“The longer Labour keeps repeating the same mistakes – reinforcing the values it should be contesting – the further to the right it will push the nation, and the more remote its chances of election will become.”
Indeed, which is something the local Labour Party should take note of. CV often points this out. And interestingly, is often attacked for doing so.
I was just about to put that one up myself. It is a very good article. The whole thing is quotable, but I will add this bit:
“Rebuilding a political movement means espousing what is desirable, then finding ways to make it feasible. The hopeless realists propose the opposite. They assemble a threadbare list of policies they consider feasible, then seek to persuade us that this package is desirable.”
The whole article is excellent. Monbiot points out the obvious – that while Corbyn has little chance of winning the next election, the same is true of his rivals. Corbyn’s advantage over them is that he can at least begin restoring the party.
Thanks for this link. Great article that I hope every NZ Labour MP reads. Another clip that resonated with me was:
“Tony Blair won three elections, but in doing so he made future Labour victories less likely. By adopting conservative values, conservative framing and conservative language, he shifted the nation to the right, even when he pursued leftwing policies such as the minimum wage, tax credits and freedom of information. You can sustain policies without values for a while but then, like plants without soil, the movement wilts and dies.”
There have been a few discussions here on the Standard about the values of the Labour Party that are espoused on their website, but are not always reflected in media statements.
Richie McCaw remains aloof from officially accepting dear leader’s embrace in terms of a knighthood and a parliamentary career so far, so the generous way to view it is that he is not a Nat supporter but doing what needs to be done to survive up till the “rubber wool cub”
whereas until rugby people prove otherwise (like Mr Weepu) I regard them as co-opted torys needing to be outed–Whaadarrrrryaaa!!!!
It’s scary the number who will be Tories. I guess it stands to reason because of the income bracket they are in and the fact they are impressionable young men who haven’t seen much of life.
That article isn’t as bad as Hamish Rutherford’s yesterday. Hamish starts out reasonably well but about halfway through can’t help sticking the boot into David Cunliffe and making the claim that no-one cared…
Although then Opposition leader David Cunliffe grizzled that it was “not often you see a major sporting body getting involved in politics” the photo passed with little real controversy.
– Hamish Rutherford
I fucking cared, Hamish, you prat! I should have made more noise.
More pics of John Key prostituting himself at the feet of McCaw, sorry…
you can piss off–Mr “all politicians”–ShonKey’s dedicated virtual stalking of McCaw is a standout case of planned capture for PR purposes as opposed to the common photo op
Wouldn’t it be great if an All Black captain came out and said I don’t like being used as a political tool by the PM and I’ve never supported his parties policies. Bliss. We would need someone like a David Pocock who would do that.
Mr Key in many of the cringe inducing ‘me and Richie’ photos is looking more like Rigsby played by Leonard Rossiter in the TV series Rising Damp.
Has a similar personality too.
Leading Israeli journalist, Bradley Burston writes:
“It’s Time to Admit It. Israeli Policy Is What It Is: Apartheid
I used to be one of those people who took issue with the label of apartheid as applied to Israel. Not anymore.”
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/.premium-1.671538
For those who deny that “anti-semitism” is often exploitatively defined as: “criticism of Israeli Govt” : Greenwald on Twitter, linking to the article above.
I would say when it comes to landcorp they have seen the opportunity they’ve been looking for . But only a fool sells at the bottom of a cycle so its either incompetent or more likely part of the plan.
Totally planned so the sale price is low for the buyers.
All the while the owned MSM cheer on another genius move from the masters of business and run puff/sdiversion pieces on flags/ritchie etc….imagine what it’ll be like when the WC kicks off.
Which pretty much means that someone’s $100b richer and it isn’t NZ.
Lost Solid Energy
Lost the power companies
Didn’t lose them at all – Nationals rich mates are about to snap them up for pennies on the dollar.
Lost dairy
Wants to sell the farm
Those two seem to go together once you take into account Nationals desire to sell NZ as cheaply as possible to foreign interests.
Bill English = total failure
That truly does depend on what Blinglish was trying to achieve. Considering his consistency of driving down prices for NZ land and businesses I’d say that he’s achieved exactly what he set out to achieve – selling NZ to foreign owners as cheaply as possible.
Yup and Hoskins gives winnie a bat to be bashed with by calling him ‘grumpy and bored’, I will enjoy Winnie having fun with such a childish emotive response.
“Years of austerity, immigration, poverty and a growing wealth gap – the European Union today is far from the Utopia some used to imagine when it was created. Now, with current politicians unable to solve the issues people are facing, the whole Union is being torn apart by rising far-right and far-left parties; People seek innovation in politics, seeing EU’s stagnant leadership unwilling to act. But are these new parties able to deliver on their promises? Is there even an alternative way for Europe? We ask these questions – and many more! – to a philosopher, activist and author of ‘What does Europe want?’ Srecko Horvat is on Sophie&Co today”.
“All right, Steven, let him speak.”
Hosking and Joyce gang up every Wednesday on NewstalkZB. Wednesday Politics, NewstalkZB, Wednesday 19 August 2015
Mike “Contra” Hosking, Steven Joyce, Grant Robertson
The radio station NewstalkZB is notorious in New Zealand. It’s a 24/7 forum for the community’s most haplessly bewildered souls. If you want to know what unread nincompoops, flat earthers, ACT voters, ratbags and downright racists think about the issues of the day, just tune in to NewstalkZB.
And their callers are almost as bad.
One of the worst programs, even on this endless horror show, is Wednesday Politics, a ten-minute exercise in contempt and destruction. This program is far worse than low farce, it’s an insult to the intelligence. Steven Joyce and Mike “Contra” Hosking gang up every week to deride, disrupt and hoot at the regular Labour Party representative, Annette King. She somehow handles it in good humour, but it’s quite clear what Hosking and Joyce aim to do each week: disrupt her incessantly, and make it impossible to discuss anything seriously.
Filling in for Annette King this morning was Grant Robertson. As usual, Joyce dominated proceedings from start to finish. In the first of the two segments, Joyce did almost all the talking, and Robertson politely let him talk.
Following the advertising break, it was supposed to be Robertson’s turn to talk. He spoke for approximately three seconds before Joyce talked over the top of him. Robertson tried to continue, and Joyce disrupted him seven times—yes, I counted.
Robertson pleaded: “I let you have your say.” Hosking, supposed to be some sort of adjudicator, said to Joyce: “All right, Steven, let him speak.” Joyce ignored Hosking and continued to loudly overtalk and disrupt, shouting out insults.
I can’t even remember what they were talking about now—-and that’s exactly why Hosking and Joyce do that each week. Mission accomplished.
Thanks for report Morrissey. Listening to that is a dirty job and I’m glad you have the determination to do it.
Do you think there is anything positive for Labour at all in going on to it, or indeed any of the opposition parties? There would be a howl go up from NewstalkZB’s theatre of the absurd but it sounds as if that would be a minor blow to the opposition compared to the multiple ones when they try and participate in this abbatoir of intelligent discussion.
The SPCA can be appealed to, or the Council or police, when there are attack dogs about. There is little power available to appeal to in this case for other Parties, or those of the listeners who understand what is going on. And what is going on is an attack on reasoned political discussion and a farce of welcoming left and right speakers, which is achieved by RadioNZ with Williams and Hooton, though done in a low-key (huh) way.
QFT
what an offense to humanity that station is..
bring back “Dr Paul” – at least it was what it claimed to be – pure fiction.
now they broadcast fiction and lies dressed up as fact.
Education and NCEA. A cool analysis of the lacks resulting from NCEA targetting by the education boffins from a NZ university dean noticing the negative effects of those students getting to university with the right NCEA background.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201767090
This voice piece from RadioNZ this morning is about some clever engineering that has come from the university professor Dale Carnegie and his students at Victoria University.
About halfway through the discussion there is a definite criticism against NCEA that it does not give an incentive for pupils to strive because of the blunt marking. Also they tick boxes, students passing one subject to NCEA level, then another in a silo approach, and with little connectedness, and they may forget earlier material by the time they pass the next units.
Background:
Robot creating engineer wins a top tertiary teaching award
9:34 AM. Dale Carnegie is the head of Victoria University’s School of Engineering and Computer Science. He was last week given the 2015 Ako Aotearoa Tertiary Teaching Excellence award for his engaging teaching style and what students described as “infectious enthusiasm”. Professor Carnegie has long promoted engineering as a career, he is currently working on a robot prototype for use in search and rescue due to its ability to move over difficult terrain.
It’s time for another change to our education system. And this should start with all the pavlovian boffins in the Department of Education picking up ideas for policies from hyped up overseas educationalists filled with esoteric and expansive ideas that seem modern. Try looking for practically applied intelligent programs and practices in learning, and ask the non-education university lecturers what they want so as to get direction from outside the present loop of high-paid purveyors of cant.
I just mention that I have feelings of doom and gloom about the development of robots and their use to relieve humans of work and often, so called drudge jobs. The latest, talked about in this clip, is that they are being developed to do caring roles. I think these could be the ones presently carried out by, mostly women, who are poorly paid but need the money or are prepared to do the job because they know they bring comfort and personal interest to the vulnerable.
There’s an unusual story contained in the many links of that article, of how he divorced his wife over a disagreement of which school their son would go to. Bizarre. I don’t believe it was solely about that, maybe a final straw/late trigger type of thing – the article says the problem went back at least two years – yet they both use that incident as the public story. Do we take their word for it, or make a guess based on what usually happens? You’d think a politician at his level would be more careful.
Which raises two issues for me as spectator: does he have any willingness to compromise realism/Ideals; and can he compromise/harmonise with women. The “old socialist” Britain wasn’t too big on women defining themselves outside the male perspective and with his supporters “yearning” for a return to that past, I wonder if they intend taking a break from various movements of equality/autonomy within society, all pushed aside in favour of nostalgia. About the only immediately believeable and “do-able” idea the papers like to lazily trot out from a seemly impossible list, is the rent controls.
@Charles
I don’t like leaders being picked at or discarded because they are not perfect in word and deed. Leave Corbyn alone to fight about schools with his wife.
Here is a link that gives what might be regarded as knightly virtues to be adhered to, in today’s eyes. The link has a comment that most of these were gathered in hindsight. It could be that in medieval times you could be a knight if you were a mercenary with your own armour and were prepared to swear to protect a certain leader. http://chivalrytoday.com/knightly-virtues/
They have decided on a list of seven virtues.
1 Courage
2 Justice
3 Mercy
4 Generosity
5 Faith
6 Nobility
7 Hope
Perhaps we should have a template of attributes to sort out the sheep from the goats, the ugly ducklings that could be swans, the jesters who aren’t fools from the others.
What other attributes should they have. The list doesn’t say anything about truthfulness, thoughtfulness, diplomacy, wisdom, farsightedness and good judgment as to oneself, one’s team and people in general.
Truthfulness is good but needs to be balanced by thoughtfulness and diplomacy as blurting unvarnished truths is often not the best way forward. Wisdom advises when, what, where and why and farsightedness enables future scenarios and outcomes to be envisaged practically. Understanding people helps in knowing who is a rock and reliable, who is flaky, who is loose tongued and untrustworthy.
Leave Corbyn alone? You kidding me? “Charles opinion brings down Corbyn” hahaha I can see the UK headlines now. You haven’t read or comprehended my post at all.
The eagerness for people to dishonestly project their own issues onto the success or failure of J.Corbyn and reluctance to consider the details, methods or context of his politics is a little bit disturbing, but not at all surprising. He clearly is a sacred cow, here. Tough shit.
There’s a big rolling smear campaign on to take Corbyn down; I expect more tales about his distant past to start surfacing once the PI’s and the tabloids have had a chance to dig further.
I am brassed off at the thought of paying GST on a book I have to import because I can’t get it in NZ, on which I may have to pay $US 12 shipping, and then GST on the combined amount. It mounts up to expensive for me on a low income even if the total is under $30.
Already the fact sheet for Customs is explaining that GST has to be paid on everything plus import duty on some things. I thought that it was still being discussed by parliament.
I thought that this great move of dropping all our tariffs, losing all our manufacturing jobs, was to have a payoff of making everything cheaper in NZ. But instead the government has made everything more expensive by adding a 15% surcharge on everything we do or buy. It’s a hell of an impost. Gummint is putting its hands into the bottom of our pockets where the last coins are rattling around.
On the one hand government’s actions kill off jobs, then they destroy working conditions, decrease wages by not setting minimum wages which represent livable amounts or allow for even low inflation. If year by year there is a no rise or one below measured inflation your wage is dropping. And that doesn’t allow for the housing and rental inflation.
Are you talking about a single book you got pinged for, or a change in policy? I’ve bought stuff from overseas and never paid GST or customs duty on it, and I thought that Customs basically didn’t care about most things under a certain value.
I’ve not heard of them charging GST before either.
Generally speaking, they won’t charge GST on items worth less than $400 because it’s just not worth the effort. Thing is, GST is now killing local stores (both online and offline) because people can easily bypass it by buying offshore. The governments fix to this is to have it so that GST will be paid on all items bought offshore despite the fact that it will cost even more.
The proper fix is, of course, to drop GST and raise other taxes but National don’t like that idea as it means that the rich will actually have to start paying their way.
Thanks DTB I thought most people would know all about the past methods. I looked up an Australian seller on Trademe and found this new button to see what duties might have to be paid and found a No. 28 sheet for Customs and it sounded as if they were all ready to dump GST on imported goods asap.
And I heard talking about ALL imports which is why I brought up my book purchases – not doing many booksellers out of business, me. More The Warehouse etc and the general remaindering.
Also the drop-sellers? who put a quarter of a million books onto Trademe in three months. Amazing but true. The site is deluged by these books and I don’t think TM even rake any money off them for their listings which would make them millions if at only 10c a listing.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/281699/govt-asks-for-feedback-on-gst-plan
It is about creating a level playing field for collecting GST and putting New Zealand businesses and jobs ahead of the interests of overseas retailers, but it must be done with the least possible inconvenience to New Zealand consumers,” Mr McClay said.
Read the full discussion document (PDF, 305KB) and summary (PDF, 518KB).
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/281655/buyers-set-to-pay-gst-on-online-services
It is currently losing an estimated $180 million of revenue to online purchases, a figure that is rising every year, and plans to extend GST to all online purchases to patch up the ever-widening hole in revenue.
Prime Minister John Key said GST on some online purchases could be in place by Christmas.
$180 million does not seem a big amount when there is so much money to spend on monuments, flags and emoluments! The rest of us need liniments after grazing meetings with these bruising bullrushers.
His “reasons” for with-holding before, will be used the when he will refuse when asked by Beverley Wakim. Not telling you. Its private.
Because if he was involved, he would simply refuse to incriminate himself. He has before rather suffer the outcry, than commit hari-kari.
I didn’t want to have to spell out why this competition could cause “offence or distress” here, but because the BSA decided (spoiler alert) that it was, in fact, fine, allow me to explain. In being asked to essentially deep-throat a cucumber, this Bachelorette was reduced to being a sexual object, whose value hinged explicitly on how well she could suck a dick.
Yeah, I think I’ll continue to not listen to The Edge or, in fact, anything produced by MediaWorks.
I highly recommend this article for anyone interested in Donald Trump, Fox News and American politics. It answers the question of why Fox News turned on Trump in the first Republican debate.
Dr. Phil calls a mass murderer a “modern day American hero”;
Next day he gives an hour’s platform to a KKK Imperial Wizard. Dr. Phil, TV3, Wednesday 19 August 2015
(The show first screened in the U.S. on March 17, 2015)
I’ve just watched Dr. Phil McGraw give an hour’s free, virtually uninterrupted access to an Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. The pretext for granting him this free advertising was the conflict between the Imperial Wizard and his daughter, who is pregnant to a black man.
After the Imperial Wizard had shared his views on blacks, Jews, homosexuals, and the law—he expressed hatred and contempt for all of them—Dr. Phil brought on a couple of religious experts, one of them black and one Jewish. This had the predictable effect on the Imperial Wizard.
A comical moment came when the Imperial Wizard unleashed a torrent of abuse at another guest: “You look like a Jew! I don’t want to listen to anything you say!” The man revealed himself to be a Roman Catholic, with the surname Gallagher. This elicited general laughter, except from the grim-faced Imperial Wizard.
If you think what Dr. Phil said during today’s program shows that he is a decent, concerned and compassionate person, you might like to consider what he had to say on his show the day before that. Compared to the person he is praising here, the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan is Albert Schweitzer…..
The life and death of Chris Kyle has captivated millions. He risked his life fighting for this country. He miraculously survived the most dangerous combat zones …. the brutal, heart-breaking, senseless murder of a modern-day American hero. Who DOES this? Was it mental illness or just pure evil?
Later in the show, he badgers Eddie Ray Routh’s father, after introducing him and his wife as the parents of “one of the most hated figures of modern times”…
DR. PHIL: I understand y’all must be heart-broken. I UNDERSTAND mental illness. RAYMOND ROUTH: They think our son is the evilest son of a bitch in the whole world. DR. PHIL: You say people think he is the evilest son of a bitch on the planet. What he did was an evil act. You agree with that? To murder those two young men was EGREGIOUS and WRONG. ….
You obviously didn’t read the whole article PR – most of the commentators are saying dairy farmers still need to be very cautious, and it could be up to another six months before Fonterra’s position improves.
What’s more – the other story highlighted in that “good news for dairying” story says a lower volume of product was put up to auction to ensure a good price for it.
The fact that existing supply is being prevented from reaching the market, in order to bolster a falling price, is evidence of the problem PR is flailing to deny.
Economic isn’t exactly their strong point, though.
That was a gambit done in the 60s – 70s. Stockpiling has been done before. Surely Fonterra and the fab farmers couldn’t think seriously of doing something that was done in the past.
Looks like you need some basic training in production-supply-demand with a futures market on top.
It is “good news” only in the respect that Fonterra finally did what they should have done at the end of 2013/4 season, put out some market signals that
their stockpile of dairy products was growing,
that production needed to be reduced,
that supply would be constrained over the next 12 months
They would have gotten a similar, if more muted, response from the market for exactly the same reason. The signal that supply would be constrained would have been factored into everyone’s bids.
Instead they did that 18 months later because it appears that they kept hoping that something would miraculously happen to make it all better… But they got the usual response for when people start believing in fairyland as adults – nothing but a brutal reality.
Labour has been banging on about this since early 2014. I have been pointing out the structural stupidity of depending on a near raw commodity for growth for years earlier.
Did you just wake up? Or do you just have a weak brain that can’t retain information for more than a few days?
Blinglish going ahead with more asset sales according Grant Robertson. I found this gem from Blingish in the middle of the article which makes for great ironing when placed in the context of his direction of Solid Energy over the last six years.
The boards are just there to do what the shareholder wants. If we think they should make changes to how they’re running their business we would certainly communicate with them. The Government often discusses policy … without discussing directly with the board.
Ah, but does Blinglish actually think that giving rich people taxpayers money is a waste of money? He wasn’t shy about rorting the rules to get us to pay for his house.
Indeed, who could forget the double-dipping. Perhaps he felt it was compulsory to waste tax-payers money then and has only now changed his mind since his asset sales program flopped.
Today It feels like we should listen to Tourettes – “John Keys’s son is a DJ”. Just to remind us were we are at with this out of touch Tory government.
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
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There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
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 ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
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Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
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A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
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In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debbie Passey, Digital Health Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Josephine Barbaro, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, Psychologist, La Trobe University Unsplash We’ve come a long way in terms of understanding that everyone thinks, interacts and experiences the world differently. In the past, autistic people, people with attention deficit hyperactive disorder ...
PNG Post-Courier Papua New Guinea’s deputy opposition leader James Nomane has accused the government of “reckless economic management” that has forced devaluation to manage loan repayments in foreign currency and placate the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prime Minister James Marape “must stop lying to the people of Papua New Guinea”, ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to ...
RNZ News As Israel presses ahead with strikes in Rafah and seizing the Rafah crossing from Egypt, aid agencies are sounding the alarm of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation”. Rafah was “significant” because it was the only part in Gaza that had not been terribly damaged by the conflict, United Nations ...
With funding set to be scrapped for the Hamilton-Auckland commuter train, Te Huia enthusiast Georgie Dansey argues for it to be thrown a lifeline. It’s 5.45am and the chain of my crappy old bike falls off slugging up the one hill in Hamilton. I contemplate yeeting the bike into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Cooke, Honorary Fellow, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland We feel ecological grief when we lose places, species or ecosystems we value and love. These losses are a growing threat to mental health and wellbeing globally. We all see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shauna Brail, Associate Professor, Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto A shift to hybrid and remote work continues to affect worker presence in Toronto’s downtown.(Shutterstock) Downtown Toronto, the core of Canada’s largest city, continues to reel from the lingering ...
Responding to an Auditor-General's report slamming failures in the administration of the 2023 General Election, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: ...
Productivity apps now make up a big chunk of the software market. But do they work? And why do they all have AI integrations?Despite being firmly on the record as a physical planner fan, I sometimes dream of something better than my pretty diary and its scrawled, ugly, interior ...
The Taxpayers’ Union says the Beehive need to lead by example, following reports of more than $50,000 spent upgrading video conferencing equipment and furniture in the Prime Minister’s office. Taxpayers’ Union Campaign Manager, Connor Molloy, ...
An objective list of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand, as judged by the Spinoff Editorial Board. It’s power list season, baby, and we want in on the action. Sure, there’s the rich list and the powerful “c-suite” list and the young people with power (hmmm) but here, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thalia Anthony, Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the names of deceased people, and describes ongoing colonial violence towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. First Nations people in Australia ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Simpson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Macquarie University Netflix Baby Reindeer’s phenomenal success has much to do with its writer and lead, Richard Gadd, who plays Donny in a tender semi-autobiographical account of sexual abuse, harassment and stalking. Gadd’s story has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle KarolinaGrabowska/Pexels If you didn’t have food allergies as a child, is it possible to develop them as an adult? The short answer is yes. But the reasons why are much ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Moon, Professor of History, Auckland University of Technology Ans Westra, self-portrait, c. 1963. National Library ref AWM-0705-F They try but invariably fail – those writers who believe they are capable of encapsulating in prose or verse the essence of ...
Stewart Sowman-Lund looks at the growing concern around the world in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. What’s all this? When Covid-19 arrived on our shores in early 2020, some argued we were too slow, or crucially, ill-prepared for a pandemic. So ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Franco Montalto, Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and Director, Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Drexel University Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary.Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images ...
The inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones has turned up a new witness who says he saw two teenagers and a small child in a high vis vest in the area where the boy’s body was found the day he died. Lachie’s body was discovered face up ...
Stories from the tenancy trenches, featuring spider infestations, cupboard rats and same-sex discrimination. Lucy’s brother was living in a damp 1930s building in Mt Eden where “he had to tie the cupboard doors closed so the rats didn’t get in”. Although he shared custody of his six-year-old son, his property ...
Simeon Brown, Chris Luxon, and Wayne Brown climbed into a hole and announced a plan to solve Auckland’s water woes. This is how it’ll work. New Zealand’s pipes are munted. They’re cracked and leaking, and struggling to handle all the extra poos excreted by our rising population. It’s a big, ...
I knew Taika Waititi quite well when he was a kid. His mother lived in a tall narrow house in Aro St, and my youngest sister had a similar house two doors along. They were both single mums, they each had a son aged seven. Taika and my nephew Stepan ...
Opinion: “As time passes, knowledge of the circumstances of the August 2016 outbreak will fade and its immediate impact will be lost.” This statement is from the 2017 report of the Official Inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacteriosis outbreak. The then National-led government established the inquiry after the outbreak left ...
Opinion: Nicholas Khoo looks at two key points in the high-stakes foreign policy pact debate – and asks if NZ can engage with as little drama as possible. The post Where to next for the Aukus ruckus? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Opinion: ‘Reference-class forecasting’ is at the heart of improving pricing a project and identifying the expected timeframe but it doesn’t appear to be in use here The post ‘Think fast and act slowly’ is failing big projects appeared first on Newsroom. ...
What do a sombrero in Argentina and cognitive driving tests have in common? Don’t worry, we’re not setting up a bad joke. Hinengaro Clinic dementia clinician Gregory Winkelman has the answer on today’s episode of The Detail. “We ask a patient’s spouse or son or daughter: If you went to ...
Wellington long jumper Phoebe Edwards is back and she’s having fun again. Until this year, Edwards, a top athlete in her teens, had never competed as a senior athlete in New Zealand. In March, the 26-year-old won a national long jump title in a lifetime best of 6.28m after ...
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“The middle ground is a magic mountain that retreats as you approach. The more you chase it from the left, the further to the right it moves.”
Brilliant stuff from Monbiot. Applies here to Labour and our political landscape too!
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/18/jeremy-corbyn-rivals-chase-impossible-dream
“The longer Labour keeps repeating the same mistakes – reinforcing the values it should be contesting – the further to the right it will push the nation, and the more remote its chances of election will become.”
Indeed, which is something the local Labour Party should take note of. CV often points this out. And interestingly, is often attacked for doing so.
I was just about to put that one up myself. It is a very good article. The whole thing is quotable, but I will add this bit:
“Rebuilding a political movement means espousing what is desirable, then finding ways to make it feasible. The hopeless realists propose the opposite. They assemble a threadbare list of policies they consider feasible, then seek to persuade us that this package is desirable.”
+1
That’s exactly what Labour have been doing for the last 20 years.
The whole article is excellent. Monbiot points out the obvious – that while Corbyn has little chance of winning the next election, the same is true of his rivals. Corbyn’s advantage over them is that he can at least begin restoring the party.
Thanks for this link. Great article that I hope every NZ Labour MP reads. Another clip that resonated with me was:
“Tony Blair won three elections, but in doing so he made future Labour victories less likely. By adopting conservative values, conservative framing and conservative language, he shifted the nation to the right, even when he pursued leftwing policies such as the minimum wage, tax credits and freedom of information. You can sustain policies without values for a while but then, like plants without soil, the movement wilts and dies.”
There have been a few discussions here on the Standard about the values of the Labour Party that are espoused on their website, but are not always reflected in media statements.
“Key Love” continues unabated, no less than 3 pics accompanying this puff piece include the defacto (since Rugby News election 2014 cover) all black captain snuggling up to the real one…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11499241
Richie McCaw remains aloof from officially accepting dear leader’s embrace in terms of a knighthood and a parliamentary career so far, so the generous way to view it is that he is not a Nat supporter but doing what needs to be done to survive up till the “rubber wool cub”
whereas until rugby people prove otherwise (like Mr Weepu) I regard them as co-opted torys needing to be outed–Whaadarrrrryaaa!!!!
It’s scary the number who will be Tories. I guess it stands to reason because of the income bracket they are in and the fact they are impressionable young men who haven’t seen much of life.
That article isn’t as bad as Hamish Rutherford’s yesterday. Hamish starts out reasonably well but about halfway through can’t help sticking the boot into David Cunliffe and making the claim that no-one cared…
– Hamish Rutherford
I fucking cared, Hamish, you prat! I should have made more noise.
More pics of John Key prostituting himself at the feet of McCaw, sorry…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/71232403/will-the-all-blacks-always-love-being-pictured-with-the-prime-minister
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11499241
First photo in the article……sure at least one of the three in the background is taking the piss.
I noticed they changed the photo when I first saw that article key and McCaw where having a beer.
Hard to know because there’ve been so many articles, and so many photos of beers.
Perhaps John Key has a drinking problem. He certainly sounds like he does when he speaks.
https://blog.labour.org.nz/tag/richie-mccaw/
Oh please, all politicians love cuddling upto popular sports stars
you can piss off–Mr “all politicians”–ShonKey’s dedicated virtual stalking of McCaw is a standout case of planned capture for PR purposes as opposed to the common photo op
Wouldn’t it be great if an All Black captain came out and said I don’t like being used as a political tool by the PM and I’ve never supported his parties policies. Bliss. We would need someone like a David Pocock who would do that.
Mr Key in many of the cringe inducing ‘me and Richie’ photos is looking more like Rigsby played by Leonard Rossiter in the TV series Rising Damp.
Has a similar personality too.
@Tiger
Not so much Key love in the Dom Post-in fact it is getting royally stuck into Key, Groser and the Nats in today’s editorial here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/71236492/editorial-john-key-is-being-arrogant-over-protests-against-free-trade
With Little performing well, the economy shaking, McCully’s antics looking shady and Key talking rubbish about TPPA, this looks like a turning point.
Once again, National introduces a bill to which the only sane response can be that our properties will be returned to their rightful owners without compensation at the next change of government.
There is no alternative.
Absolutely shocking.
Extraordinary powers, exempt from social, environmental and financial oversight obligations.
Despotism.
Key is like the guy in the credit card add.
Richie can I do a 3 way handshake.
Awh Richie can I give you a knighthood
Team photo.
Awh Richie
Leading Israeli journalist, Bradley Burston writes:
“It’s Time to Admit It. Israeli Policy Is What It Is: Apartheid
I used to be one of those people who took issue with the label of apartheid as applied to Israel. Not anymore.”
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/.premium-1.671538
For those who deny that “anti-semitism” is often exploitatively defined as: “criticism of Israeli Govt” : Greenwald on Twitter, linking to the article above.
Paywalled so here’s the full article via Naomi Wolf.
https://medium.com/@thepalestineproject/it-s-time-to-admit-it-israeli-policy-is-what-it-is-apartheid-e6d19bde2f58
The record of Bill English:
$100billion of debt
Lost Solid Energy
Lost the power companies
Lost dairy
Wants to sell the farm
Yup…. lost in any language
Bill English = total failure
I would say when it comes to landcorp they have seen the opportunity they’ve been looking for . But only a fool sells at the bottom of a cycle so its either incompetent or more likely part of the plan.
Totally planned so the sale price is low for the buyers.
All the while the owned MSM cheer on another genius move from the masters of business and run puff/sdiversion pieces on flags/ritchie etc….imagine what it’ll be like when the WC kicks off.
+1
Which pretty much means that someone’s $100b richer and it isn’t NZ.
Didn’t lose them at all – Nationals rich mates are about to snap them up for pennies on the dollar.
Those two seem to go together once you take into account Nationals desire to sell NZ as cheaply as possible to foreign interests.
That truly does depend on what Blinglish was trying to achieve. Considering his consistency of driving down prices for NZ land and businesses I’d say that he’s achieved exactly what he set out to achieve – selling NZ to foreign owners as cheaply as possible.
This government is losing hold of its core narrative of safety and competence and charming leadership.
They are relying harder on a core of friendly journalists, and co-branding into sport and other patriotic injections.
The economy is out of their control, and drifting. Even a complete milk revival won’t turn years of corrosion.
They are into the inevitable decline of losing in 2017.
Yup and Hoskins gives winnie a bat to be bashed with by calling him ‘grumpy and bored’, I will enjoy Winnie having fun with such a childish emotive response.
Funny how we’ve come to respect a good old fashioned two-faced polly like Winnie, you have to tip your hat.
In about three minutes, this explains how popular movements happen:
https://youtu.be/nU7dxkIz1Vs?t=260
Watch the full seven minutes for all the details, because the early stages always seem uncertain.
Brilliant! That’s the dream in so many different areas of life.
‘Europe today sells itself to other powers like China – philosopher’
https://www.rt.com/shows/sophieco/258825-eu-immigration-poverty-utopia/
“Years of austerity, immigration, poverty and a growing wealth gap – the European Union today is far from the Utopia some used to imagine when it was created. Now, with current politicians unable to solve the issues people are facing, the whole Union is being torn apart by rising far-right and far-left parties; People seek innovation in politics, seeing EU’s stagnant leadership unwilling to act. But are these new parties able to deliver on their promises? Is there even an alternative way for Europe? We ask these questions – and many more! – to a philosopher, activist and author of ‘What does Europe want?’ Srecko Horvat is on Sophie&Co today”.
“All right, Steven, let him speak.”
Hosking and Joyce gang up every Wednesday on NewstalkZB.
Wednesday Politics, NewstalkZB, Wednesday 19 August 2015
Mike “Contra” Hosking, Steven Joyce, Grant Robertson
The radio station NewstalkZB is notorious in New Zealand. It’s a 24/7 forum for the community’s most haplessly bewildered souls. If you want to know what unread nincompoops, flat earthers, ACT voters, ratbags and downright racists think about the issues of the day, just tune in to NewstalkZB.
And their callers are almost as bad.
One of the worst programs, even on this endless horror show, is Wednesday Politics, a ten-minute exercise in contempt and destruction. This program is far worse than low farce, it’s an insult to the intelligence. Steven Joyce and Mike “Contra” Hosking gang up every week to deride, disrupt and hoot at the regular Labour Party representative, Annette King. She somehow handles it in good humour, but it’s quite clear what Hosking and Joyce aim to do each week: disrupt her incessantly, and make it impossible to discuss anything seriously.
Filling in for Annette King this morning was Grant Robertson. As usual, Joyce dominated proceedings from start to finish. In the first of the two segments, Joyce did almost all the talking, and Robertson politely let him talk.
Following the advertising break, it was supposed to be Robertson’s turn to talk. He spoke for approximately three seconds before Joyce talked over the top of him. Robertson tried to continue, and Joyce disrupted him seven times—yes, I counted.
Robertson pleaded: “I let you have your say.” Hosking, supposed to be some sort of adjudicator, said to Joyce: “All right, Steven, let him speak.” Joyce ignored Hosking and continued to loudly overtalk and disrupt, shouting out insults.
I can’t even remember what they were talking about now—-and that’s exactly why Hosking and Joyce do that each week. Mission accomplished.
Thanks for report Morrissey. Listening to that is a dirty job and I’m glad you have the determination to do it.
Do you think there is anything positive for Labour at all in going on to it, or indeed any of the opposition parties? There would be a howl go up from NewstalkZB’s theatre of the absurd but it sounds as if that would be a minor blow to the opposition compared to the multiple ones when they try and participate in this abbatoir of intelligent discussion.
The SPCA can be appealed to, or the Council or police, when there are attack dogs about. There is little power available to appeal to in this case for other Parties, or those of the listeners who understand what is going on. And what is going on is an attack on reasoned political discussion and a farce of welcoming left and right speakers, which is achieved by RadioNZ with Williams and Hooton, though done in a low-key (huh) way.
QFT
what an offense to humanity that station is..
bring back “Dr Paul” – at least it was what it claimed to be – pure fiction.
now they broadcast fiction and lies dressed up as fact.
yep, taken one for the troops, listening that bollocks
Education and NCEA. A cool analysis of the lacks resulting from NCEA targetting by the education boffins from a NZ university dean noticing the negative effects of those students getting to university with the right NCEA background.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201767090
This voice piece from RadioNZ this morning is about some clever engineering that has come from the university professor Dale Carnegie and his students at Victoria University.
About halfway through the discussion there is a definite criticism against NCEA that it does not give an incentive for pupils to strive because of the blunt marking. Also they tick boxes, students passing one subject to NCEA level, then another in a silo approach, and with little connectedness, and they may forget earlier material by the time they pass the next units.
Background:
Robot creating engineer wins a top tertiary teaching award
9:34 AM. Dale Carnegie is the head of Victoria University’s School of Engineering and Computer Science. He was last week given the 2015 Ako Aotearoa Tertiary Teaching Excellence award for his engaging teaching style and what students described as “infectious enthusiasm”. Professor Carnegie has long promoted engineering as a career, he is currently working on a robot prototype for use in search and rescue due to its ability to move over difficult terrain.
It’s time for another change to our education system. And this should start with all the pavlovian boffins in the Department of Education picking up ideas for policies from hyped up overseas educationalists filled with esoteric and expansive ideas that seem modern. Try looking for practically applied intelligent programs and practices in learning, and ask the non-education university lecturers what they want so as to get direction from outside the present loop of high-paid purveyors of cant.
I just mention that I have feelings of doom and gloom about the development of robots and their use to relieve humans of work and often, so called drudge jobs. The latest, talked about in this clip, is that they are being developed to do caring roles. I think these could be the ones presently carried out by, mostly women, who are poorly paid but need the money or are prepared to do the job because they know they bring comfort and personal interest to the vulnerable.
How Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn would govern Britain.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/08/jeremy-corbyn-labour-britain/401492/
There’s an unusual story contained in the many links of that article, of how he divorced his wife over a disagreement of which school their son would go to. Bizarre. I don’t believe it was solely about that, maybe a final straw/late trigger type of thing – the article says the problem went back at least two years – yet they both use that incident as the public story. Do we take their word for it, or make a guess based on what usually happens? You’d think a politician at his level would be more careful.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/1999/may/13/uk.politicalnews2
Which raises two issues for me as spectator: does he have any willingness to compromise realism/Ideals; and can he compromise/harmonise with women. The “old socialist” Britain wasn’t too big on women defining themselves outside the male perspective and with his supporters “yearning” for a return to that past, I wonder if they intend taking a break from various movements of equality/autonomy within society, all pushed aside in favour of nostalgia. About the only immediately believeable and “do-able” idea the papers like to lazily trot out from a seemly impossible list, is the rent controls.
@Charles
I don’t like leaders being picked at or discarded because they are not perfect in word and deed. Leave Corbyn alone to fight about schools with his wife.
Here is a link that gives what might be regarded as knightly virtues to be adhered to, in today’s eyes. The link has a comment that most of these were gathered in hindsight. It could be that in medieval times you could be a knight if you were a mercenary with your own armour and were prepared to swear to protect a certain leader.
http://chivalrytoday.com/knightly-virtues/
They have decided on a list of seven virtues.
1 Courage
2 Justice
3 Mercy
4 Generosity
5 Faith
6 Nobility
7 Hope
Perhaps we should have a template of attributes to sort out the sheep from the goats, the ugly ducklings that could be swans, the jesters who aren’t fools from the others.
What other attributes should they have. The list doesn’t say anything about truthfulness, thoughtfulness, diplomacy, wisdom, farsightedness and good judgment as to oneself, one’s team and people in general.
Truthfulness is good but needs to be balanced by thoughtfulness and diplomacy as blurting unvarnished truths is often not the best way forward. Wisdom advises when, what, where and why and farsightedness enables future scenarios and outcomes to be envisaged practically. Understanding people helps in knowing who is a rock and reliable, who is flaky, who is loose tongued and untrustworthy.
Leave Corbyn alone? You kidding me? “Charles opinion brings down Corbyn” hahaha I can see the UK headlines now. You haven’t read or comprehended my post at all.
The eagerness for people to dishonestly project their own issues onto the success or failure of J.Corbyn and reluctance to consider the details, methods or context of his politics is a little bit disturbing, but not at all surprising. He clearly is a sacred cow, here. Tough shit.
I don’t get what Corbyn has done or said to earn such personal enmity from you?
Charles
You have your sacred cows. I have mine. And frankly I think you talk BS half the time. The other half is okay.
I think the reasons he and his wife separated are none of our business. I’d be more interested in how he relates with women staff, colleagues etc.
Is there any reason to suspect his gender politics apart from that?
There’s a big rolling smear campaign on to take Corbyn down; I expect more tales about his distant past to start surfacing once the PI’s and the tabloids have had a chance to dig further.
I am brassed off at the thought of paying GST on a book I have to import because I can’t get it in NZ, on which I may have to pay $US 12 shipping, and then GST on the combined amount. It mounts up to expensive for me on a low income even if the total is under $30.
Already the fact sheet for Customs is explaining that GST has to be paid on everything plus import duty on some things. I thought that it was still being discussed by parliament.
I thought that this great move of dropping all our tariffs, losing all our manufacturing jobs, was to have a payoff of making everything cheaper in NZ. But instead the government has made everything more expensive by adding a 15% surcharge on everything we do or buy. It’s a hell of an impost. Gummint is putting its hands into the bottom of our pockets where the last coins are rattling around.
On the one hand government’s actions kill off jobs, then they destroy working conditions, decrease wages by not setting minimum wages which represent livable amounts or allow for even low inflation. If year by year there is a no rise or one below measured inflation your wage is dropping. And that doesn’t allow for the housing and rental inflation.
Are you talking about a single book you got pinged for, or a change in policy? I’ve bought stuff from overseas and never paid GST or customs duty on it, and I thought that Customs basically didn’t care about most things under a certain value.
I’ve not heard of them charging GST before either.
because they havn’t till now. wont just be physical items either. i think the idiots in msm are calling it the netflix bill
so what’s being discussed here is new govt policy? Might be good if that’s spelled out.
Generally speaking, they won’t charge GST on items worth less than $400 because it’s just not worth the effort. Thing is, GST is now killing local stores (both online and offline) because people can easily bypass it by buying offshore. The governments fix to this is to have it so that GST will be paid on all items bought offshore despite the fact that it will cost even more.
The proper fix is, of course, to drop GST and raise other taxes but National don’t like that idea as it means that the rich will actually have to start paying their way.
Thanks DTB I thought most people would know all about the past methods. I looked up an Australian seller on Trademe and found this new button to see what duties might have to be paid and found a No. 28 sheet for Customs and it sounded as if they were all ready to dump GST on imported goods asap.
And I heard talking about ALL imports which is why I brought up my book purchases – not doing many booksellers out of business, me. More The Warehouse etc and the general remaindering.
Also the drop-sellers? who put a quarter of a million books onto Trademe in three months. Amazing but true. The site is deluged by these books and I don’t think TM even rake any money off them for their listings which would make them millions if at only 10c a listing.
Radionz reports:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201766822
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/281638/government-weighs-up-online-gst-options
Mr Key said the Government was trying to be fair to both retailers and consumers.
“But the problem is the Government is trying to balance up the need to be both fair to existing retailers who have bricks and mortar on the ground.
“The fact that we’ve got a hole in our revenue accounts that is emerging because more and more purchases are happening online.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/281699/govt-asks-for-feedback-on-gst-plan
It is about creating a level playing field for collecting GST and putting New Zealand businesses and jobs ahead of the interests of overseas retailers, but it must be done with the least possible inconvenience to New Zealand consumers,” Mr McClay said.
Read the full discussion document (PDF, 305KB) and summary (PDF, 518KB).
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/281655/buyers-set-to-pay-gst-on-online-services
It is currently losing an estimated $180 million of revenue to online purchases, a figure that is rising every year, and plans to extend GST to all online purchases to patch up the ever-widening hole in revenue.
Prime Minister John Key said GST on some online purchases could be in place by Christmas.
$180 million does not seem a big amount when there is so much money to spend on monuments, flags and emoluments! The rest of us need liniments after grazing meetings with these bruising bullrushers.
A worthy cause… ‘Give-A-Little fund for Jane Kelsy’s legal challenge to TPPA secrecy’
https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/tppnosecrecy/
Please let others know too. Thanks.
Thanks for putting that up Clem – we do have to front up for our ‘knights’. I must look to see what I’ve got left after the bills.
Key is under investigation for refusing to release correspondence with Rachel Glucina over Ponytailgate. About fucking time.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/71258555/ponytailgate-correspondence-with-gossip-columnist-probed
His “reasons” for with-holding before, will be used the when he will refuse when asked by Beverley Wakim. Not telling you. Its private.
Because if he was involved, he would simply refuse to incriminate himself. He has before rather suffer the outcry, than commit hari-kari.
How Did The Edge Get Away With the Cucumber Number?
Yeah, I think I’ll continue to not listen to The Edge or, in fact, anything produced by MediaWorks.
I highly recommend this article for anyone interested in Donald Trump, Fox News and American politics. It answers the question of why Fox News turned on Trump in the first Republican debate.
http://www.vox.com/2015/8/8/9121377/donald-trump-megyn-kelly
Dr. Phil calls a mass murderer a “modern day American hero”;
Next day he gives an hour’s platform to a KKK Imperial Wizard.
Dr. Phil, TV3, Wednesday 19 August 2015
(The show first screened in the U.S. on March 17, 2015)
I’ve just watched Dr. Phil McGraw give an hour’s free, virtually uninterrupted access to an Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. The pretext for granting him this free advertising was the conflict between the Imperial Wizard and his daughter, who is pregnant to a black man.
After the Imperial Wizard had shared his views on blacks, Jews, homosexuals, and the law—he expressed hatred and contempt for all of them—Dr. Phil brought on a couple of religious experts, one of them black and one Jewish. This had the predictable effect on the Imperial Wizard.
A comical moment came when the Imperial Wizard unleashed a torrent of abuse at another guest: “You look like a Jew! I don’t want to listen to anything you say!” The man revealed himself to be a Roman Catholic, with the surname Gallagher. This elicited general laughter, except from the grim-faced Imperial Wizard.
The show ended with some uplifting rhetoric from the host. You can watch the whole thing here if you want….
http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/2380
If you think what Dr. Phil said during today’s program shows that he is a decent, concerned and compassionate person, you might like to consider what he had to say on his show the day before that. Compared to the person he is praising here, the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan is Albert Schweitzer…..
Later in the show, he badgers Eddie Ray Routh’s father, after introducing him and his wife as the parents of “one of the most hated figures of modern times”…
DR. PHIL: I understand y’all must be heart-broken. I UNDERSTAND mental illness.
RAYMOND ROUTH: They think our son is the evilest son of a bitch in the whole world.
DR. PHIL: You say people think he is the evilest son of a bitch on the planet. What he did was an evil act. You agree with that? To murder those two young men was EGREGIOUS and WRONG. ….
Watch the whole miserable performance here, if you can bear it….
http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/2377
Yeah its only one increase after several falls but it really does seem that everytime Labour declares a crisis in an industry that industry improves 🙂
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1508/S00097/q-a-andrew-little-theres-a-crisis-in-dairy.htm
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/71247428/early-days-warning-as-gdt-dairy-prices-rebound
I think you will find most dairy farmers would agree with Andrew Little.
The point being its funny that Labour announces a crisis in an industry and then the next news from that industry is good news
If Labour really wanted to help NZ all they have to do is announce a crisis and then hey presto its all good
I’m sure theres some ancient greek myth equivalent to the current NZ Labour party
What I find “funny” are RWNJs trivialising a very serious threat to the New Zealand economy.
You obviously didn’t read the whole article PR – most of the commentators are saying dairy farmers still need to be very cautious, and it could be up to another six months before Fonterra’s position improves.
What’s more – the other story highlighted in that “good news for dairying” story says a lower volume of product was put up to auction to ensure a good price for it.
So the whole “good news” thing is a FUDGE !
The fact that existing supply is being prevented from reaching the market, in order to bolster a falling price, is evidence of the problem PR is flailing to deny.
Economic isn’t exactly their strong point, though.
All those dairy conversions ae? I guess some of them are no longer dairy farmeres so no need to worry about what happens next.
Fonterra’s squeezing of supply isn’t going to be able to counter production growth in China, Russia, India and the Americas for very long.
It’s a short term price bump at best, and will undermine faith in Fonterra’s auction system.
Yup.
I guess it will be too much to expect oversupply may also bring about some discussion about the management of dairy conversions in the first place.
They think that stockpiling at home to artificially increase the price is going to do what eaxactly?
Amateurs.
That was a gambit done in the 60s – 70s. Stockpiling has been done before. Surely Fonterra and the fab farmers couldn’t think seriously of doing something that was done in the past.
I think that would be Cassandra, Prickish Rogue.
Looks like you need some basic training in production-supply-demand with a futures market on top.
It is “good news” only in the respect that Fonterra finally did what they should have done at the end of 2013/4 season, put out some market signals that
They would have gotten a similar, if more muted, response from the market for exactly the same reason. The signal that supply would be constrained would have been factored into everyone’s bids.
Instead they did that 18 months later because it appears that they kept hoping that something would miraculously happen to make it all better… But they got the usual response for when people start believing in fairyland as adults – nothing but a brutal reality.
Labour has been banging on about this since early 2014. I have been pointing out the structural stupidity of depending on a near raw commodity for growth for years earlier.
Did you just wake up? Or do you just have a weak brain that can’t retain information for more than a few days?
.
All explained here.
Typical short-term thinking. Oh look, one blip of a data point totally disproves your argument, haha!
Except I don’t see dairy farmers looking particularly happy.
They are somewhat more realistic than that.
It seems like these Ideologues from the loony right, think farmers and traditional conservatives are stupid or something.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/71273523/government-eyes-up-to-2-billion-in-asset-sales-and-capital-recyling
Blinglish going ahead with more asset sales according Grant Robertson. I found this gem from Blingish in the middle of the article which makes for great ironing when placed in the context of his direction of Solid Energy over the last six years.
– Blinglish
and this…
– Blinglish again
SCF anyone? Solid Energy anyone? Novopay anyone?
Ah, but does Blinglish actually think that giving rich people taxpayers money is a waste of money? He wasn’t shy about rorting the rules to get us to pay for his house.
Indeed, who could forget the double-dipping. Perhaps he felt it was compulsory to waste tax-payers money then and has only now changed his mind since his asset sales program flopped.
Today It feels like we should listen to Tourettes – “John Keys’s son is a DJ”. Just to remind us were we are at with this out of touch Tory government.
Fucking brilliant.