All of that is so pertinent but there has to be context.
It doesn't matter that what you say is true. The mass who are against Ardern and Labour, the mass who have it that everything wrong with NZ is down to them and every grievance in their lives personally gets back to them, means Luxon doesn't have to say anything of substance.
The belief is that magically with 'not Labour' we'll be on the way to enough doctors and nurses and truckies and builders and teachers and farm workers and hospitality workers. And the housing crisis that started in 2017 will be gone and there'll be no poverty. Crime wave and youth crime? In short order they'll become things of the past.
We have a dumb country and it's destined to determinedly stay that way. The masses don't want to hear reasoned intelligent discussion and solutions.
This time, Rabuka and Bainimarama – both former military leaders and coup makers – have used the democratic electoral system rather than guns and force to try to win to power. But behind them sits a culture of command and control that will be difficult to dislodge.
Thanks for the link Sacha, though recent developments have gotten weird:
Viliame Gavoka is no longer the leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party.
SODELPA General Secretary, Lenaitasi Duru says the party leader’s position was deemed vacant, after the party failed to become the majority, as per the party’s constitution…
Duru says according to the SODELPA constitution, the leader’s position will remain vacant until the party’s Annual General Meeting in 2024.
As The Conversation piece by Ratuva notes, it is only through Gavoka's son in law that there is any connection between the two parties. So it now seems likely that a 3party coalition led by Rabuka is on the cards. Unless Bainimara declares a state of emergency and calls in the military first. I hope the next Sodelpa leader is chosen before 2024!
there is a personal link between SODELPA and the FFP, whose secretary (as well as attorney-general and minister for the economy in the previous government) is Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. An Indo-Fijian Muslim, Sayed-Khaiyum is the son-in-law of SODELPA leader Viliame Gavoka, an indigenous Fijian (Taukei).
Given David Seymour is dropping hints all over the place that ACT will demand a true conservative government from Luxon, and not a political vehicle that has had a blue paint job over the previous red, the Left may get something out of the upcoming election after all. Coalition talks may get quite nasty between ACT and National. Keep the popcorn handy.
They are pseudo Libertarians. The coalition at best will be weak conservative. I can't see how coalition talks can get past this hurdle:
''In October, Seymour said redefining the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and putting them to a public and binding referendum would be a bottom line in any governing negotiations.''
Instead of being glib, I don't think you quite understand the ramifications of this quote, should ACT get their way. Have a think.
''In October, Seymour said redefining the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and putting them to a public and binding referendum would be a bottom line in any governing negotiations.''
FFS, do we have to repeat this every day between now and the election? Are people not getting it or (tediously) pretending not to get it? Every 3 years, same posturing before the election, same reality after it.
Seymour's "bottom line" means nothing. Here's how it goes:
Luxon: "Hi Dave, which Cabinet job would you like?"
Seymour: "None, unless you hold a referendum that will destroy your very brief term as PM".
Luxon: "None it is then".
Seymour: "Er, hang on a sec, let's not be too hasty, this referendum idea is … negotiable. Finance portfolio would make it disappear".
Not convinced you were paying attention. Christopher said repeal 3-waters and the Maori health authority and then Seymour said, make sure he repeals 3-waters and the Maori health authority.
if you want to reference a politician in the MSM you have to give the reference. eg Luxon was on x radio station talkback date/time. Preferably with a link (yes, this means when you are on the internet about to make a comment on TS, you first google the thing you have listened to).
This is because we are here for the robust debate, and people reading and commenting having access to the thing you listened improves debate. It's not FB or twitter or a personal blog where one can just say what one thinks, we're not a reckons forum. There is a debate standard.
You're lucking I didn't just dump the whole comment for wasting moderator time.
as you can now see, someone is commenting on your response to the unknown talkback and disagreeing with you, but we can't fact check because you didn't provide a reference.
''Not convinced you were paying attention. Christopher said repeal 3-waters and the Maori health authority and then Seymour said, make sure he repeals 3-waters and the Maori health authority.''
Nah – I judge a political analysis primarily on one thing. Does it have a framework of unity – or division?
Unity is only possible when you have an evolving set of common principles and purposes in order to have coherence.
All functioning societies are a tripolar blend of three broad political instincts; conservative, liberal and social. All three fundamentally share a common interest and purpose in a healthy, functioning society; sharing six core human values . Where we differ is in how we place differing weights on these values.
That in turns means being able to point to what is in and what is out; which introduces the notion of boundaries, and discipline. Each of the three broad political poles can go too far; this is obvious from history. In very broad and simplistic terms:
When liberalism places too much weight on personal liberty it becomes libertarianism.
When conservatism places too much weight on sanctity it becomes some form of fascism.
And when socialism places too much weight on fairness and equity of outcome it becomes marxism.
Note how the extremists of each group, the libertarians, the fascists and marxists bitterly condemn everyone else as standing in the way of the revolutionary, radical change they dearly wish for. And hate most of all moderates of all shades who get on with negotiating political interests, building consensus and delivering a functioning world.
That is a decent question. I would guess from your commenting record here that it is something you personally place a high value on.
But everything hinges on how you decide to implement fairness. Equal opportunity is something most people agree on; enforcing equal outcomes is another thing altogether.
There is a lot of nuance in this; humans seem to thrive with some degree of competition, but our societies also require a high degree of cooperation at at the same time. Yet when the inequality gradient becomes too extreme, when the rungs at the bottom of the ladder are too far apart or missing altogether, this cooperation breaks down and is the trigger for all manner of social dysfunction.
Clearly both extremes of inequality fail, but measuring and sensing where the optimum balance between them might lie – remains in my view and unsolved problem. Mostly because we are not willing yet to have an honest conversation about what the causes of inequality really are.
The pipeline from phoney left to populist right is represented par excellence by Bradsbury, Trotter, and all the weirdo Putin tankies on the "left" who seem to pine for the certainty of being on the wrong side of the cold war. Maybe all that pro-Putin bullshit they’ve watched on RT has addled their brains, who knows. And since I am old enough to have visited Eastern Europe during the cold war, anyone who took Moscow's shilling was definitely on the wrong side.
Interesting comment on the idea of the Cathedral/Bazaar model. Most of us who consider ourselves to be on the progressive left understand that we are in an ideological battle with two powerful forces. The first is the donor driven politics of the center right that has ruled our lives for most of the last five decades. The second is an even bigger threat from reactionary nationalists in alliance with religious fundamentalists who want to turn back the clock to some glorious era that never existed except as a nightmare for women and minorities. Trotter and Bradbury only want to fight the first group, and and ignore or even play footsie with a reactionary fascist adjacent right. Trotter spends his whole life in a lengthening shadow of obsessive and increasingly absurd conspiracy theories over race issues, endlessly invoking comparisons between co-governance and the racial policies of the Nazis and harking back in a proto-fascist idealised past. Bradbury's is an amusing blowhard and buffoon, who confesses to utter frustration at the "woke lefts" obsession with identity politics whilst seemingly devoting his entire existence to endlessly making common cause with the libertarian far right to wage an incessant war on the topic. His journey from left to a soft cock Boogaloo Boi is something else.
Interesting comment on the idea of the Cathedral/Bazaar model. Most of us who consider ourselves to be on the progressive left understand that we are in an ideological battle with two powerful forces. The first is the donor driven politics of the center right that has ruled our lives for most of the last five decades. The second is an even bigger threat from reactionary nationalists in alliance with religious fundamentalists who want to turn back the clock to some glorious era that never existed except as a nightmare for women and minorities
A restatement of the tripolar model I outlined above. Essentially you have described three political poles – progressive socialism, liberalism and conservatism.
Liberalism promotes innovation, liberty and development. Conservatism balances this with a respect for institutions, systems and reliability. Socialism looks to fairness, respect and redistribution. Each of them plays a legitimate role in a healthy society; politics is the eternal contention between all three as time and circumstance change.
Extremism is when any of these three steps over a boundary. You can tell when you are an extremist because you conceive of yourself as a sole arbiter of of a singular truth, isolated in a battle against everyone else.
I'd like to see the argument made that Trotter and/or Redline have abandoned class struggle. I disagree with Trotter a fair amount, and I don't read him that often, but it's quite the claim that he has no class analysis.
Likewise claiming Redline have no class analysis. Whatever criticisms there are to be made about the politics of both, this just seems like an anti-anti reaction.
They want to defend the WRONG THING from neoliberalism – strong, closed-borders states.
Is she a supporter of open borders? Because neoliberalism does whatever the fuck it wants with borders eg the Key government used fast, excessive immigration as a tool in running the neoliberal economy. Unless one is in favour of open borders, I can't see how neoliberalism can be characterised as closed borders.
yeah, well I've yet to see a left wing explanation of how that will protect communities and the environment. The people I see running that position basically live in cities and visit nature and have zero plan for ecology and increasing population. Nor how to resolve the problems of resource depletion and how that impacts on low income/poor people.
Where Trotter and co react against that, they're holding a conservative position as a service to the community because of the liberals who think open borders are all good. I don't agree with Trotter much, but I think liberals believe they can force everyone to agree with them so what can they expect.
and of course there are clear parallels with women's rights and gender ideologists. People without healthy boundaries are just as dangerous as the people with authoritarian control boundaries.
People without healthy boundaries are just as dangerous as the people with authoritarian control boundaries.
Well yes. An idea I have been articulating here for some time. We might well debate the details of exactly where these boundaries are located – but it is worth noting the points we do align on.
The neo-liberal approach to border control is that executives/managerial class are free to ply their trade anywhere in the world (necessary as they continually move their production to where the lowest labour costs / best tax incentives are) whereas workers are not free to move willy nilly around the world to work.
This is embedded in international trade agreements in many cases and results in things like RSE at one end and the procession of overseas CEO's running and wrecking our public institutions at the other.
LOL … spare me the ID pols bullshit from pampered well-to-do virtue-signalers like dear old Daphne … Oligarchic Capitalism absolutely loves the affluent Woke cadre within the Professional Middle Class … its inherent divisiveness, its rejection of traditional Social Democratic class politics in favour of systematically scapegoating the non-indigenous majority of the working & lower-middle classes into a degraded, powerless second-class citizenship.
The new Woke Corporate Oligarchy, with its radically redefined Woke-Identitarian ideology, mirrors sanctimonious bourgeois ID politics activists of the pretend-"Left" in being no friend of democracy and no friend of class politics.
The ruthlessly self-interested masquerading as moral exemplars.
Bryce Edwards, Chris Trotter, DaphnaRedliner & a few others are a breath of fresh air against the perversion of the Left into a self-serving Vanity Project for an affluent, increasingly authoritarian segment of society.
You'll also run into the occasional good faith actor who sincerely believes "wokeism" needs to be aggressively opposed because the obsession with racial and sexual justice is sucking all the oxygen out of the room for more important matters and being used as a weapon to ram through pernicious power-serving agendas. It's this category that I am mainly addressing here, because I view the previous category as generally beyond redemption.
opps. Surely it is a pr mistake for Jacinda to appear in the trailer to Harry and Megan’s Netflix doco. Perhaps she wasn’t asked, although in the article it is claimed she has a strong bond with the couple
Surely she wouldn't openly side with a couple that have decided to operate open warfare by useing a completely one sided attack on netflix (haven't nor will ever watch it)
The trouble with this sort of nonsense is the ordinary people of the Ukraine have their own agency, and they beg to differ. Ukrainians know peace at any price is just another word for suicide.
It's good to see someone in politics making a sensible speech concerning the Ukrainian war. The point about having to pay four times the previous price for energy and forcing people to choose between eating and keeping warm is a point worth hammering home.
And the Ukranianians don't know that peace talks mean "suicide" We cannot "know" something that isn't true.
Yes. I forgot to mention the point Miss Daly made about the Americans laughing at Europe. The Americans don't want the war to end because they see it as weakening Russia, and if it weakens Europe also, that's a bonus.
It all contributes to the cause of American hegemony.
The lesson; If you don't want a proxy war on your borders. Don't invade your neighbours.
Russia is fighting the US and Nato in Ukraine?
Was the US fighting Russia and the Warsaw Pact in Vietnam?
While Vietnamese morale, patriotism, superior training and the belief that theirs was a just cause were clearly critical factors, the victory was also due to the virtually ceaseless flow of weapons from Russia.
Yes of course there was some element of 'proxy war' but principally the Vietnam war, was a war against US domination and take over.
The superpowers like to see their imperial rivals get a black eye.
But without the Vietnamese willingness to fight and resist the US invasion the Soviet Union would have had no where to send their weapons.
The same in Ukraine, again there is an element of 'proxy war' but principally the Ukraine war is a war against Russian domination and take over.
The proxy war started before 2014.
A simple reading of history shows the Americans were involved in the 2014 coup and have been arming and training the Ukrainian army ever since.
And if you remember the history of the Vietnam war, the Americans started by sending ‘trainers’to assist the South Vietnamese…
…..When asked if Moscow would consider a proposal to cease hostilities over the Christmas or New Year period, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, said “There is no such topic on the agenda.”
Russia fired more than 70 missiles at Ukraine on Friday in one of its biggest attacks since the start of the war, knocking out power in the second-biggest city and forcing Kyiv to implement emergency blackouts nationwide, Ukrainian officials said.
Three people were killed when an apartment block was hit in central Kryvyi Rih and another died in shelling in Kherson in the south,….
I think the Orthodox Churches – Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox, etc. – do not attach much importance to Christmas, For them the main event in the Christian calendar is Easter. For someone to suggest a ceasefire for Christmas seems a little pernicious.
Christmas Day by the Gregorian calendar is an official government holiday in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church celebrates pretty much like every other Catholic church does.
Orthodox Church of Ukraine celebrations begin today our time, St Nicholas day, when Ukrainian kids clean and leave their footwear along with their Christmas letters on the window sill and St Nicholas visits overnight and leaves presents, and the festival runs through to late January.
So no, there's nothing at all pernicious about Christmas ceasefire proposals.
China appears to adopted ACT's COVID response policy, and “Let whoever needs to be infected infected, let whoever needs to die die. Early infections, early deaths, early peak, early resumption of production.” is going about as well as you'd expect.
As a vassal state of the Russian empire for centuries, and until very recently a captive of the same corrupt, kleptocratic mode of governance – this does seem entirely possible.
And when the Ukrainian people chose to go in a different direction, sacrifice their lives for this – you do nothing but shit on them.
Did you see the response below – it does need to be spelt out. Because we have those who are supplying the weapons being incapable of keeping a track of the money it is spending.
And as you said below, those selling the weapons are playing 'a hell of a dangerous game". I've read reports in the past, that some factions are they selling them to the Russians, which is total FUBAR and should be stopped. I don't think it's 70%, but even 1% is to much in my opinion.
Any amount would be too much, but if it is as low as 1% I would be delighted. Ukraine will be no more immune from having traitorous fuckers than anywhere else.
Point is, the leakage is probably some low number, no-one as a reliable handle on it – and Ed is still repeating weak propaganda sources without thinking much.
Well of course; but have you just implicitly acknowledged that Russia does propaganda too?
The simple difference is this – there are Russian troops in Ukraine and not the other way around. No amount of agitprop, or obfuscation over the meaning of words from either side, can gloss over that reality.
It was Putin who turned a diplomatic confrontation into a kinetic one; he started this war and he still has the power to end it at any moment.
Not sure if it is a low number and here why. Reports have surfaced that the weapons are in Russia, Syria, and as of last week or so, Africa. With a spread like that, not a small number. I'd guess maybe 3-6% of all materials, including weapons. And in the shear scale of whats being sent that is a large amount.
I'm guessing (wild guess) it's Russian Ukraine's or Gangs who are doing the selling. With the flood of arms and other materials its just too easy in a war zone which is having it's infrastructure systematically destroyed, for stuff to go missing.
On one hand the Putin fanboys tell us that Ukraine is only beating Russia solely because of Western military aid. Now they are saying only a fraction of this military aid 30% is reaching them?
All I can say to that, is the Ukrainian people are mounting a remarkable defence of their homeland against the Russian invading forces without it.
It's the spilling of the arms out to other conflicts which is the problem Jenny are we there yet. How many of these weapons and materials are ending up in Russian hands? Or the head choppers in Syria?
On one hand the Putin fanboys tell us that Ukraine is only beating Russia solely because of Western military aid.
Umberto Eco;
However, the followers must be convinced that they can overwhelm the enemies. Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.
Presumably the Ukrainians are finding 70% of the weapons to be surplus to requirements and are therefor flogging them off for cash the they need to buy other consumer goods of which they have a greater need.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials say they have not documented any instances of illicit use or transfer of American arms in Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion on Feb. 24. The State Department has acknowledged that Russian forces’ capture of Ukrainian arms could lead to those weapons being smuggled on to other countries. Other weapons have gone missing; a Swedish grenade launcher, apparently pilfered from a battlefield in Ukraine, exploded in the trunk of a car in Russia in May.
Arms trade experts warn that the administration and its allies must remain on guard despite the broad Western support for Kyiv’s effort to confront Putin’s invasion and the brutal tactics his forces have used against Ukrainian cities and civilians.
Rachel Stohl, the vice president for research programs at the Washington-based Stimson Center, said officials also must develop longer-term plans to ensure the security of surplus U.S. weapons once the conflict with Russia ends, noting Ukraine’s history as a theater for small-arms smuggling after the Cold War.
This would seem to imply that the Russians have captured 70% of the weapons supplied. Are the Russians more successful in this war than the propagandists are letting on?
An NBC report cited a small-scale Lithuanian non-lethal supplier to Ukraine who estimated only 40% of shipped weapons reached the frontlines in the early stages of the 2022 war. Months later, the report was repackaged by RT, citing a CBS claim that 70% of shipped weapons were misappropriated.
If the CBS had really turned up solid information that 70% of weapons were not making it to the Ukrainian front – then it is reasonable to think people in Ukraine would know this fact as well.
And what do you imagine would happen to someone caught in such treachery? Because that is exactly what it is – and traitors everywhere are marked out for a very short life.
It would be silly to suggest there is no leakage of this sort, but it is a hell of a dangerous game to be playing.
It is RT who are currently peddling the 70% claim adam.
Have a good read of the CBS article on which the original estimate was based. This was in April just over a month after the invasion by Russia. Understandably things would be a little chaotic then and supply lines would be patchy at best – remember the chaos as millions of people were fleeing the country at that time. Logistical supplies would take time to progress through to the front lines even with the best will in the world.
Jonas Ohman is founder and CEO of Blue-Yellow, a Lithuania-based organization that has been meeting with and supplying frontline units with non-lethal military aid in Ukraine since the start of the conflict with Russia-backed separatists in 2014. Back in April, he estimated that just "30-40%" of the supplies coming across the border reached its final destination. But he says the situation has significantly improved since then and a much larger quantity now gets where it's supposed to go.
and in particular the editors note:
Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect changes since the CBS Reports documentary "Arming Ukraine" was filmed, and the documentary is also being updated. Jonas Ohman says the delivery has significantly improved since filming with CBS in late April. The government of Ukraine notes that U.S. defense attaché Brigadier General Garrick M. Harmon arrived in Kyiv in August 2022 for arms control and monitoring.
Yes, and several others who shall remain nameless, but are too far down the RT rabbit hole to know the difference between truth, regurgitated opinion, and propaganda.
Well duhh, I knew the original figure was from RT, why I said it.
Never thought the 70% figure was anywhere near real. But, there are arms spilling out. To many are ending up in the hands of bad actors. From Russia, to Syria, to Africa.
I don't know who Daphne Lawless is Joe 90.
And what is the “Cathedral/ Bazaar model”? When I googled it I got stuff about it being about software
But she is utterly incorrect about Redline. They have not rejected class analysist and the link below about the Workers Now political party indicates this. Strong rights given to unions, low tax threseholds for workers, womens spaces for women only (non woke), free speech for all as workers need to be free to debate ideas.
I read most of Chris Trotters articles and he certainly brings class analysis into what he is writing (although I suspect he would call himself a social democratic (sorry Chris if I am misrepresenting you).
And what is the “Cathedral/ Bazaar model”? When I googled it I got stuff about it being about software
I also looked it up on google. The way it seems to be being used here is as a metaphor for the distinction between oligarchic democracy and participatory democracy,
We are being treated on this site to disinformation about Ukraine, courtesy of a few who have fallen into Kremlin propaganda. One of the egregious lies that Russia invented to justify their murderous and unprovoked invasion is that Ukraine "is Nazi".
Ukrainian Jews give some of the strongest rebukes to this nonsense.
….attempts to smear Kyiv as a Nazi-led regime are nothing more than "Russian propaganda." The Nazi myth has infuriated Ukraine’s Jews. Not only does it ignore their voices. It puts Jewish lives in danger.
…Alexander Shatkhin (of no relation to Igor) is a lifelong Odesa resident who attended a Jewish school as a child. He characterized Ukraine as "super safe" for Jews and said that antisemitism hasn’t been a serious issue since the 1990s, when "Soviet thinking" was the norm. A seasoned traveler, he believes that Ukraine is safer for Jews than many Western European states…
…In November, 111 Ukrainian Jewish leaders signed a public letter calling Ukrainian Jews victims of Russian war crimes and denouncing Putin’s destruction of Holocaust memorials, synagogues, and Jewish cemeteries. Those who believe that Ukraine is full of Nazis should listen to these Jews, who are natural experts on this subject
Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Jeffrey Sachs, John Mearsheimer amongst other informed and independent experts and thinkers present a different narrative to the one we are being fed by the corporate mainstream media, yes.
Chomsky and Pilger would do well to get out from behind their keyboards, visit the country they profess to care so much about – and listen to ordinary Ukrainian people.
There's no controversy around the fact that Ihor Kolomoisky, a jewish Ukrainian oligarch with an Israeli passport funded the Azov militia when it began in 2014.He had no problem with its neo nazi symbols and ideology, as long as it was effective in brutalising his competitors and attacking the Russians of the Donbas.It was effectively his own private militia.
Azov was also backed by the interior ministry of the Ukrainian govt, many of whom are Jewish , so this nonsense that no Jew would countenance far right neo nazis is quite false
Russia is returning to the days of the former Soviet Union when it comes to antisemitism, fired by the need for a “scapegoat,” the former Chief Rabbi of Moscow asserted in an interview published on Thursday.
“Russia is returning to the Soviet Union, not in terms of communism, but in terms of its isolation from the rest of the world, antisemitism, general mobilization, repression of dissidents, and economic hardship,” Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt said in an interview with the Spanish Catholic news outlet Alfa & Omega. “It has become a very unpleasant place to live.”
Goldchmidt said that 50,000 Jews had left Russia for Israel since President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, a process he emphasized he had “encouraged.”
“Russia has a very difficult history of government antisemitism,” Goldschmidt observed. “When things go wrong, they look for a scapegoat.”
[…]
Crude antisemitic rhetoric had surfaced again in the context of the invasion of Ukraine, Goldschmidt noted, for example in the claim of Russian propagandists that the war is an operation to “denazify” Ukraine — a stance the rabbi dismissed as “utter nonsense.”
In that regard, Goldschmidt also mentioned the false claim made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood”, the allegation made by Russian Security Council Aleksei Pavlov that the Orthodox Chabad movement is a “sect,” and the authorities ongoing attempts to shutter the local operations of the Jewish Agency, which assists those making aliyah to Israel.
For what it is worth; in the two short periods I lived and worked in Russia I encountered a casual anti-Semitic (and a frank racism directed specifically toward black people ) often enough to surprise me.
That is to say not a daily occurrence or openly blatant, but often enough to suggest it was not rare either.
1. Adopt the Greens 1% wealth tax on those with asset equity over $1M
2. The American concept of progressive income tax for companies as we do for individuals (so high profit companies pay more tax – the Oz banks etc)
3. A FTT (if seen as more efficient than incorporation of the financial services sector into GST)
4. 1-3 enabling reduced income tax and or WFF/AS changes.
5. A land tax for contributions to an infrastructure fund (for housing/PT/water etc)
6. The first year after any increase in AS involves a rent freeze
Housing
1. buy up homes (those with space for granny flat small builds extra) and or lease to increase the number of state houses charging income related rent to 100,000 and get people out of motels.
2. the current upgrade/renovate or replace phase to get Kainga Ora stock up to modern standard include a focus on disability and aged friendly accommodation renovation.
3. take advantage of the building downturn to reboot Kiwibuild – and allow existing flat/apartment owners to buy in when starting a family, aging singles seeking co-ownership companionship/mutual support, and boomers downsizing (see 7) (this allows sales while mortgage rates are high).
Welfare
1. Disability singles at super rates, and the base income support rate when in partnership
2. move repayment of debt to the TD model (begins once people have employment)
3. support those with terminal sickness or undergoing cancer treatment at ACC levels
4. refinance the debt of women going onto the DPB after divorce (and become partners in making mortgage payments, leading in some long term cases to the home becoming a state house).
PT
1. Free offpeak to CSC holders and students. Half fare otherwise.
Health
1. no tertiary debt repayments required for anyone working in our health system
2. investment in drugs that keep people in employment and out of health care (GP/hospital/carer) dependency to reduce system costs and stress on capability
Dental.
1. Expand CS card service from hospital treatment (emergency check and tooth removal) to annual dental visits.
2. Expand hospital treatment to low income workers.
After spending around 18 months investigating the riot, the House of Representatives select committee recommended at their final meeting on Monday that Mr Trump face four charges:
Inciting, assisting, aiding or comforting an insurrection
Obstruction of an official proceeding
Conspiracy to defraud the United States
Conspiracy to make a false statement
Predictably Donald Trump has called the SC, a "kangaroo court"
The term kangaroo court comes from the notion of justice proceeding "by leaps", like a kangaroo – in other words, "jumping over" (intentionally ignoring) evidence that would be in favour of the defendant.
Referring to a legal trial as a kangaroo court is a serious charge, since it implies that the trial was not conducted in a legal or fair fashion. Outside the United States, the term is not as widely heard
Oh that's a surprise, Trump calls it a kangaroo court and wants the talk to be about that.
I thought it was an investigation, an inquiry into what happened on Jan 6 and around that. I realise the committee heard from many, many people. I heard that others who had information refused to share what they knew. People who apparently had dealings with Trump on that day as events unfolded.
The definition including "that would be in favour of the defendant"? There was no defendant. There was no trial. It was not a court.
You see! (Why are we wasting our energy talking about Seymour??)
"The Green Party welcomes an historic new global agreement to protect 30% of the planet for nature by the end of the decade and calls on the Government to follow it with immediate action to protect native wildlife."
RT Russia Today, speculates on Russia's defeat in their war with Ukraine.
RT accuses Ukraine and Nato of planning a genocide of Russian speakers in Ukraine on Russia's defeat.
The weird thing is the President of Ukraine is a native Russian speaker, who learnt to speak Russian at school.
The weird thing about this story is that the Russian Federation have been mercilessly bombing the Russian speaking Ukrainian city of Odessa
The other weird thing, the President of Ukraine is a native Russian speaker, who learnt to speak Russian at school. Will he too be rounded up in this supposed post war pogrom of Russian speakers?
Bu truly the most weirdest thing about this claim, in a paragraph that would not be out of place in an episode of Black Adder Goes To War, RT's evidence for this supposedly planned genocide of Russian speakers in the Donbas following a Ukraine victory is the lack of any evidence for it.
What will happen to ethnic Russians in Donbass and Crimea, if Ukraine and NATO emerge victorious from the current conflict?
….if Kiev and NATO win, what happens to the Russians living in the regions they will have ‘liberated’? This is the question I posed to both former and current US government officials and experts. But no one would answer. So I searched online. Likewise, nothing. No detailed information on Kiev’s post-war plan. Their silence is sinister.
The morning after Russia's retreat from Ukraine, Ukrainian army officers will rip off their Ukrainian uniforms to reveal their black Waffen SS uniforms complete with glittering silver deaths head insignia and will order the round up of millions of Ukrainian Russian speakers. President Zelensky having served his purpose, will be detained and stripped of his titles and with the other Russian speakers loaded into cattle cars to be transported to one of many newly built extermination camps alongside all the Jews and Gypsies (OMG Zelensky a Russian speaking Jew, will be doubly damned)
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 ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
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 ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
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. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
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 ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
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Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
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Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
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Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
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Imagine that you are the political editor for a major news organisation. You sit down for an extended interview with the man who wants to be PM.
And then you produce a report which does not have a single specific policy. Or even a hint of one. A parade of platitudes
The headline is a joke: "Upfront". No. There is nothing there. Zilch.
A festive chocolate fish for anyone who can point to any content at all in what Luxon says here. Take the challenge …
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130803325/christopher-luxons-endofyear-interview-why-politicians-need-to-be-upfront-about-new-zealands-problems
Policy? Luxon instead used the interview to double down on racist comments.
At least fellow traveller, Jeremy Clarkson, did accept responsibility and attempted an apology:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2022/12/uk-tv-presenter-jeremy-clarkson-horrified-meghan-column-caused-hurt.html
Luke, I am your father.
All of that is so pertinent but there has to be context.
It doesn't matter that what you say is true. The mass who are against Ardern and Labour, the mass who have it that everything wrong with NZ is down to them and every grievance in their lives personally gets back to them, means Luxon doesn't have to say anything of substance.
The belief is that magically with 'not Labour' we'll be on the way to enough doctors and nurses and truckies and builders and teachers and farm workers and hospitality workers. And the housing crisis that started in 2017 will be gone and there'll be no poverty. Crime wave and youth crime? In short order they'll become things of the past.
We have a dumb country and it's destined to determinedly stay that way. The masses don't want to hear reasoned intelligent discussion and solutions.
Solid summary of Fijian election from Canterbury professor https://theconversation.com/a-knife-edge-election-in-fiji-sees-power-shift-and-a-chance-to-bring-back-real-democracy-196465
Negotiating demands revealed by kingmaker party
https://twitter.com/MichaelFieldNZ/status/1604890354548822016
Thanks for the link Sacha, though recent developments have gotten weird:
https://www.fbcnews.com.fj/news/fijian-elections/gavoka-no-longer-sodelpa-leader/
As The Conversation piece by Ratuva notes, it is only through Gavoka's son in law that there is any connection between the two parties. So it now seems likely that a 3party coalition led by Rabuka is on the cards. Unless Bainimara declares a state of emergency and calls in the military first. I hope the next Sodelpa leader is chosen before 2024!
[deleted]
Given David Seymour is dropping hints all over the place that ACT will demand a true conservative government from Luxon, and not a political vehicle that has had a blue paint job over the previous red, the Left may get something out of the upcoming election after all. Coalition talks may get quite nasty between ACT and National. Keep the popcorn handy.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/12/act-leader-david-seymour-questions-christopher-luxon-s-loyalty-to-conservatism-ahead-of-election-year.html
Act is a radical right-wing party. Never been conservative.
They are pseudo Libertarians. The coalition at best will be weak conservative. I can't see how coalition talks can get past this hurdle:
''In October, Seymour said redefining the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and putting them to a public and binding referendum would be a bottom line in any governing negotiations.''
And people think Ardern is divisive?
Ardern is yesterdays news,….don't you think?
Seymour and Luxon are yesterday's comic-strip.
Coming to a town near you, tomorrow.
What will they be conserving?
White privilege, I expect.
Instead of being glib, I don't think you quite understand the ramifications of this quote, should ACT get their way. Have a think.
''In October, Seymour said redefining the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and putting them to a public and binding referendum would be a bottom line in any governing negotiations.''
So what would that be conserving?
status quo aka BAU
It's all about choice, squeaks Seymour.
Hobson's Choice.
FFS, do we have to repeat this every day between now and the election? Are people not getting it or (tediously) pretending not to get it? Every 3 years, same posturing before the election, same reality after it.
Seymour's "bottom line" means nothing. Here's how it goes:
Luxon: "Hi Dave, which Cabinet job would you like?"
Seymour: "None, unless you hold a referendum that will destroy your very brief term as PM".
Luxon: "None it is then".
Seymour: "Er, hang on a sec, let's not be too hasty, this referendum idea is … negotiable. Finance portfolio would make it disappear".
Luxon: "Done".
The bottom line … isn't. And you know it.
Not convinced you were paying attention. Christopher said repeal 3-waters and the Maori health authority and then Seymour said, make sure he repeals 3-waters and the Maori health authority.
Why don't you trust Christopher?
first paragraph deleted.
if you want to reference a politician in the MSM you have to give the reference. eg Luxon was on x radio station talkback date/time. Preferably with a link (yes, this means when you are on the internet about to make a comment on TS, you first google the thing you have listened to).
This is because we are here for the robust debate, and people reading and commenting having access to the thing you listened improves debate. It's not FB or twitter or a personal blog where one can just say what one thinks, we're not a reckons forum. There is a debate standard.
You're lucking I didn't just dump the whole comment for wasting moderator time.
as you can now see, someone is commenting on your response to the unknown talkback and disagreeing with you, but we can't fact check because you didn't provide a reference.
You mean this?
''Not convinced you were paying attention. Christopher said repeal 3-waters and the Maori health authority and then Seymour said, make sure he repeals 3-waters and the Maori health authority.''
Yes. Here you are again wanting to have a conversation about something without providing the reference you were just modded on.
take the day off. If you're not going to take moderation seriously, I'm not wasting any more of my time.
Great opportunity to catch up on old recordings of The Farming Show.
In a fucking nutshell.
https://twitter.com/daphlawless/status/1604555947187523585
https://twitter.com/daphlawless/status/1604570940029169664
Nah – I judge a political analysis primarily on one thing. Does it have a framework of unity – or division?
Unity is only possible when you have an evolving set of common principles and purposes in order to have coherence.
All functioning societies are a tripolar blend of three broad political instincts; conservative, liberal and social. All three fundamentally share a common interest and purpose in a healthy, functioning society; sharing six core human values . Where we differ is in how we place differing weights on these values.
That in turns means being able to point to what is in and what is out; which introduces the notion of boundaries, and discipline. Each of the three broad political poles can go too far; this is obvious from history. In very broad and simplistic terms:
When liberalism places too much weight on personal liberty it becomes libertarianism.
When conservatism places too much weight on sanctity it becomes some form of fascism.
And when socialism places too much weight on fairness and equity of outcome it becomes marxism.
Note how the extremists of each group, the libertarians, the fascists and marxists bitterly condemn everyone else as standing in the way of the revolutionary, radical change they dearly wish for. And hate most of all moderates of all shades who get on with negotiating political interests, building consensus and delivering a functioning world.
Is there such a thing?
It explains a lot that in your tripolar fantasy world, fairness should moderated.
That is a decent question. I would guess from your commenting record here that it is something you personally place a high value on.
But everything hinges on how you decide to implement fairness. Equal opportunity is something most people agree on; enforcing equal outcomes is another thing altogether.
There is a lot of nuance in this; humans seem to thrive with some degree of competition, but our societies also require a high degree of cooperation at at the same time. Yet when the inequality gradient becomes too extreme, when the rungs at the bottom of the ladder are too far apart or missing altogether, this cooperation breaks down and is the trigger for all manner of social dysfunction.
Clearly both extremes of inequality fail, but measuring and sensing where the optimum balance between them might lie – remains in my view and unsolved problem. Mostly because we are not willing yet to have an honest conversation about what the causes of inequality really are.
The pipeline from phoney left to populist right is represented par excellence by Bradsbury, Trotter, and all the weirdo Putin tankies on the "left" who seem to pine for the certainty of being on the wrong side of the cold war. Maybe all that pro-Putin bullshit they’ve watched on RT has addled their brains, who knows. And since I am old enough to have visited Eastern Europe during the cold war, anyone who took Moscow's shilling was definitely on the wrong side.
Interesting comment on the idea of the Cathedral/Bazaar model. Most of us who consider ourselves to be on the progressive left understand that we are in an ideological battle with two powerful forces. The first is the donor driven politics of the center right that has ruled our lives for most of the last five decades. The second is an even bigger threat from reactionary nationalists in alliance with religious fundamentalists who want to turn back the clock to some glorious era that never existed except as a nightmare for women and minorities. Trotter and Bradbury only want to fight the first group, and and ignore or even play footsie with a reactionary fascist adjacent right. Trotter spends his whole life in a lengthening shadow of obsessive and increasingly absurd conspiracy theories over race issues, endlessly invoking comparisons between co-governance and the racial policies of the Nazis and harking back in a proto-fascist idealised past. Bradbury's is an amusing blowhard and buffoon, who confesses to utter frustration at the "woke lefts" obsession with identity politics whilst seemingly devoting his entire existence to endlessly making common cause with the libertarian far right to wage an incessant war on the topic. His journey from left to a soft cock Boogaloo Boi is something else.
A restatement of the tripolar model I outlined above. Essentially you have described three political poles – progressive socialism, liberalism and conservatism.
Liberalism promotes innovation, liberty and development. Conservatism balances this with a respect for institutions, systems and reliability. Socialism looks to fairness, respect and redistribution. Each of them plays a legitimate role in a healthy society; politics is the eternal contention between all three as time and circumstance change.
Extremism is when any of these three steps over a boundary. You can tell when you are an extremist because you conceive of yourself as a sole arbiter of of a singular truth, isolated in a battle against everyone else.
I'd like to see the argument made that Trotter and/or Redline have abandoned class struggle. I disagree with Trotter a fair amount, and I don't read him that often, but it's quite the claim that he has no class analysis.
Likewise claiming Redline have no class analysis. Whatever criticisms there are to be made about the politics of both, this just seems like an anti-anti reaction.
Scratching my head at this too,
Is she a supporter of open borders? Because neoliberalism does whatever the fuck it wants with borders eg the Key government used fast, excessive immigration as a tool in running the neoliberal economy. Unless one is in favour of open borders, I can't see how neoliberalism can be characterised as closed borders.
We live in a strong, open border state where we can come and go as we please.
yeah, well I've yet to see a left wing explanation of how that will protect communities and the environment. The people I see running that position basically live in cities and visit nature and have zero plan for ecology and increasing population. Nor how to resolve the problems of resource depletion and how that impacts on low income/poor people.
Where Trotter and co react against that, they're holding a conservative position as a service to the community because of the liberals who think open borders are all good. I don't agree with Trotter much, but I think liberals believe they can force everyone to agree with them so what can they expect.
and of course there are clear parallels with women's rights and gender ideologists. People without healthy boundaries are just as dangerous as the people with authoritarian control boundaries.
Well yes. An idea I have been articulating here for some time. We might well debate the details of exactly where these boundaries are located – but it is worth noting the points we do align on.
The neo-liberal approach to border control is that executives/managerial class are free to ply their trade anywhere in the world (necessary as they continually move their production to where the lowest labour costs / best tax incentives are) whereas workers are not free to move willy nilly around the world to work.
This is embedded in international trade agreements in many cases and results in things like RSE at one end and the procession of overseas CEO's running and wrecking our public institutions at the other.
Border control remains a class issue.
.
LOL … spare me the ID pols bullshit from pampered well-to-do virtue-signalers like dear old Daphne … Oligarchic Capitalism absolutely loves the affluent Woke cadre within the Professional Middle Class … its inherent divisiveness, its rejection of traditional Social Democratic class politics in favour of systematically scapegoating the non-indigenous majority of the working & lower-middle classes into a degraded, powerless second-class citizenship.
The new Woke Corporate Oligarchy, with its radically redefined Woke-Identitarian ideology, mirrors sanctimonious bourgeois ID politics activists of the pretend-"Left" in being no friend of democracy and no friend of class politics.
The ruthlessly self-interested masquerading as moral exemplars.
Bryce Edwards, Chris Trotter, DaphnaRedliner & a few others are a breath of fresh air against the perversion of the Left into a self-serving Vanity Project for an affluent, increasingly authoritarian segment of society.
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-ruling-class-promotes-identity?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Bradbury does not hesitate to condemn the woke left but extends the hand of friendship to antivaxxer MAGA idiots trying to overthrow Parliament.
I suggest we should try and find solidarity on the left and leave the loony fringes of the right for ACT or NZ1
100% Swordfish.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/jacinda-ardern-appears-in-trailer-for-prince-harry-and-meghan-markles-new-netflix-documentary/3MKRAERMW5H2PDQRNEFOZKTACE/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/jacinda-ardern-appears-in-trailer-for-prince-harry-and-meghan-markles-new-netflix-documentary/3MKRAERMW5H2PDQRNEFOZKTACE/
opps. Surely it is a pr mistake for Jacinda to appear in the trailer to Harry and Megan’s Netflix doco. Perhaps she wasn’t asked, although in the article it is claimed she has a strong bond with the couple
Surely she wouldn't openly side with a couple that have decided to operate open warfare by useing a completely one sided attack on netflix (haven't nor will ever watch it)
Bwagon, I suspect Jacinda wouldn't have openly sided with H and M. The "close bond"may be tested a bit if they have used her without her permission
Clare Daly speaks truth to power.
The trouble with this sort of nonsense is the ordinary people of the Ukraine have their own agency, and they beg to differ. Ukrainians know peace at any price is just another word for suicide.
It's good to see someone in politics making a sensible speech concerning the Ukrainian war. The point about having to pay four times the previous price for energy and forcing people to choose between eating and keeping warm is a point worth hammering home.
And the Ukranianians don't know that peace talks mean "suicide" We cannot "know" something that isn't true.
the
Spot on mikesh
The Ukrainians tried to make peace In April, but Boris Johnson was sent over to make sure the war was continued.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-must-not-be-pressured-into-bad-peace-deal-says-uk-pm-johnson-2022-06-07/
Yes. I forgot to mention the point Miss Daly made about the Americans laughing at Europe. The Americans don't want the war to end because they see it as weakening Russia, and if it weakens Europe also, that's a bonus.
It all contributes to the cause of American hegemony.
And that is what this proxy war is all about.
What a shame that pooty can't see that he's being played.
The lesson; If you don't want a proxy war on your borders. Don't invade your neighbours.
Russia is fighting the US and Nato in Ukraine?
Was the US fighting Russia and the Warsaw Pact in Vietnam?
While Vietnamese morale, patriotism, superior training and the belief that theirs was a just cause were clearly critical factors, the victory was also due to the virtually ceaseless flow of weapons from Russia.
Yes of course there was some element of 'proxy war' but principally the Vietnam war, was a war against US domination and take over.
The superpowers like to see their imperial rivals get a black eye.
But without the Vietnamese willingness to fight and resist the US invasion the Soviet Union would have had no where to send their weapons.
The same in Ukraine, again there is an element of 'proxy war' but principally the Ukraine war is a war against Russian domination and take over.
https://www.rbth.com/…/vietnam_war_the_critical_role_of…
The proxy war started before 2014.
A simple reading of history shows the Americans were involved in the 2014 coup and have been arming and training the Ukrainian army ever since.
And if you remember the history of the Vietnam war, the Americans started by sending ‘trainers’to assist the South Vietnamese…
That is why we urgently need a ceasefire.
Evidence? Or another soft-headed reckon?
Joe, are really trying to say the Americans weren’t involved in the 2014 coup?
Wow.
I'll ask again, do you have any evidence Americans were involve?
Really? Do you have any evidence?
Cite?
The Russian aggressor will not even agree to a Christmas truce.
Russia launches one of its most damaging missile attacks yet against civilian infrastructure
UKRAINE INVASION
A unilateral withdrawal back to the their own borders is the only guarantee of a proper lasting peace with the Russian Federation invaders.
I think the Orthodox Churches – Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox, etc. – do not attach much importance to Christmas, For them the main event in the Christian calendar is Easter. For someone to suggest a ceasefire for Christmas seems a little pernicious.
Christmas Day by the Gregorian calendar is an official government holiday in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church celebrates pretty much like every other Catholic church does.
Orthodox Church of Ukraine celebrations begin today our time, St Nicholas day, when Ukrainian kids clean and leave their footwear along with their Christmas letters on the window sill and St Nicholas visits overnight and leaves presents, and the festival runs through to late January.
So no, there's nothing at all pernicious about Christmas ceasefire proposals.
Is the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church a Uniate Church? I'm asking simply as a matter of interest.
They're a non-orthodox eastern mob so I guess they are.
70% of western weapons sent to the Ukraine are not reaching troops?
https://legalresearchandanalysis.com/current-affairs/70-of-western-weapons-sent-to-ukraine-dont-reach-troops-cbs
China appears to adopted ACT's COVID response policy, and “Let whoever needs to be infected infected, let whoever needs to die die. Early infections, early deaths, early peak, early resumption of production.” is going about as well as you'd expect.
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1604748747640119296
Ukraine is a corrupt country.
Weapons have made their way into the ‘terror hotspot of the Lake Chad region.’
https://www.voanews.com/a/nigerian-president-ukraine-war-funneling-arms-fighters-into-lake-chad-basin/6856806.html
https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2022/12/03/ukraine-war-weapons-in-nigeria-why-india-should-be-concerned.html
As a vassal state of the Russian empire for centuries, and until very recently a captive of the same corrupt, kleptocratic mode of governance – this does seem entirely possible.
And when the Ukrainian people chose to go in a different direction, sacrifice their lives for this – you do nothing but shit on them.
Yeah what was Ed thinking being critical of the proliferation of arms towards other conflicts.
/sarc
Indeed no-one supports that kind of proliferation. I did not imagine that needed spelling out.
But the claim made by Ed was 'Ukraine is a corrupt country'. Fair enough that I might question why.
Did you see the response below – it does need to be spelt out. Because we have those who are supplying the weapons being incapable of keeping a track of the money it is spending.
And as you said below, those selling the weapons are playing 'a hell of a dangerous game". I've read reports in the past, that some factions are they selling them to the Russians, which is total FUBAR and should be stopped. I don't think it's 70%, but even 1% is to much in my opinion.
Any amount would be too much, but if it is as low as 1% I would be delighted. Ukraine will be no more immune from having traitorous fuckers than anywhere else.
Point is, the leakage is probably some low number, no-one as a reliable handle on it – and Ed is still repeating weak propaganda sources without thinking much.
You are aware that the US is also involved in propaganda?
Well of course; but have you just implicitly acknowledged that Russia does propaganda too?
The simple difference is this – there are Russian troops in Ukraine and not the other way around. No amount of agitprop, or obfuscation over the meaning of words from either side, can gloss over that reality.
It was Putin who turned a diplomatic confrontation into a kinetic one; he started this war and he still has the power to end it at any moment.
The war started in 2014.
It suits NATO and the US to pretend the events of February 2022 came out of the blue. It didn’t.
Not sure if it is a low number and here why. Reports have surfaced that the weapons are in Russia, Syria, and as of last week or so, Africa. With a spread like that, not a small number. I'd guess maybe 3-6% of all materials, including weapons. And in the shear scale of whats being sent that is a large amount.
I'm guessing (wild guess) it's Russian Ukraine's or Gangs who are doing the selling. With the flood of arms and other materials its just too easy in a war zone which is having it's infrastructure systematically destroyed, for stuff to go missing.
I'm not sure that the US minds very much if terrorists are armed.
The procurement and destination of weapons and materiels is at the heart of any military's operations security.
But the AFU will be delighted to hear that their enemy thinks they're losing 70% of US supplied arms.
/
On one hand the Putin fanboys tell us that Ukraine is only beating Russia solely because of Western military aid. Now they are saying only a fraction of this military aid 30% is reaching them?
All I can say to that, is the Ukrainian people are mounting a remarkable defence of their homeland against the Russian invading forces without it.
It's the spilling of the arms out to other conflicts which is the problem Jenny are we there yet. How many of these weapons and materials are ending up in Russian hands? Or the head choppers in Syria?
Umberto Eco;
Presumably the Ukrainians are finding 70% of the weapons to be surplus to requirements and are therefor flogging them off for cash the they need to buy other consumer goods of which they have a greater need.
FFS that old and erroneous article – published over 6 months ago has been roundly debunked and shown by actual events to be a load of hogwash.
Here is just one article where CBS has had to pull a report based in the bullshit being peddled here.
There are many others if anyone wants to waste some time .
In which case why have arms turned up in the Mail Basin? This story is dated December 3rd.
CBS, as a United States news source in a proxy war involving the US, cannot be regarded as an impartial source.
This would seem to imply that the Russians have captured 70% of the weapons supplied. Are the Russians more successful in this war than the propagandists are letting on?
Actually, where does the 70% figure come from?
Out of someones arse.
Exactly.
If the CBS had really turned up solid information that 70% of weapons were not making it to the Ukrainian front – then it is reasonable to think people in Ukraine would know this fact as well.
And what do you imagine would happen to someone caught in such treachery? Because that is exactly what it is – and traitors everywhere are marked out for a very short life.
It would be silly to suggest there is no leakage of this sort, but it is a hell of a dangerous game to be playing.
Oh please the state department is in full propaganda mode over this war.
They are a source I take with a grain of salt, like RT.
It is RT who are currently peddling the 70% claim adam.
Have a good read of the CBS article on which the original estimate was based. This was in April just over a month after the invasion by Russia. Understandably things would be a little chaotic then and supply lines would be patchy at best – remember the chaos as millions of people were fleeing the country at that time. Logistical supplies would take time to progress through to the front lines even with the best will in the world.
and in particular the editors note:
Fark! It was dumped here on TS by that notorious time-wasting (x) Sophist who’s copped a 1-day ban since.
Yes, and several others who shall remain nameless, but are too far down the RT rabbit hole to know the difference between truth, regurgitated opinion, and propaganda.
Thanks for setting the record straight.
There is the report of arms turning up in the Lake Mali area, according to Nigerian and Indian sources.
I posted link above and here it is again.
https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2022/12/03/ukraine-war-weapons-in-nigeria-why-india-should-be-concerned.html
Third time's a charm
Well duhh, I knew the original figure was from RT, why I said it.
Never thought the 70% figure was anywhere near real. But, there are arms spilling out. To many are ending up in the hands of bad actors. From Russia, to Syria, to Africa.
I don't know who Daphne Lawless is Joe 90.
And what is the “Cathedral/ Bazaar model”? When I googled it I got stuff about it being about software
But she is utterly incorrect about Redline. They have not rejected class analysist and the link below about the Workers Now political party indicates this. Strong rights given to unions, low tax threseholds for workers, womens spaces for women only (non woke), free speech for all as workers need to be free to debate ideas.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/workers-now/
I read most of Chris Trotters articles and he certainly brings class analysis into what he is writing (although I suspect he would call himself a social democratic (sorry Chris if I am misrepresenting you).
https://twitter.com/daphlawless/status/1604572652819320832
Thanks Weka.
And what is the “Cathedral/ Bazaar model”? When I googled it I got stuff about it being about software
I also looked it up on google. The way it seems to be being used here is as a metaphor for the distinction between oligarchic democracy and participatory democracy,
Thanks Mikesh!
We are being treated on this site to disinformation about Ukraine, courtesy of a few who have fallen into Kremlin propaganda. One of the egregious lies that Russia invented to justify their murderous and unprovoked invasion is that Ukraine "is Nazi".
Ukrainian Jews give some of the strongest rebukes to this nonsense.
Ukraine’s Jews denounce myth of rampant Nazism
Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Jeffrey Sachs, John Mearsheimer amongst other informed and independent experts and thinkers present a different narrative to the one we are being fed by the corporate mainstream media, yes.
It is not misinformation, though.
I have agreed with various things from Chomsky and Pilger in the past – but not on this.
Seems they have intellectualised themselves into knots, and have emerged defending imperialism, dictatorship, war crimes and censorship.
They remind me of the conversation at the start of this clip…"It would be wise".
They remain voices I respect.
They have abandoned reason for madness.
Chomsky and Pilger would do well to get out from behind their keyboards, visit the country they profess to care so much about – and listen to ordinary Ukrainian people.
Good clip.
The Ukrainian Jews seem to be attacking a "straw man". I doubt whether, these days, Ukrainian fascism has anything to do with antisemitism.
There's no controversy around the fact that Ihor Kolomoisky, a jewish Ukrainian oligarch with an Israeli passport funded the Azov militia when it began in 2014.He had no problem with its neo nazi symbols and ideology, as long as it was effective in brutalising his competitors and attacking the Russians of the Donbas.It was effectively his own private militia.
Azov was also backed by the interior ministry of the Ukrainian govt, many of whom are Jewish , so this nonsense that no Jew would countenance far right neo nazis is quite false
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/1/who-are-the-azov-regiment
The people who gave the world the anti-cosmopolitan campaign the doctors plot, and the night of the murdered poets are smearing Jews, again.
Surely not?
Russia is returning to the days of the former Soviet Union when it comes to antisemitism, fired by the need for a “scapegoat,” the former Chief Rabbi of Moscow asserted in an interview published on Thursday.
“Russia is returning to the Soviet Union, not in terms of communism, but in terms of its isolation from the rest of the world, antisemitism, general mobilization, repression of dissidents, and economic hardship,” Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt said in an interview with the Spanish Catholic news outlet Alfa & Omega. “It has become a very unpleasant place to live.”
Goldchmidt said that 50,000 Jews had left Russia for Israel since President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, a process he emphasized he had “encouraged.”
“Russia has a very difficult history of government antisemitism,” Goldschmidt observed. “When things go wrong, they look for a scapegoat.”
[…]
Crude antisemitic rhetoric had surfaced again in the context of the invasion of Ukraine, Goldschmidt noted, for example in the claim of Russian propagandists that the war is an operation to “denazify” Ukraine — a stance the rabbi dismissed as “utter nonsense.”
In that regard, Goldschmidt also mentioned the false claim made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood”, the allegation made by Russian Security Council Aleksei Pavlov that the Orthodox Chabad movement is a “sect,” and the authorities ongoing attempts to shutter the local operations of the Jewish Agency, which assists those making aliyah to Israel.
https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/12/15/putins-russia-returning-to-soviet-era-antisemitism-former-chief-rabbi-of-moscow-asserts/
For what it is worth; in the two short periods I lived and worked in Russia I encountered a casual anti-Semitic (and a frank racism directed specifically toward black people ) often enough to surprise me.
That is to say not a daily occurrence or openly blatant, but often enough to suggest it was not rare either.
n=1 and all that.
If anyone wants a nice long read on this quiet Tuesday afternoon!
https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2022/12/Introductory-Material-to-the-Final-Report-of-the-Select-Committee.pdf
link does not work
fixed now
A Labour reboot for 2023
TAX
1. Adopt the Greens 1% wealth tax on those with asset equity over $1M
2. The American concept of progressive income tax for companies as we do for individuals (so high profit companies pay more tax – the Oz banks etc)
3. A FTT (if seen as more efficient than incorporation of the financial services sector into GST)
4. 1-3 enabling reduced income tax and or WFF/AS changes.
5. A land tax for contributions to an infrastructure fund (for housing/PT/water etc)
6. The first year after any increase in AS involves a rent freeze
Housing
1. buy up homes (those with space for granny flat small builds extra) and or lease to increase the number of state houses charging income related rent to 100,000 and get people out of motels.
2. the current upgrade/renovate or replace phase to get Kainga Ora stock up to modern standard include a focus on disability and aged friendly accommodation renovation.
3. take advantage of the building downturn to reboot Kiwibuild – and allow existing flat/apartment owners to buy in when starting a family, aging singles seeking co-ownership companionship/mutual support, and boomers downsizing (see 7) (this allows sales while mortgage rates are high).
Welfare
1. Disability singles at super rates, and the base income support rate when in partnership
2. move repayment of debt to the TD model (begins once people have employment)
3. support those with terminal sickness or undergoing cancer treatment at ACC levels
4. refinance the debt of women going onto the DPB after divorce (and become partners in making mortgage payments, leading in some long term cases to the home becoming a state house).
PT
1. Free offpeak to CSC holders and students. Half fare otherwise.
Health
1. no tertiary debt repayments required for anyone working in our health system
2. investment in drugs that keep people in employment and out of health care (GP/hospital/carer) dependency to reduce system costs and stress on capability
Dental.
1. Expand CS card service from hospital treatment (emergency check and tooth removal) to annual dental visits.
2. Expand hospital treatment to low income workers.
Predictably Donald Trump has called the SC, a "kangaroo court"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64034559
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_court
https://www.mylawquestions.com/what-is-a-kangaroo-court.htm
Between the NFTS and this, I think we can finally call trump, done.
Oh that's a surprise, Trump calls it a kangaroo court and wants the talk to be about that.
I thought it was an investigation, an inquiry into what happened on Jan 6 and around that. I realise the committee heard from many, many people. I heard that others who had information refused to share what they knew. People who apparently had dealings with Trump on that day as events unfolded.
The definition including "that would be in favour of the defendant"? There was no defendant. There was no trial. It was not a court.
.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/dec/19/terry-hall-lead-singer-of-the-specials-dies-aged-63
Was thinking of this one after I heard the news today.
You see! (Why are we wasting our energy talking about Seymour??)
"The Green Party welcomes an historic new global agreement to protect 30% of the planet for nature by the end of the decade and calls on the Government to follow it with immediate action to protect native wildlife."
https://www.greens.org.nz/urgent_action_needed_at_home_following_global_deal_for_nature
Astonishing incompetence and corruption.
https://wartranslated.com/russian-volunteer-murz-on-why-russia-is-not-ready-to-defend-ukrainian-winter-offensive/
Hopefully some goodwill gestures await. Goodwill all the way back to Ukraine's borders would be nice.
RT Russia Today, speculates on Russia's defeat in their war with Ukraine.
RT accuses Ukraine and Nato of planning a genocide of Russian speakers in Ukraine on Russia's defeat.
The weird thing is the President of Ukraine is a native Russian speaker, who learnt to speak Russian at school.
The weird thing about this story is that the Russian Federation have been mercilessly bombing the Russian speaking Ukrainian city of Odessa
The other weird thing, the President of Ukraine is a native Russian speaker, who learnt to speak Russian at school. Will he too be rounded up in this supposed post war pogrom of Russian speakers?
Bu truly the most weirdest thing about this claim, in a paragraph that would not be out of place in an episode of Black Adder Goes To War, RT's evidence for this supposedly planned genocide of Russian speakers in the Donbas following a Ukraine victory is the lack of any evidence for it.
The morning after Russia's retreat from Ukraine, Ukrainian army officers will rip off their Ukrainian uniforms to reveal their black Waffen SS uniforms complete with glittering silver deaths head insignia and will order the round up of millions of Ukrainian Russian speakers. President Zelensky having served his purpose, will be detained and stripped of his titles and with the other Russian speakers loaded into cattle cars to be transported to one of many newly built extermination camps alongside all the Jews and Gypsies (OMG Zelensky a Russian speaking Jew, will be doubly damned)