to 49 per cent. Labour was on 33 per cent and the Greens 11 per cent.
Mr Key also gained five points, according to the preferred prime minister measure, giving him 44 per cent, with Labour leader David Shearer on 15 per cent.
Bomber’s media announcement is up
http://www.tumeke.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/announcing-my-new-media-project.html
“TheDailyBlog.co.nz will bring together 30 of the best left-wing bloggers and progressive opinion shapers in NZ all onto one site to critique the news, the media, and politics to provide the other side of the story.”
“Launching March 1st TheDailyBlog.co.nz will feature: Chris Trotter, Selwyn Manning, Professor Jane Kelsey, Keith Locke, Sue Bradford, John Minto, David Slack, Morgan Godfery, Gareth Renowden, Coley Tangerina, Phoebe Fletcher, Dr Wayne Hope, Queen of Thorns, Burnt out Teacher, Steve Grey, Aaron Hawkins, Marama Davidson, Tim Selwyn, James Ritchie, Efeso Collins, Robert Winter, Lynn Prentice, Frank MacsKasy, Matt McCarten, Wayne Butson, Chris Flatt, Allan Alach, TheDailyBlog Reposts and The Liberal Agenda.”
It’s a strong line up. I assume Bomber hisself will also be posting, but maybe not.
Best of luck to them (you) all.
I am just scared about what happens when you put that many self satisfied, know it alls in the same place. The mix of with pathetic whinging and misplaced sense of entitlement could blow up the internet.
Bankers, financiers and the 0.1% are the ones with the grand sense of self-entitlement.
Kiwiblog and other similar sites haven’t blown up the internet yet and they’ve got heaps of whingers full of self-entitlement and other RWNJs.
I saw that list and on about half of them I either said “who” or “why” .
One just hopes that like Kiwiblog and The Standard (and unlike Tumeke) that commentary is free and moderated sparingly.
With Bradbury at the helm though I am not very optimistic of this.
You just hate him because you are a hard-core rightwinger who wants to close schools and hospitals, to pay for tax cuts.
“The Daily Blog” sounds like a sterling idea with a big enough roster to pace people or let them quietly slide off if the pace is too much. BUT it had better have like buttons, moderation and one off registration not the the google account login nightmare Tumeke is, if this daily blogger is going to use it.
Yeah that’s what pissed my off about Tumeke as well. I didnt want to log in under my real name to post. I would very much prefer to post under “millsy”, the post name I have had for the past 13 years…
Wow – nice non-sequiter, Millsy.
Sounds like it came from a quote generator.
Bloody awesome. Sounds bloody good. A powerhouse of good decent left wingers who belive in things like taxing the rich to pay for schools and hospitals and locking up all DOC land from mining forever.
Ill definitely be going there on my daily web trawls.
Great!
This is what is needed! Combining voices and forces, using the power of synergy, to establish a resolute opposition to what we get served up by incompetent, indifferent or even damned biased, misinforming, manipulating and increasingly disgusting privately controlled, commercial mainstream media.
I look forward to this blog.
Just one worry I have, I hope it does not come with the features and technical hiccups that Tumeke has caused. Just trying to open that website once again, it instantly made my browser collapse.
Also I hope it will allow pseudonyms and fair, open debate, similar to what we have here on TS.
“Also I hope it will allow pseudonyms and fair, open debate, similar to what we have here on TS.”
As do I. No point in haven’t a big blog with numerous editors if you are just going to shut off dissenting POV’s which unfortunately seems to be the case at Tumeke
sadly, not enough rogues.
Now that’s a really good leftie line-up, including many people whose posts I usually read.
When Bomber dropped his teasers, I was hoping for something with an audio component (like radio) rather than print based. Maybe a left radio/TV station is still something waiting for it’s time to come.
However, hopefully it’s a line-up that will gain critical mass, and widespread significant mainstream attention. Also, Bomber will likely include some of his bloggers (if not all) as guests on Citizen A.
I hope it’s an extremely successful blog.
I think a leftie radio network would be more effective than a tv station. Most people can’t watch telly at work.
Hmm… some of us can’t listen to the radio at work. But, I agree a leftie radio station would be an excellent innovation – could be done online. Could be listened to while traveling/commuting.
NZTA bills crash victim $1300
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8320507/NZTA-bills-crash-victim-1300
The mother of a teenager nearly killed in a car crash has been billed by the New Zealand Transport Agency for the cost of closing the road while she was cut free.
Is this legal?
The insurance industry does not know much about it.
Insurance Council insurance manager John Lucas had never heard of such a charge.
“From discussions I’ve had with insurers, it would appear to be a new practice.”
And if it is legal, can accident victims recover costs if the road is not up to standard?
OMG
welcome to America
I damaged my car on a pothole last month. Invoicing NZTA as we speak…
I damaged my car on a pothole last month. Invoicing NZTA as we speak…
Jeeze, is there no such thing as an accident any more? Wouldn’t NZTA have to prove that the ‘accident’ was the fault of the car owner, if that’s who they are billing?
Innocent bystanders to be billed next.
I guess the NZTA need this money for more valuable highways?
There is NO such thing as an Accident. They are all just Incidents, with differing degree’s of fault, and or blame.
If we all had to pay through the nose for the mistakes we made, then there would be huge queues at the bankruptcy courts.
Quite frankly I think this charge is BS, and it sets a worrying precedent.
But the generous souls will not be invoicing dead people. They are so kind???
Not quite.
‘would not ORDINARILY be invoiced’!!!!
I note the rednecks on the stuff site think its OK. Nothing turns a redneck on like bankrupting someone because they made a mistake.
Generally people take out insurance to cover their mistakes. The only people who might go bankrupt from this are the selfish who expect everyone else to pick up the tab for their fuck ups.
So you think its OK to financially cripple this woman? I bet you would have everything taken from her and her out on the street.
All because you want a tax cut.
She has got insurance so they should pay it. What is wrong with that?
It’s called “being a prick to people who have better things to worry about than your 0.03% increase in budget expenditure”.
The issue seems to be that the fuel levy and other incomes no longer fund our roads, so regional cost centres are forced to be fuckwits to worried or grieving relatives.
Because the chances are the insurance won’t pay for it. The NZTA has determined that the driver was at fault and such a determination will let the insurance companies off. It’d be the same as not having a WoF on your car even though the car was up to standard.
As this would seem to be part of the cost of an accident, guess who will be paying for this piece of stupidity, and i am talking about the billing of this person for these costs as the stupidity,
The arms of the State shuffling paperwork in an idiots dance will result by the time all the shuffling is done in the costs being double what the original bill was…
Are you saying that this goes on all the time?
That NZTA regularly bills people in accidents for closing the road, but we never heard about it until now because it’s usually covered by insurance?
Highly unlikely KK. I hardly think our insurance companies would be paying out such fees and not telling us.
According to NZTA they have been doing it for years. Obviously you know better.
depends under what circumstances. Were they billing families of hospitalised drivers ten years ago? I reckon they were probably billing people for vandalism or diesel on the roads for donuts, and it’s encroached from there into full fuckwitted behaviours.
And yet it seems to be the first time that the insurance companies have heard of it.
Obviously King Kong knows better…
I can confirm charging of some kind has been going on for some years. A nephew of mine took out a guardrail in the Cromwell Gorge ’bout 2007 and got billed for it.
I once ordered a cheesecake and I had to pay for that too, but so what?
And the most efficient and cheapest insurance is living in a community which is something we all do and, in fact, have to do.
This is shocking stuff. Assistance to citizens should be part of the national support of road users. If it is a commercial vehicle being used for business then it could be argued that this be done.
How can it be that daft bu..s go off to sea or on tramping trips with no proper equipment, or tourists hit their emergency beacon for a helicopter and I don’t think there is a charge for this.
Yachties floating around on the sea, wanting to be rescued of course, if their lifestyle or sport goes badly wrong. Do they pay the ships diverted to help them?
Some things are just unreasonable – like tenants being asked to pay for a house they were renting if it burns down. How can ordinary people have to shoulder these extra costs which should be borne elsewhere?
Call the Coast Guard and you will be charged. Of course, the Coast Guard is a volunteer organisation and not (or minimally) government funded.
Coastguard does not charge for rescuing people, only if you want them to save your boat as well. Even this is free if you have paid the, modest, membership fee.
Same with shipping companies. I have never heard of a shipping company charging for rescueing people after a Mayday. There is a fund available to reimburse rescuers. I don’t think it has ever been claimed.
Loss of income, or damage, from having to divert for a mayday is, however, covered in marine insurance.
Which means we can come and rescue you without worrying being sued for risking the owners ship, so long as you have made it a “Mayday”.
If you want a commercial vessel to go to the time, trouble and expanse of picking up your boat as well, though, expect to pay. In most cases this risks the ships insurance cover as well as extra delays and costs. At 50k plus a day they add up quick.
I think ambulances have a charge that’s more commonly applied now, too.
Everyone gets short of public funds, everyone finds incremental revenue.
National’s “brighter future”.
Yup!
cereally though, cobber, there is always “The Sunbird” or “Ancient Evenings” (Smith and Mailer) 🙂
We’re all very highly critical of the government, but I think we should applaud Cabinet’s decision to go ahead with plain packaging on cigarette packets. I think it will remove the cachet some brands have – like Marlboro, Dunhill, Lucky Strike and Camel. I don’t think it will deter those who stick with more downmarket brands, but it will take some of the glamour away for those who might take up smoking. A positive move, in my opinion.
Lolz, i don’t think it will have the slightest effect on those who take up smoking, having been a smoker during the limited amount of time i spent at college and also having had the displeasure of watching the same (mis)behavior from my nieces during their incarceration at the same institution i can assure you that for the young smoker ‘brand’ isn’t a consideration,
These days cigarettes aren’t shared as freely as they were when i was a young smoker, but, the size of the school of smokers that gather in those out of the way places on the college campus for a quick puff befor class looks to be remarkably the same in number as it was during my stint in the corridors of such august edifices of learning,
These days in the ‘smoking school’ one person usually has found the cash with which to buy a packet of filtered cigarettes and the other smokers in the ‘school’ usually have a dollar each to buy a smoke,
Bit like a ‘drunks school’ or a ‘druggies school’ it’s the addiction what brings them together as they know that the numbers mean at least one of them on any given occasion will have the means to supply the group with whatever the addiction is…
As far as applauding the Government on this issue i fell that you are viewing the whole issue very simplistically through the lens of the manipulation of your mind,
With at least a billion dollars of tobacco tax being collected from users being over and above the actual cost to society of the use of tobacco products the Health budget could now be said to be being propped up by that taxation on tobacco products,
Should the use of the products decrease radically from Government taxation and other ‘moves’ against the product Government would have to ‘find’ that extra billion dollars from somewhere else or cut that money from the Health or other budgets,
The Government tho knows that very few users will actually quit the product and within 6 months most of those who quit have taken to using the product again,
The chairman of the Quit program admitted in its annual report 2011 that ‘they’ only reach 2% of smokers and a study by a university Professor, (both of which i have provided links to befor on open mike),says that only 1.9% of smokers who try end up actually quitting the addiction,
Meanwhile there is an unknown number of young people who take up the habit and become addicted constantly replacing the small % of users who have managed to kick their addiction,
The only means of actually reducing the number of addicts to this product would be to declare tobacco a prescription poison only available via Doctor’s prescription and register all the present cohort of addicts with their Doctors,
Within a year of such a registration program tobacco could then be made only available to registered addicts thus dramatically curtailing access to the product for anyone not a registered addict…
lol
whatever, pete.
Now I’m not allowed to see what they have to sell me, they’re not allowed to tell me, and I can’t see what they sold me. The absurdity of zealotry.
If it weren’t for the inevitable organised crime, I’d outlaw tobacco entirely. If you’re buying it, I’d question your wisdom to make rational purchasing decisions in the first place.
Luckily for me, my personal habits are none of your business.
Maybe I looked at the relative odds and decided it’s better to live life and have fun than to live in fear. My level of smoking is probably about as harmful to me as your sanctimonious attitude is to you. Each to their own, I guess.
same
We’ll agree to disagree.
On what point?
That what I do in my own home is none of your business?
Or that stress is a major cause of early mortality, on a par with <3 cigarette equivalents per day?
“you don’t send me flowers, anymore.” 🙂
As the largest cohort of the 20 odd % of the population who do indulge in the product are in the lowest income brackets ‘health issues’ are merely a smokescreen for Government revenue farming off of those who are addicted,
There is one ‘thing’ that will kill a person faster than will the tobacco addiction and that is ‘poor diet’ and extremely poor diet will speedily result in a number of health issues becoming apparent in those that suffer from that poor diet,
So, constant revenue farming of tobacco products by Governments simply leaves those addicted and suffering low and extremely low incomes then have a ‘choice’, kick the addiction or face a severely restricted diet as the food spend is in most cases for the poor the only area of expense where cuts can be made,
As i point out above, the chairman of the quit program admitted in the annual report,(first sentence), that the program is accessed by barely 2% of smokers, the further study i allude to above,(which i have previously posted a link to) shows that barely 2% of those who try actually manage to quit the addiction,
What then going forward will be the health results for the other 98% of tobacco addicts unable to quit their addictions and being forced to exist on an increasingly severe poor diet,
i wont argue here about the rationality of purchasing the product except to say what addict do you know of that makes an entirely rational decision to support such an addiction, it is however given the facts, totally irrational for governments to attempt to stop addicts accessing the product at the center of their addiction by continuously raising the price of that product thus putting the health of those addicted in as much if not more danger from another causative than the original addiction,
All of that tho is only relevant if you believe the raising of such taxation is based upon rational health decisions by that Government…
Pete – next thing to do: all alcohol advertising, packaging and labelling to be in black and white only.
only Scotch
The only winners here are the manufacturers of branded cigarette tins.
And the minimalists…
true
Fascist Work and Income NZ –
A new website has been set up by someone, to offer a forum for those that have suffered bad, unfair treatment, wrong decisions and whatever else at the hands of NZ’s largest government department/agency:
http://workandincomerfascis.wix.com/fascistworkandincome#!name-n-shame/c1qno
I am not sure who is behind this, and “fascist” may be over the top for some, but it seems, that the increasing harrassment, denial of rights and entitlements, off-loading from some benefits and shifting of claimants and applicants onto other, lower rated ones (e.g. from sickness to UB or invalid’s benefit to SB), is leading to increasing anger and people seeing a need to let off steam.
Bennett is creating a lot of adversaries with the policies she and her government are introducing, now forcing not only sole parents, but also increasingly sick, and soon even disabled, into some kinds of work, same as the Department of Work and Pensions have been doing in the UK for years, using private assessor ATOS and bizarre work capability tests, that led to over 1,100 deaths from Jan. to August 2011 alone:
http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/10/31/government-use-might-of-american-insurance-giant-to-destroy-uk-safety-net-by-mo-stewart-update/
http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/05/31/a-tale-of-two-models-disabled-people-vs-unum-atos-government-and-disability-charities-by-debbie-jolly-dpac/
See also Bennett’s speech that is considered to be a “game changer” in the way seriously, longer term sick and disabled will be put under pressure in future:
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech-medical-professionals
She is clearly a fan of those assessments and test that are used in the UK, and she was already consulted and lobbied by the man who saw to it, that the tests (designed in principle by highly controversion US insurance giant Unum) were implemeted by governments in Britain.
So lots to be worried about, that is on top of what WINZ and MSD throw at beneficiaries already now, to make life a misery.
Perhaps use this website to vent your anger, WINZ dependent, disentitled and disowned NZers?
Hah, Kathryn Ryan on RadioNZ nine to noon trying to twist what Economics and Business commentator Rob Oram was saying about ‘the living wage’ into some right wing political framing,
Oram told that tool that He was talking economics not politics, that shut Her up…
Poor John, he had a busy night at Antoine’s on Parnell Rise. He was very well looked after.
That genius Tony A never disappoints.
Good thing John lives around the corner!
Needing some ideas….friend of mine is only 19 with a 10 week old baby, yes she is a solo mum, currently back at school and working part time also. She currently lives in the redzone and has until May to leave. She like so many others is having a hell time finding a rental. Her rental payments are guaranteed, thanks to Paula B – her landlord is happy to be a referee….I have been sending out emails for housing rentals and the tone of the reply is all about her being a young solo mum, and then declining her. She has good credit, no previous rental issues…can anyone suggest a way to get past the stigma of being a young solo mum. 🙂
Tell her to meet with the agents/landlord with a grown up (preferably one in a suit) and then state her case ie she is studying and working and will always meet the rent payments. This is what I did in the same situation and got a rental when they were in short supply.
Also tell them you are happy to have inspections more frequently. Don’t take baby (but of course tell them about baby) and make sure she is dressed well.
Lolz, if there is no specifics in the ad for the places your mate is trying to rent about babies DON’T TELL THEM, there is nothing in any legislation that would require Her to do so,
Suggest you also tell them that your friend is a ‘student’ who works part-time and can pay the rent through the help of the accommodation supplement, might have to stretch the ‘student’ one to include the field of study,
The only other suggestion which probably is a non starter is that your friend shift to a city/town that doesn’t have the accommodation problems currently being experienced there which are probably going to get worse as the re-build ramps up…
Hi Anakereiti. There is nothing about your friend that would indicate that landlords should be wary of her. In fact, she has things in favour as a tenant, regular guaranteed rent payments, a referal, part time work and is in education. So I would say its the landlords that have the problem and doesn’t their response sound like discrimination?
I wonder what the tenancy act would have to say about declining a reliable prospective tenant on the grounds of solo parenting?
Sorry not that helpful but maybe call the DBH on 0800 83 62 62 to clarify her rights
http://www.dbh.govt.nz/tenancy-index
Thanks to all, for your help. Il try a couple of different ways ….see which one gets her in first lol. Thanks
Don’t think the tenancy law says anything about a landlord discriminating against anyone, if anyone wanted to buy into a fight, a long one, with landlords appearing to discriminate the Human Rights Commissioner would be the place to start,
Wouldn’t tho solve the immediacy of the housing problem…
Hi bad12. I think its wise to always be aware of your rights, not necesssarily in the event that you will take issue with another party and take it up at a formal level – its just something that may help at an informal level and maybe can be used in an opportunistic way. Nothing like a subtle mention of the other parties legal obligations/or your rights to get things moving.
Sometimes works. Sometimes doesn’t.
We have had the experience on two occasions of being selected as tenants due to our child free status and have been chosen over couples with children. I’ve found this out later once via the landlord herself and once via a friend of the landlord. Great to get a flat but sucks to be partly responsible for an outcome in that discriminates against children. It happens, landlords are excluding children from their right to housing. This is happening in Anakereiti’s friends’ instance.
I think if Anakereiti is receiving regular responses that refer to the prospective tenant being a “solo Mum” then it wouldn’t hurt to look into her rights as parent seeking accomodation. No it won’t solve the immediate problem (and it is a major one especially if she’s settled into study). Its not for the tenant to carry stigma and work out ways around that to get into a flat, its up to the landlord to put their prejudice aside. Easier said than done I know, but I wish her well for finding a good place to live soon.
True, the one answer i forgot to put to AnaKereiti was her friend could apply to the State for housing as, (i assume),Her friend is on a low income and a single parent,
Unfortunately the friend also appears to live in Christchurch where accommodation is becoming scarcer,
Other than suffer renting a wreck of a house which i have seen highlighted on the TV i cannot think of any other good advice,
Yes the problem with ‘our rights’ is that while many of us know them,(or know discrimination when we are subject to it), in most cases we are left to fight such battles on our own behalf which can be one hell of a battle for those without the skills,
This is the uneven playing field of the past 30 years of deregulation, instead of having a relevant Government department to complain to which then investigates such complaints and prosecutes in the case of wrong-doings being found we all have been left having to investigate and prosecute on our own behalves,
Such ‘thinking’ which presupposes the honesty and integrity of those in ‘higher’ positions in society is obviously failed ideology and we need return to a system where alleged breaches of rules and laws across all facets of society are investigated and ,(if warranted), prosecuted by the relevant Government Department which deals with that legislation…
In breaking news Charles Chauvel has resigned as a list MP to take up a job at the UN.
Bugger, he was once of the best performing Labour MPs …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10866354
And an pretty damn good left MP comes in, Carol Beaumont.
I agree with you there TRP. But Charles performed quite a specialised and important role. Carol is and will be good because she is staunch and understands the party and the trade union movement very well.
That is a bugger.
Why cant Trevor get a job with the UN (anywhere else for that matter).
Would you hire him?
😈
In CB we have a good union presence in Parliament. I think you have to go back to the 30’s to see the same amount of union bod in parliamentary Labour.
(Matthew Hooton will be crying in his beer tonight, he has been worrying about this for a while)
Excellent observation. And what an imcomparably Left Wing party that has created under their watch.
You beat me to it MS! Just read it on Scoop
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1302/S00258/charles-chauvel-announces-resignation.htm
I’m really curious to see what will happen in Ohariu now. We desparately need to get rid of Peter Dunne in this area for the sake of the electorate but most importantly for the sake of the country. (I know I’m repeating myself) Looking at previous election results, it could be done.
He is pretty much embedded in there really I am afraid. I think he is the reason why the 5th Labour government drifted to the right back from 02-08.
Hopefully Labour and the Greens will win enough seats to render him irrelevant in the post election horse trading, and he will spend 3 years in the wilderness.
WHAT ‘mandate’ for asset sales?
DEBUNKING THIS ‘URBAN (AND RURAL?) MYTH’!
Do the maths!!!!!
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/cabinet-holds-back-pushing-asset-sales-waits-supreme-court-bd-136063#comment-607156
The final vote on the Public Finance (Mixed Ownership Model) Amendment Act 2012, was 61 – 60
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Debates/Debates/e/8/e/50HansD_20120626_00000012-State-Owned-Enterprises-Amendment-Bill-Public.htm
A party vote was called for on the question, That the Public Finance (Mixed Ownership Model) Amendment Bill be now read a third time.
Ayes 61
New Zealand National 59; ACT New Zealand 1; United Future 1.
Noes 60
New Zealand Labour 34; Green Party 14; New Zealand First 8; Māori Party 3; Mana 1.
__________________________________________________________
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2013/02/a_lie.html/comment-page-1#comment-1097573
[ Pete(r) George – Dunedin North candidate – United Future )
(16,292) Says: February 15th, 2013 at 10:28 pm]
” UF did not specifically campaign for the ‘mixed ownership model for the electricity companies and Air New Zealand’ because it was not UF policy”
WHAT UNITED FUTURE DID CAMPAIGN ON: RE ASSET SALES:
http://www.unitedfuture.org.nz/asset-sales-policy-announcement/
Asset Sales Policy Announcement
10 October 2011
Kiwibank, Radio New Zealand and the water supply should be ruled out of any future asset sales programmes, UnitedFuture Leader Peter Dunne said today.
Speaking to the Auckland Rotary Club, he said that given that National has a manifesto that includes asset sales, New Zealanders need to start a proper debate on the future limits of those sales.
“To this point there has not been a proper national debate beyond National saying yes and Labour saying no.
“We need a conversation that is more detailed and drills down into what New Zealanders really think are acceptable bottom lines,” he said.
“New Zealanders, I believe, are not definitively pro-asset sales, but under certain conditions, it is no longer the bogeyman issue that Labour would have you believe.”
Mr Dunne said UnitedFuture’s role as a support partner is not just to contribute its own policies, but to help keep a government to a reasonable, centrist path.
……….. ”
In my considered opinion – the voting public of Ohariu were thus effectively misled by United Future and Peter Dunne on the issue of support for the ‘Mixed Ownership Model’ for State-Owned electricity assets and Air New Zealand.
In my considered opinion, United Future and Peter Dunne SOLD OUT the voting public of Ohariu by voting in support of the Public Finance (Mixed Ownership) Amendment Act 2012.
Had Peter Dunne kept faith with the voting public of Ohariu – the Public Finance (Mixed Ownership Model) Amendment Bill should have BEEN DEFEATED 60 – 61.
I thus believe that I am absolutely correct in my statement that THERE IS NO MANDATE FOR ASSET SALES – given that this minority National Government (which DID campaign on asset sales) has only 59 out of 121 MPs.
ACT did not specifically campaign on asset sales – but their support for privatisation is hardly a secret.
However –
” UF did not specifically campaign for the ‘mixed ownership model for the electricity companies and Air New Zealand’ because it was not UF policy”
THEREFORE! NO MAJORITY – NO MANDATE!
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
Auckland Mayoral Candidate 2013
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
National said what they were going to do if they won, they won so now they’re trying to do what they said they were going to do, I’m not surprised the left arn’t keen on this but National are in power because the majority of voters wanted them in power
Don’t want this to happen? Then make sure Labour get the majority, quite simple really
National did not get a majority, Chris. That’s why they are in a coalition. They rely on John Banks and the vote of Peter Dunne to get the sales passed and Dunne didn’t even campaign on the issue, preferring to stay silent to fool the electors of Ohariu into trusting that he wouldn’t do it.
War memorials may be chattels of nationhood, built of the lives lost in endless blood they are also mausoleums for the freedoms sold long afore their sacrifice, but this embroiders every campaign badge with shame
http://rt.com/news/sandhurst-mons-rename-bahrain-457/
I for one would be very interested in what our Prime Minister, who has so often spoken of his respect for the fallen, has to say on this deal.
Dom-on T.V; risk of having a criminal conviction by early adulthood increases approx 30% with every hour (?) children and teens spend watching T.V on an average weeknight.-Professor Bob Hancox, Otago Uni.
conclusion: a strong association
“We read all our mail. We welcome leaks, news-tips, feedback, and suggestions for content. Please feel free to email us: thestandardnz@gmail.com. One or more of the editors look at this during the day.”
Yeah right!
Does anyone really read the emails that get sent to the Standard or is that line from the contact page a joke? I don’t want to get sniffy about it, but for the second time, I’ve sent through a guest post and not heard diddly back. Fine if you’re not going to publish it, that’s your call, but I’m confused as to why I’m not at least worth the courtesy of a reply.
Cheers.
TRP
[yeah, it’s not easy finding good help when you’re offering no pay and lots of hours. Your post is already in the queue for tomorrow. Eddie]
[lprent: I looked at this (again) this morning. But after staggering home at or after 2000 after a hard days coding, cooking, blobbing in front of the TV before bed, and then heading to work at 0630 the following day for the last few weeks…. Well the last few bugs are all that stands between me and a life. The time required to set up a guest post is a bit too long. But the guest posts have been a bit neglected over the last month or so. I think we’re all a bit busy. ]
Cheers, Eddie, much appreciated. As is everything about TS really …
Big Ups TRP (i never bought that “bukkake” line neither)
Cheers, my blue skinned friend. And thanks to LP, and all the other authors and mods. It’s easy to forget that TS is volunteer run; its just looks a million bucks because of the efforts of some pretty cool people.
ya been peeking at my stash you hound
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=15nmydh&s=4
Gotta few of the eighties originals stashed away myself. Good times.
I’m very sorry to se Chalres Chauvel leaving Parliament. I really am.
I’m very sorry to see Charles Chauvel leaving Parliament. I really am.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Harawira-nephews-in-alleged-assault/tabid/423/articleID/287287/Default.aspx
Sound like nice guys…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10866356
– Wait its ok, Hones offering to help settle this
First time I’ve heard violent assault and home invasion being described as a dispute…
What point are you actually trying to make here???, if you are attempting to pillory Hone for the actions of His nephews you would also have to pillory Nick Smith over His brother being prosecuted by the Canterbury Regional Council…
The point is they’re drop kick losers who should be in jail but they probably won’t because an mp will use their influence to effect the out come
Carry on with your defamation, i hope Hone reads that and drags you through the courts to ransack every last cent you possess from what can only be described as a sorry sack of you what…
Sorry my mistake…alleged drop kick losers
Charming.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmoral/articles/20130218.aspx
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/13/new-medal-for-drone-pilots/1917735/
you psychic marionette you
Yep.
What get’s me is that there’s no “valour” or “exceptionalism” involved – what counts as exceptional drone flying? It’s basically down to logged hours and maybe attributed deaths.
I don’t think they’re too far from going back to “citizen-soldiers”, but someone comes home from work, logs on, plays a computer game for a couple of hours, and gets experience points that count towards a medal.
The only change from today is that people on the other side of the planet die.
Quintessential alienation.
On the other hand its actually a good thing if you can kill the enemy without any of your own side dying…kinda makes it easier for your side
Ahh – channelling Paton:
“The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.”
Patton obviously!
Its a good quote
It’s a bad thing to be able to do it too easily, with little or no effort. Becomes easier than thinking about a long term solution – or at least that’s one point the General quoted in the article made.
And of course, it’s all very well being able to blow shit up and then bounce the rubble around, but the acid test is whether your guy can walk down the street in broad daylight. But then that particular debate goes back to Douhet.
It’s a bad thing to be able to do it too easily, with little or no effort.
– Depends if you’re the one sitting safely at HQ or the one at the pointy end I guess…
Moronic attitude C73.
The risk is in the degrees of control which these methods lead to. Are drones patrolling skies in war zones and out, really something which is going to take humanity in a positive direction!
If you’re a parent, or going to be, I hope for your families sake that your comments are not reflective of your actual views!
Come on man, think a little deeper eh!
I’m thinking of the poor grunt at the sharp end that has to implement the policies of whatever government of the day is running…hes the one that has to go and do the dirty work.
Someones son, brother, nephew, father, cousin, uncle, friend has to go and do it and if theres a safer way for that guy to do the job then I’m all for it.
There ia always a choice, nobody has to do the dirty work, they chose to, situational or not, you’re talking about taking lives by remote control, based on it being safer for someone else, this is madness.
Scope creep, mission creep etc, your words are supporting it!
You can tell your family and friends that your position lead to NZ skies being droned, because thats where its headed!
Correct, they chose to do a job…kill the enemy without (preferably) being killed yourself. They have the technology to do the job safer then ever so it would be morally wrong to deny them the opportunity to do so.
You want the killing stopped then look at the governments not the soldiers, its not the soldiers (at least in western democratic countries) that decide to go to war its the politicians and the people that elect (or keep electing them)
Actually its nothing to do with the politicians deciding anything, The decisions to go to war run far deeper than any front facing political entity, which is not elected!
That’s why its even more important that people do not buy into this system, and as such the choice being made to wage war using remote control, is trite!
True. But that’s the difference between political leadership and soldiers. The leader needs to not just take the easy course, but to find a long term solution to the situation.
Because if drone strikes happen in perpetuity, what are the odds of people responding to that constant terror putting a bomb in the pilot’s local shopping mall? Or the areas involved shift geopolitically to China or Russia to preserve their internal stability, so the US loses some regional influence, and fifty years down the line the drone pilots’ grandkids end up on the pointy end of ww3? And what happens when opponents get the hang of evading detection/slipping through the surveillance filters – classic assymetric problem. If you kill the chaps as soon as you think you’ve found them, you don’t find out who their friends are or what they’re doing.
Short term “solutions” can be long term mistakes.
Shades of “Ender’s Game”.
From couple of years ago, Barbara Ehrenreich: War Without Humans and a ted talk, The Robots of War, by P W Singer, the author of Wired for War and Corporate Warriors:The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry.
This too.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/hubris-rachel-maddow-documentary-iraq-war-david-corn
Here’s the documentary.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show#50852099
sooo, the Ozzie “manufacturing confidence” index is in the low 40’s (N0rty)
Cosgrove-“significant losses of sub-contractors due to Mainzeal flattening may have an effect on the entire construction industry…
Williamson up against the wall
Excellent work by Eugenie Sage nailing and hoeing into Tremain (HBRC debt to increase in excess of 500% by 2021; don’t we love spending other peoples money!)
Spirituality is In The House, thanks to Winning some tutae 🙂
If I may briefly slip into my professional field – the Overseas parliamentary news has this fascinating snippet about archiving of email for Danish MPs (it’s about half way down the page).
MPs will be able to select emails for preservation by the State Archives as part of their day to day email management. Members’ correspondence held in the Archives is generally accessible to the public after 75 years.
I will be fascinated to see how it will actually work in practice (in my experience recordkeeping is not one of the strengths of most politicians).
Interesting in light of the recent responses to the Law Commission’s recommendation to extend our OIA to cover Parliament.
Pssst, when you get time to look Lprent, the edit function has thrown a spaz, i can access it but none of the comment that needs editing is showing up…
A breath of fresh air – well almost.
I can’t even see how to edit in the first place, you must have a bourgeoisie pc. 🙂
Lolz and i thought i was the only computer illiterate round here…
Seriously, the amount of mistakes I make, the edit function was the second thing I looked for after the ‘self publicise’ button.
Never found either, even if I only really need the one.
I run music studio software without breaking (many) synapses, and I’m getting really envious when I read posts with *edit in them. :grrr: 😆
I’m on Chrome, with pop ups blocked and that’s about it. No edit button.
Seriously, i mean hell pull the other one,leg that is, it plays Jesus my Lord come unto me, that’s with the backing of the full NZ Symphony orchestra as well,
The edit function appears next to the delete function on the bottom of your posted comment, Yeee-essss, i feel so computer literacerially superior after having said that,
And even more so with my coining of a brand new word, wonder if i can patent it…
There’s a delete button? Now I’m really getting pissed off 😆
All I see is ‘reply’, and that’s it, even when logged in.
If you’re making up words – Is the site being al1enistic by denying me buttons others have?
I’d write to my mp if it wasn’t macindope.
I can only say how saddened i am for your loss as i eagerly await seeing both functions appear as my comment comes up on the page,
i also now have the sudden urge to deliberately make a large number of errors, both spelling and grammatical, in this latest comment just so i may avail myself of such functions others are not in possession of,
i will tho resist such an egotistical aberration in character as the aforementioned function tonight only leads to the production of a blank page which in turn leads me to thoughts that perhaps this is the true value of my posted comments…
Do you have JavaScript enabled? Doesn’t work without it.
i better look at that on my computer, i haven’t disabled it, but you never know with my machine,
no hurries it will make me spell things properly first time round…
The edit function has not been working for me for a couple of hours; javascript is turned on in my browser and I don’t believe that i have made any system changes.
Same here.
Test…
I see what you mean…
Pops up ok, but fails to get the comment loaded. There was no plugin update.
Ummm. I’d guess a cache problem? Clearing..
Nope.. Definitely a morning job.
Ok. In the morning….
Tah much…
Is David Shearer still the leader of the Labour Party?
And is the Labour Party still the major opposition party?
There’s been so much going on and it seems that neither David Shearer or anyone else in the Labour party have anything to say. About anything…
Aw god not another one, next you will be telling us all your a disgruntled member and, ”shrill voice” you wont be voting for them again with that Shearer there….
@bad12
Yeah what a bitch that the punters don’t respond the way the Labours strategists (if they have any) think they should.
Shame on the New Zealand public for being so disobedient!
Bad New Zealanders!
(…and take care not criticisze the strategists, its not as though its their job to predict correctly how people will respond…./sarc)
Apart from female dogs is there an actual point here that you are trying to get across to me, i fear that if there is my attempts to de-cypher this point,limited i must admit, have failed…
Well I was unclear whether you were being sarky in your first comment, so chose to hedge my bets and be sarky in response.
I am commenting on this trend of criticizing people’s views that express concern about Labour’s or Mr Shearer’s effectiveness, and how it is seeming kind of arse about face in a democracy.
Despite apparently living in a democracy there appears to be an increasing message that we have to “be nice” and not express dissent to the sham that is going on on both sides of the parliamentary house.
I mean if everyone just shut up and voted for Labour, it stands to reason they would win. Guess that is how the logic goes.
I understand that people are paid good money to play the role of political strategist and if any ordinary person not in parliament did their job as badly, as both this government and the Labour party strategists over the last 5 years we would have our arses fired; so a wee bit of negative feedback here and there, really is a very small price to pay, and if listened to, would improve their game.
In answer to that, how many comments have you seen the commenter i was replying to make on the Standard,
There ‘seems’ to be a trend developing here, and i highlight the word ‘seems’ as this is only a personal observation, that when the ‘i hate Dave S’ crew quiets down it’s criticism of Him up will pop a few ‘names’ here and there who will poke the anti-Shearer fire for signs of life, or to get it raging again,
These odd commenters who seem like strangers to me could be genuine in their concern about Shearer and having found this site cannot but help unloading such concerns into whatever post they have ‘landed in’ so to speak be that open mike or a specific post on a topic,
Because of this i give far more ‘weight’ to comments from ‘names’ i recognize as having commented on the site befor and tend to view comments such as the one we are discussing above as just as likely to be posted into the site by those with the specific goal of attempting to destabilize the current Labour leadership for reasons other than concern for that Party…