Can I surprise everyone by saying that I think that disciplinary action should be taken by David Shearer.
There is a member of caucus who has destabilized the party for the past few years by continuously leaking to the media. Last weekend was an example. In a clusterfuck of gigantic proportions he managed to undermine all the good that Shearer’s speech achieved by feeding the meme that Cunliffe is running a challenge.
Cunliffe did refuse to say how he would be voting in the future on the leadership as his right. Others also refused to say how they would vote, including one Trevor Mallard.
Loyalty to a leader should always be conditional on the interests of the party and a review is perfectly appropriate. Blind loyalty is not in the interests of the party.
But by continuing to feed this meme this leaker has not only sought to undermine Cunliffe’s future but has also undermined Shearer’s leadership.
And the biggest joke of it all, is if Shearer just watched TV3’s destabalising of the Labour party he could then have a go at them. and know that Cunliffe was bending over backwards to be polite at the end. Hipkins should immediately be dumped as whip, and a back bencher he should be. As should Mallard, King, Dyson, and Goff, they should ALL be on the back bench for the LAST months of their political lives. And as to the leak to the media Dump that lot and the leaks should stop. but yesterday (Monday) on Firstline at 8.25am was the interesting bit.
It is just QoT’s posts that you should avoid. Authors are allowed to moderate comments on their own posts. It serves two purposes.
Firstly, there is nothing as irritating to an author has someone sidetracking their posts from their intent in writing it. And you’ve got to admit that the arguments between you two are pretty full on and tend to take over the posts – which rather defeats the purpose of writing it. The editorial moderators probably wouldn’t interfere because generally the comments are acceptable but they may frustrate the hell out of authors. You’ll probably have noted that I have a different style of moderation in my own posts especially in science – that happens for much the same reasons.
Secondly, it is a useful way for authors to ease into moderating on a large site. Excessive moderation gets a certain amount of (very polite) blowback from other commentators.
So just think of it as a minor restriction and don’t get too worried.
Oh, I see… A minor restriction? Give me a break! What on earth gave her and you the idea that I would have side-tracked the post from her intent?
You wonder why the media and Shearer question the relevance of bloggers. Tricks such as QoT’s maybe? The posts she removed, were simply my sticking up for Shearer.
If the idea is to make it seem that Standardistas are unamimous in bagging Shearer, well, then, well done! 🙁
Ah – perhaps you should think about why bloggers write? They write because they want to express something. They seldom write because they want to be “relevant”. That is a politicians trait to always think of everything in terms of damage and influence. Those things are just by-products of the process.
And I suspect that she simply doesn’t want you on any of her posts regardless what you say. Live with it.
BTW: Mike Smith, r0b, Ben, etc. I guess I can’t organise – or you’re very unobservant.
Mai Chen on Radio yesterday said that she respected the Garrent, a Australian Labour Ministers point, that how Australia chooses its policies is up to Australia. re. kids born to kiwis failing to get loans, welfare in Australia…
No for a lawyer, and one interested in civil rights, three thing strike,
i.) lawyers as a rule think about the consequences of statements all the time, so the fact that there is a growing population of individuals who have kiwi citizenship, are no afforded access to higher education, and cannot get welfare in Australia, and probably not citizenship if they have a criminal record in OZ, why would she not consider the tsunami of angry young people coming to NZ and welfare dependancy (where their parents have not been paying tax)!
ii.) that she is reinforcing a political stance yet could not see the Australian Minister saying that his constituiency isn’t interested in kiwis rights, so much for he claim to interest in civil rights,
iii.) and then to finally cap off, Chen thought it wise to cut Australian in NZ access to welfare, and exactly why would the ramification would be does she not understand the technical word, of reciprocal agreements, that many kiwis in Australia are on benefits too, and so there is no way the NZ government could end welfare to some, because the whole agreement was about the LARGE number of kiwis in Australia, and the SMALL number of Australians in NZ, and so the bigger cost to Australia,
So I’m totally perplex how did this person ever become a lawyer, or does NZ live under the rule of lawyers now, who think nothing of the law, letter or otherwise. Its just putty for extreme political muckracking? Could we please have real discussions about the effect on our economy of Kiwis turning up wanting welfare, wanting loans for Nz universities (only to return to Australia afterwards), who mayy have criminal records and been conditioned to mental, criminal, and other conditions by Australian authorities. Of course Key needs to grow some balls, how can he be serious worried about poverty amongst kiwi kids, if he does not include those in Australia – who will inevitable turn up here.
But while the spectacular and seemingly untarnished natural backdrops, stunning waterscapes and snow-tipped mountains might look world-class on film, critics say the realm New Zealand’s marketers have presented is as fantastical as dragons and wizards.
“There are almost two worlds in New Zealand,” said Mike Joy, a senior lecturer in environmental science at Massey University in Palmerston North. “There is the picture-postcard world, and then there is the reality.”
The clean and green image has long been promoted by the isolated country in its striving to compete in world markets. But an international study in the journal PLoS One measuring countries’ loss of native vegetation, native habitat, number of endangered species and water quality showed that per capita, New Zealand was 18th worst out of 189 nations when it came to preserving its natural surroundings.
That’s in the NYT so our clean, green brand is history. Which is good, might give us a chance to reign in those filthy farmers and put in place better regulations to protect the environment.
The report Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided doesn’t put it in quite such descriptive terms — it is a scientific analysis prepared by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics. But make no mistake, it packs quite a punch, all the more so given who commissioned it. As World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim says in his foreword:
It is my hope that this report shocks us into action. Even for those of us already committed to fighting climate change, I hope it causes us to work with much more urgency. This report spells out what the world would be like if it warmed by 4 degrees Celsius, which is what scientists are nearly unanimously predicting by the end of the century, without serious policy changes.
And what’s this government done? Oh, yeah, weakened the RMA, put in place the EPA which seems to be more about boosting business than protecting the environment and dropped out of the Kyoto Protocol.
Australia is far far cleaner than new Zealand. One of the reasons is probably as there are rubbish bins on every corner in the cities. You walk around Wellington and the bins are like hens teeth. Same goes for Auckland and other cities.
There’s also a possibility that immigrant cultures aren’t used to using bins. Visiting Samoa as I do every year, I remain constantly appalled at the amount of rubbish there. Apia park is always covered in plastic and food wrappers, mcds and kfc bags etc every afternoon.
The users of the ferry services just throw their rubbish overboard into the sea.
Absolutely terrible and one can see how that environment conditions those who move to Nz to carry on the fine littering tradition as espoused by their parents.
Which is what I said a while back, National and Tourism New Zealand are living on another planet. New Zealanders view their nation differently to how it is viewed in the rest of the world, which is quite poorly on the environment front.
Tourism New Zealand is totally out of touch…so much so that the only increases in tourist numbers are coming from places like China, which has far worse pollution problems that New Zealand. Europe and America however have led big declines in visitor numbers here, and it can no longer be held to be because of ‘the difficult recession conditions’.
Time that NZ stopped branding itself ‘100% pure’ and instead focussed its attention on the multicultural society we have here, especially on our culture, music and art. Anyone can visit Finland, Sweden, Iceland etc and get similar scenery, why does Tourism NZ keep claiming the 100% Pure brand is working, when visitor numbers show a decline.
sociocultural-political patterns to consider, from a leftish political position if interested
The world, and Aotearoa’s place within, it is changing at an ever-increasing rapidity, exponentially, I believe.
salience (not assuming that TS readers do not keep abreast of current affairs, but links kept me returning to the site when I began)
lprent can give me feedback, he knows how unorthodox I can be
This chappie, whose thought I am learning about, was active academically across a wide range of fields / disciplines- law, politics, history, philosophy and theology.
I think that the promotion of such a wide critical gaze is helpful
Re Auckland Canton-ese: Good lord, another bit of racism from our news-makers for no reason. Central story: people with less money can’t compete in an auction-like environment with people who have more money. Wow. Insightful stuff. But wait, what’s this? Oh the rich people are Chinese? That explains it then. Everyone knows Chinese money has special evil mega powers. uh? 😯
Reminds me of last night’s news story that, and I’m paraphrasing, “maori and pacific people are refusing to wear life jackets, even though they have been repeatedly told to do as us whities say. Education can’t reach them, they are unteachable!” uh? 😯
The reason I caught that piece of stupid was because I’d just finished watching Moneyball. Behind the simpering of Brad Pitt and the unsurprising end that comes from projecting ones own problems onto one’s job, was a message of the importance of a healthy skepticism of the norm, dismissing outward appearances and identifying the various ways inferior traits can be applied.
Hi Uturn. Always good exchanging with you. I been doing it all year under four earlier pseudonyms (from memory, can ya list them?). The thing about this site, the only one I have time to read, is the critical thinking often displayed; TINA is bullshit, but then, if I may be a little immodest, all my life I wondered what had prevented a wider dissemination of international thought and subsequent influence on policy in Aotearoa, and concluded very early on, that it was the dominant imported / colonial culture/s.
As I read Ellul, I find that his thought was matched by his experiences and offerings in the real world, down amongst the delinquents (french equivalent of teddy-boys), university politics, church politics, the war, revolutionary politics, family, community, parish and so on. Yet, everywhere his great mind was directed politically, he was met by power and self-interest ( sorta like this debacle playing out within New Zealand politics), yet, he still contributed and taught and published (gave away) thousands of newspaper and journal articles and wrote approximately fifty books.
Well, after a lifetime of exposure to MSM in this country, what the majority of the electorate consume, I personally conclude it is absolute rubbish, and that is saying something as I have spent literally years in time consuming music, film, fiction, MSM current events, Sky documentaries, and what has passed for television for four decades.
Now, I feel liberated, as I can only bear flicking through the news on television and skimming the local and international press for the zeitgeist (thats what the context is Lanth, the zeitgeist).The television and what passes for the majority of journalism and socially acceptable commentary in this country is like another, more primal, language to me now
Thinkers such as Ellul are very critical of the implications of technology for social well-being, harmony, yet, reading this blog and the links provided by thinkers such as Draco and others has had one identifiable personal positive outcome; it has opened up, and made more efficient, my cognitive processes, so that when I do think about things, it is precise, and draws on my exposure to both life and many disciplines. Also, there are many things / most things, that I do not even have to give any thought, or worry, to at all now.Furthermore, after frequent consideration of the many perspectives that are encountered on a political blog such as this, the MSM is just too freakin narrow and slow; I imagine that this is the case with the politicians too, just too simple and self-serving; not you Julie Ann and Helen Kelly, You do Impress me!
As I once heard, sadly, people get the politicans they deserve (that is harsh, it feels harsh writing it, but really, what sort of people vote for a government that includes John Banks, Peter Dunne, Maggie Barry, Paula Bennet, Anne Tolley, Tremain et al; and that is without even starting on the opposition)
I am just very thankful that I was born here, and that we are well situated geo-politically, yet I tend to avoid what passes for polite discourse around us; Racism, Ageism, Xenophobia, Aquisitiveness, Consumption, Bigotry,Labelling (self-deprecation) 🙂 it takes strong filters to prevent these attitudes soaking in to one if around them.
Anyway, I am no saint; I literally lived the will-to-power White male New Zealand / American dream for two and a half decades, well-paying work, the toys I wanted, the experiences I sought; it was weighed, and found wanting; it was all on the backs of the billions of simple folk that populate the remainder of the planet, the people Tolstoy considered, and eventually understood.
I, like Ellul, agree with Kierkegaard; Faith (not virtue) overcomes “sin” (that’s “missing the mark”, not being right with “God”, for you atheists)
anyway, might head off to the “shop” and encourage some awareness of Mana while I’m there.
Probably I could list the previous handles (I count five 😉 ), but that’d be rude. Ideas count, not labels. It’s strange you know, admin here are quick to say there is no hive mind, but since we all talk about the same thing and tend towards similar perspectives, there is often a natural flow to the ideas outlined here. While no one tells us what to think before we think it, many of us seem to arrive in the same place, more or less. Last night I was thinking of the source of the colonial culture we have and why it is still dominant and how certain other dominant psychological theories would either have to be completely wrong to allow for that cultural dominance, or the idea of culture being anything more than a failed brain process would have to be true. In which case, who exactly would “we” be at any given moment if everything in our past is just an illusion? What or which guidelines are we living if there is no such thing as culture and memory is a delusion?
I was impressed to see the link you offered a few days ago under the title of Logos; an element of western philosophy of a distinctly Eastern outlook that I was not aware existed; and seems to have little influence in global affairs these days. This also contributed to my thoughts last night that, somehow, a whole sphere of thinking has been suppressed by the western mind at a level that suggests something more powerful than the usual conspiracy theory of a shadowy group of patriarchal puppeteers controlling what rises and what doesn’t. Maybe “western mind” is too vague. Let’s say, Celtic. The mind of the people as a group who began in central Europe and spread outwards from there. It didn’t seem possible to me that for seven thousand years or so, people have only ever been behaving like animals – worse than that – mindless animals… not even looking after their own interests. Impossible. So why is a “colonial” attitude so entrenched in our collective psyche? I couldn’t answer that specifically. There were questions of inescapable evil, evils downgraded to popular virtues because everyone has to live them if they want to eat; and if you’re born into it, you’ll never find out what’s happening at least before fifteen years have passed. A blind spot in the psyche? How would we find and recognise something everyone has forgotten and how would we know what we were looking at was the real deal, not just some pipe dream to make us feel better?
Yeah, I agree this site is the only one I’ve found where the people can think in a way I can be bothered participating. (That might motivate them to change their style 😉 ). It’s a pity it’s centred around politics, because as you say, so much that goes on in politics isn’t politics and the polarisation of attitudes that our NZ style encourages makes me impatient. Not much humour and creativity in polarised arguments. I owe some debt of gratitude to regular contributors here for pushing me this way and that and helping to breaking down some of the hurdles that were proving difficult. It is a little embarrassing, and unethical, when I think about what they had to go through to give me an education I could have found myself, if I’d just been better at asking the right questions. But that’s the cost of self directed learning, learning through doing – no one comes out clean. It’s common now to realise that to argue for balance is an equally immoral interference as the aggression of a singular opinion, because of the way I came to know the difference. Supporting what is right, isn’t always right and so knowledge hits it’s useful limit.
I’ve been over a little of my past here already and like you, owing to a number of personal dispositions and unknowable motivations, it all fell apart. My level of reasonably assured comfort presently extends to 14 day periods, which is privileged, compared to many who ran out of food two days ago. I’ve had more and wasted too much, had almost nothing and still wasted some and at times been able to create something out of nothing. I still live the evils of our time: own gadgets, drive a car, live in a house surrounded by other houses – all things paid for by the on-going colonial mindset, the destructions of others. There’s even a lawn. What bizarre stately Victorian reality are we all condoning with our acceptance of lawns? Thank god the people in my new neighbourhood dig theirs up for vegetable gardens.
Life often bewilders me and the Christian God scares me. He appears to be one seriously unrelenting individual. So when I remember, I put my faith in “overshooting” the mark and hope that should we meet he’s in the mood for grace. It’s fair to note that I haven’t met anyone that can make him sound as reasonable as you often do. Have we sucked up enough space yet? I think I hear people snoring.
While no one tells us what to think before we think it, many of us seem to arrive in the same place, more or less.
Not quite. On any one topic you’ll have the people who are interested in a particular discussion. People who aren’t interested or use a different ‘language’ for it tend to go to other discussions either here or elsewhere. So there is a certain amount of self-selection going on.
theology is often defined as “faith seeking understanding”
I have always valued Satre’s concept of “good faith”
I have just come from a walk around the city of the province and a read of the local paper
-more of that later
anyway, Thomas Mann said “when a man comes to know himself, he is never quite the same” and Mary Wollenscroft (sp probably) said “prejudice can make a psychology unstable and flow out in a flood when barriers are removed” or something like that (quotes at back of paper) and I see that with the flow of information in the “media”.
even people of faith have struggles, it is all in there (in Colossians at the moment); I never profess to understand how it works, but clearly faith was around for a long time before
“psychologizing” and man, has there been some rubbish psychology around (I understand the assertions and findings of neuroscience, I believe in the current findings of science, but as I think felix said “science is taught by telling lies to children”; like when I studied my degree and all those resources and time is wasted with the loitering around the foundations, when one finds when one is introduced to (drip-fed) advanced papers that the whole discipline has been examined in a post-modern, deconstructive sense, and that “philosophising” is the ascendent modality (hence health workers utilising “logotherapy” and “mindfulness” techniques, which are effective imo, ime,).
anyway, back to the walk, clearly we can become determined by the technology / tools/ la tecnique, via our relationship through the day to many forms of technology, utilitarian and recreational, and it is the involvement in virtual reality, vicarious living and fiction that interests me (and we are not alone, my best friend, who lives with dyslexia, gets these ideas, and we question why, a,young people are not taught how to be “human beings” and how to “drive their bodies” alongside preparation for economic contribution and, b, why they are not made more aware of the influence of economically-rationalised propaganda)
I value creativity in art (“creation” in the Hebrew was “created to create”), I just lament the capitalist prostitution
anyway, time will tell, I’m with the wide variety of environmentally aware Posters and commentators on here who warn us about climate and pollution, here is one for Draco http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proudhon
however The Chinese are very industrious people and they may take greater steps towards
a more sustainable future, yet for much of the people on the planet, the coming decades appear likely to be “dystopian” sadly,
back to the bay, Retail sales are down across all cities, some 5% down year-on-year and the local fishermen have been carrying out regular surveys of fish stocks (gurnard in particular) over a decade, and stocks are consistently, across a wide range of surveys, by a wide range of organizations, not looking healthy. Even Supermarkets report “same amount of people, generally spending less each”.
More and more different ethnicities though, especially people from or around the sub-continent, many men with long flowing beards, and these people remember their customers in retail and are easy to engage.(not good PR for the buddhists in Myanmar though, sadly, see when the teachings split into Theravada and Mahayana, and all these “scriptures” I started thinking wtf?, sorta like trying to understand Christian denominations, which I don’t, but I understood John Walton, and all the dynamics possible in a large loving family)
Like archetypes / myths influencing culture influencing archetypes, for example The Matrix (I must apologize and state my position on “gaming using information technology”; never been interested) I’ve looked at cyberpunk lit, but it is not really my thing, anything too culturally determined is bound to be prejudicial, don’t you think?
The editor of the local paper is a shill for the retailers though, while in the same editorial acknowledging what “a low-wage economy” the region is (we are in the bottom of employment, health and a few other lovely (not) socio-economic statistical indicators)
There is a great literary journalist at the local paper though-Mark Story, so not all is lost
Wittgenstein stated “that the meaning of the system, is outside the system”, however he also asserted, that faith is just another “language game” so either/or as Johannes /Judge Vilhelm would argue
however, readings recently strongly suggest that there are enough common referents and definitions between moderate Christian and Islamic scholars understanding of the monotheistic God of Abraham to allow discourse at the highest levels even with the Pope,
and over half the population of the planet acknowledge that understanding, or variations of it now, and have done across generations within the “advancing” cultures for more than Three millennia;
If the medical science priests could get away with it, they would seek a pathogen (of course, they would not look at food, or the socio-cultural-economic situation of peoples lives) and they would develop and trial a vaccine; they could call it a “cluster-munition”
I might be fortunate enough to get a wee flat soon, thanks to the provisions and foresight of earlier Labour governments, and then if I can get a job gardening, I will be more secure than many of our fellow people, one way or another (i’m gonna getcha, getcha getcha good) They ripped into Debbie too for her past, freakin paparazzi parasites
Imagine being Mick Fleetwood and having memories snorting you-know-what- off the bottom of you-know-who.With my memory, I do not think I would need to ever open my eyes again, just kidding
Blues-Gospel-Soul-R&B-Rock-Steady-Reggae-Rock-Punk-New Order-House-Grunge
Drum and Bass-Pulp-Blur-Radiohead-TripHop-Bluegrass-Grunge-Black Sabbath Worship
Tamihere might come across as a jovial kind of chap, but his recent statements have been entirely undiplomatic and show him to be just another political fool…
Very good post by Susun Krumdiek over at The Jackal. Practical suggestions presented in an easy to understand form. A couple of excerpts:
To be honest, coal is really dirty dangerous crap. Mining coal, and well, really mining anything, is guaranteed to be an environmental disaster for more than just one generation. The thing is that we can’t have any kind of industrial society without coal. So, what we are going to have to do is recognise that coal use is going to decline, it’s going to get more expensive, we are going to have to spend 50-90% more on technology when we mine it and use it to make sure we don’t muck things up, and we are going to have to make hard choices about what we really need and don’t need. What is really worth burning coal for and what isn’t. We are not going to burn coal for electricity. Those days are over. We are not going to sell our coal resources off-shore. Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will need some coal some day. They will also be much more sensible about balancing their fossil energy use against the irreversible climate rupture we have created. We start now to face up to the facts about coal and we are going to do everything we can to reduce what we dig up – including a 10 year moratorium on new coal mining as a period to take stock, get the international corporations jaws un-clamped from around our necks, and decide what we really need to do.
and
I have told you the truth about energy resources and how we are going to adapt to use less energy. Now I am going to be honest with you about the economy. The economy is not something separate from us. The economy is actually just people who do a good job getting fair compensation for their work from the people who benefit from their labours. This is why there are different wages for different capabilities. We all pay taxes in order to live in a country that has high quality services and infrastructure. The people who are profiting the most should also do the most to make this country a better place.
“OPEN LETTER SENT TO TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL BY NEW ZEALAND ‘ANTI-CORRUPTION’ CAMPAIGNER /’WHISTLEBLOWER’ Penny Bright:
31 October 2012
For the URGENT attention of Transparency International Secretariat, and global member ‘chapters’.
I, Penny Bright, from New Zealand, was an attendee at the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference 2010, in Bangkok, and widely distributed a ‘whistle-blowing’ NZ ‘Corruption Reality Checklist’ – which showed the lack of transparency and accountability in New Zealand, which is consistently ‘perceived’ to be ‘the least corrupt country in the world’ (according to the TI ‘Corruption Perception Index’).
In my considered opinion, if Transparency International is going to ignore the FACTS and EVIDENCE presented by ‘whistleblowers’ such as myself – then your ‘Corruption Perception Index’ is going to be seen as being effectively meaningless as a global indicator of global corruption.
(This ‘whistle-blowing’ NZ ‘Corruption Reality Checklist’ has since ‘morphed’ into the following:)
ACTION PLAN TO PREVENT CORRUPTION – ‘WHITE COLLAR’ CRIME & ‘CORPORATE WELFARE’ IN NZ:
1. Get our anti-corruption domestic legislative framework in place so NZ can ratify the UN Convention Against Corruption.
2. Set up an NZ independent anti-corruption body tasked with educating the public and PREVENTING corruption.
3. Change NZ laws to ensure genuine transparency in the funding of candidates for elected public office and political parties at central and local government level.
4. Legislate for an enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for NZ Members of Parliament (who make the rules foreveryone else).
5. Make it an offence under the Local Government Act 2002 for NZ Local Government elected representatives to breach their ‘Code of Conduct’.
6. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Local Government elected representatives.
7. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Central Government staff responsible for property and procurement, (including the Ministry of Health), in order to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
8. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Local Government staff, and Directors and staff employed by ‘Council-Controlled Organisations (CCOs) responsible for property and procurement.
9. Make it a lawful requirement for details of ‘contracts issued’ – including the name of the contractor; scope, term and value of the contract to be published in NZ Central Government Public Sector, and Local Government (Council), and ‘Council-Controlled Organisation (CCO) Annual Reports so that they are available for public scrutiny.
10. Make it a lawful requirement that a ‘cost-benefit analysis’ of NZ Central Government, and Local Government public finances be undertaken to prove that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in-house’ is cost-effective for the public majority. If not – then return public service provision to staff directly employed ‘in-house’ and cut out these private contractors who are effectively dependent on ‘corporate welfare’.
11. Legislate for a legally-enforcable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary, to ensure they are not ‘above the law’.
12. Ensure that ALL NZ Court proceedings are recorded, and audio records made available to parties who request them.
13. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’, to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
14. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ ‘Register of Lobbyists’ and ‘Code of Conduct for Lobbyists’ at Central Government Ministerial level.
15. Make it a lawful requirement at NZ Central and Local Government level for a ‘post-separation employment quarantine’ period from the time officials leave the public service to take up a similar role in the private sector. (Help stop the ‘revolving door’).
16. Make it a lawful requirement that it is only a binding vote of the public majority that can determine whether public assets held at NZ Central or Local Government level are sold; or long-term leased via Public-Private –Partnerships (PPPs).
17. Make it unlawful for politicians to knowingly misrepresent their policies prior to election at central or local government level.
18. Make laws to protect individuals, NGOs and community-based organisations who are ‘whistleblowing’ against ‘conflicts of interest’ and corrupt practices at central and local government level and within the judiciary.
19. Legislate to help stop ‘State Capture’, a form of ‘grand corruption’ arguably endemic in NZ – where vested interests get their way at the ‘policy level’ before legislation is passed which serves their interests.
7.1 Penny Bright – Open letter to Auditor General
Ms Bright was present to address the meeting regarding her open letter to the Auditor-General on conflicts of interest.
_______________________________________________________________
This presentation was filmed, and can be viewed, (after registering – costs nothing to register) athttp://www.allaboutauckland.com/
“CORRUPTION AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS” 25 October 2012: ”
_______________________________________________________________
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
(New Zealand)
[lprent: Frigging hell Penny. We need to get you onto the mandatory verbiage reduction diet. ]
It’s not ‘verbiage’ – these are concrete, sensible proposals that any political party with any brains would pick up?
In my considered opinion?
(You may prefer this ‘verbiage’? 🙂
“NZ Herald – News digest Tuesday 20 November 2012
Banks faces more counts
Act leader John Banks is facing two fresh charges in a private prosecution brought by political activist Graham McCready. The charges relate to Mr Banks’ role at investment company Huljich Wealth Management before he became an Act MP. ”
_____________________________________________________________
Graham McCready states that the Wellington Deputy Registrar ‘confirmed she would set them down for Banks to be Summons to appear on these two with the Local Elections Act charge on 11 December 2012 at 1:45.
The Court will ensure the Police serve all three summonses.’
So!
The arguably ‘Not-so Honorable’ John Banks will appear in the Wellington District Court, on Tuesday 11 December 2012, to face private prosecutions over alleged electoral fraud and ‘Mr Banks’ role at investment company Huljich Wealth Management before he became an Act MP’.
Bit of a sad day for the ‘perceived’ least corrupt country in the world, when individual citizens have to take private prosecutions in order to help ensure ‘ONE LAW FOR ALL’ actually does apply equally in New Zealand?
Where were the regulatory and statutory bodies when it came to applying ‘ONE LAW FOR ALL’ to fellow former Directors of Huljich Wealth Management(NZ) Ltd – current and former leaders of the ACT Party – John Banks and Don Brash?
A farewell to arms
By Guy McPherson November 19, 2012
In previous essays in this space I have mentioned two phenomena worth fighting for: the living planet and freedom based in anarchy. I surrender. I no longer believe the struggle matters on either front.
Kiss goodbye the living planet
I no longer think we’ll save the remaining shards of the living planet beyond another human generation. We’ll destroy every — or nearly every – species on Earth when the positive feedbacks associated with climate change come seriously into play (and I’ve not previously considered the increasingly dire prospects of methane release from Antarctica or the wildfire-induced release of carbon from Siberian peat bogs). Due to numerous positive feedbacks, climate change has become irreversible over temporal spans relevant to humans. Such is the nature of reaching the acceleration phase of the nonlinear system that is climate catastrophe.
The climate-change data, models and assessments keep coming at us, like waves crashing on a rocky, indifferent beach. The worst drought in 800 years in the western United States is met by levels of societal ignorance and political silence I’ve come to expect. I would be stunned if this valley — or any other area in the interior of a northern-hemisphere continent — will provide habitat for humans five years from now. And climate change is only part of the story.
My trademark optimism vanishes when I realize that, in addition to climate chaos, we’re on the verge of tacking on ionizing radiation from the world’s 444 nuclear power plants. Let’s ignore for now the radioactive waste we’ve left lying around without a plan or already dumped into the world’s oceans. When we choke on our own poison, we’ll be taking the whole ship down with us, spewing a global blanket of radiation in the wake of collapse. Can we kill every single species on Earth? Apparently we’re willing to give it a try, and I will not be surprised by our “success” at this omnicidal endeavor.
Your excerpt was funny enough. It looked like you wrote that bit about optimism. And I have doubts about claims to optimism by people who are preaching 100% extinction of life on the planet. Blatant bollocks – or at least a massive bias towards higher life forms. Which makes me doubt the reliability of other predictions made by the same people.
I think Guy has a clue, more so than anyone else I know anyway. But then I might have a small circle of stupid friends).
Guy’s bio – Academic B.S. Forest Resources, University of Idaho, 1982
M.S. Range Science, Texas Tech University, 1984
Ph.D. Range Science, Texas Tech University, 1987
Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Georgia Institute of Ecology, 1987-1988
Visiting Assistant Professor, Texas A & M University Range Science Department, 1988-1989
Assistant Professor, University of Arizona School of Renewable Natural Resources, 1989-1995
Visiting Associate Professor, University of California-Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, 1995-1996
Associate Professor, University of Arizona School of Renewable Natural Resources, 1995-2000
Director, The Nature Conservancy David H. Smith Fellows Program, 1999-2000
Professor, University of Arizona School of Renewable Natural Resources, 2000-present
Professor, University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, 2002-present.
Given that there are fungi growing inside the Chernobyl sarcophagus, I’m saying that:
Can we kill every single species on Earth? Apparently we’re willing to give it a try, and I will not be surprised by our “success” at this omnicidal endeavor.”
… is a pretty massive call. Even human extinction is a big call – humans have managed to build communities is the harshest places on the planet. So worst case we’re looking at a significant reduction in the human population down to sustainable levels, maybe a bit of the old soylent green scenario as a transition period.
Hostess Brands, the maker of sweet snacks like Twinkies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, will ask a bankruptcy judge today to approve a plan that will allow it to pay $1.75 million in bonuses to 19 of its executives. Hostess’ decision to file for bankruptcy came amid disputes with its union workers, who threatened a strike that Hostess said imperiled the company’s finances. The unions are now protesting Hostess’ request for the bonuses, though they are unlikely to prevail, CNN Money reports:
Or attempt to but, still:
The salary of the company’s chief executive tripled from $750,000 to roughly $2.5 million, and at least nine other executives received pay raises ranging from $90,000 to $400,000. Those raises came just months after Hostess originally filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.
We aren’t exactly seeing great management here and it has been getting very well rewarded for trashing the company.
Correct. Let’s take a look at current Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn’s executive resume, per Businessweek and LinkedIn:
CEO, Hostess Brands: February 2012 – Present (10 months)
CRO, Indiana Live Casino and Indiana Downs Racetrack: February 2011 – April 2012 (1 year 3 months)
CEO, NYCOTB: July 2010 – January 2011 (7 months)
CEO, Magna Entertainment Corp. March 2009 – May 2010 (1 year 3 months)
CEO, Muzak: 2005 – 2006 (1 year)
CRO, AAIPharma Services Corp.: 2004 – 2005 (1 year)
CRO, WorldCom: 2003 – 2004 (1 year)
CEO. Sunterra: 2002 – 2003 (1 year)
Co-Founder, Capstone Equity: 1999 – 2001 (2 years)
Huh. In ten years, he’s helped run eight (8) companies, yet his average tenure is just under one (1) year. Sounds like just the guy to provide some stability to a company that’s hemorrhaging cash (Hostess has had six CEOs in eight years, an obvious indicator of sensible and stable leadership; insert deck-chairs-on-Titanic metaphor here).
Suggestions that modest increases in sea ice around Antarctica offset significant losses in Arctic sea ice are based on a bogus “apples and oranges” comparison. Through interviews with a range of respected experts, Peter Sinclair’s newest Yale Forum video explains why such suggestions do not stand up to scientific scrutiny.
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 29 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 28 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
Can I surprise everyone by saying that I think that disciplinary action should be taken by David Shearer.
There is a member of caucus who has destabilized the party for the past few years by continuously leaking to the media. Last weekend was an example. In a clusterfuck of gigantic proportions he managed to undermine all the good that Shearer’s speech achieved by feeding the meme that Cunliffe is running a challenge.
Cunliffe did refuse to say how he would be voting in the future on the leadership as his right. Others also refused to say how they would vote, including one Trevor Mallard.
Loyalty to a leader should always be conditional on the interests of the party and a review is perfectly appropriate. Blind loyalty is not in the interests of the party.
But by continuing to feed this meme this leaker has not only sought to undermine Cunliffe’s future but has also undermined Shearer’s leadership.
I wonder if this is the intent?
Wonder who you have in your sights mickey?
Done Underestimate Careerist Knuckledraggers!
And the biggest joke of it all, is if Shearer just watched TV3’s destabalising of the Labour party he could then have a go at them. and know that Cunliffe was bending over backwards to be polite at the end. Hipkins should immediately be dumped as whip, and a back bencher he should be. As should Mallard, King, Dyson, and Goff, they should ALL be on the back bench for the LAST months of their political lives. And as to the leak to the media Dump that lot and the leaks should stop. but yesterday (Monday) on Firstline at 8.25am was the interesting bit.
Indeed! (I do hope I am allowed to comment, and my comment will not be removed… We’ll see!)
It is just QoT’s posts that you should avoid. Authors are allowed to moderate comments on their own posts. It serves two purposes.
Firstly, there is nothing as irritating to an author has someone sidetracking their posts from their intent in writing it. And you’ve got to admit that the arguments between you two are pretty full on and tend to take over the posts – which rather defeats the purpose of writing it. The editorial moderators probably wouldn’t interfere because generally the comments are acceptable but they may frustrate the hell out of authors. You’ll probably have noted that I have a different style of moderation in my own posts especially in science – that happens for much the same reasons.
Secondly, it is a useful way for authors to ease into moderating on a large site. Excessive moderation gets a certain amount of (very polite) blowback from other commentators.
So just think of it as a minor restriction and don’t get too worried.
Oh, I see… A minor restriction? Give me a break! What on earth gave her and you the idea that I would have side-tracked the post from her intent?
You wonder why the media and Shearer question the relevance of bloggers. Tricks such as QoT’s maybe? The posts she removed, were simply my sticking up for Shearer.
If the idea is to make it seem that Standardistas are unamimous in bagging Shearer, well, then, well done! 🙁
Ah – perhaps you should think about why bloggers write? They write because they want to express something. They seldom write because they want to be “relevant”. That is a politicians trait to always think of everything in terms of damage and influence. Those things are just by-products of the process.
And I suspect that she simply doesn’t want you on any of her posts regardless what you say. Live with it.
BTW: Mike Smith, r0b, Ben, etc. I guess I can’t organise – or you’re very unobservant.
[deleted]
[lprent: astroturfer ]
Mai Chen on Radio yesterday said that she respected the Garrent, a Australian Labour Ministers point, that how Australia chooses its policies is up to Australia. re. kids born to kiwis failing to get loans, welfare in Australia…
No for a lawyer, and one interested in civil rights, three thing strike,
i.) lawyers as a rule think about the consequences of statements all the time, so the fact that there is a growing population of individuals who have kiwi citizenship, are no afforded access to higher education, and cannot get welfare in Australia, and probably not citizenship if they have a criminal record in OZ, why would she not consider the tsunami of angry young people coming to NZ and welfare dependancy (where their parents have not been paying tax)!
ii.) that she is reinforcing a political stance yet could not see the Australian Minister saying that his constituiency isn’t interested in kiwis rights, so much for he claim to interest in civil rights,
iii.) and then to finally cap off, Chen thought it wise to cut Australian in NZ access to welfare, and exactly why would the ramification would be does she not understand the technical word, of reciprocal agreements, that many kiwis in Australia are on benefits too, and so there is no way the NZ government could end welfare to some, because the whole agreement was about the LARGE number of kiwis in Australia, and the SMALL number of Australians in NZ, and so the bigger cost to Australia,
So I’m totally perplex how did this person ever become a lawyer, or does NZ live under the rule of lawyers now, who think nothing of the law, letter or otherwise. Its just putty for extreme political muckracking? Could we please have real discussions about the effect on our economy of Kiwis turning up wanting welfare, wanting loans for Nz universities (only to return to Australia afterwards), who mayy have criminal records and been conditioned to mental, criminal, and other conditions by Australian authorities. Of course Key needs to grow some balls, how can he be serious worried about poverty amongst kiwi kids, if he does not include those in Australia – who will inevitable turn up here.
practicalities.this is an interesting demographic issue though
Yes, vote Green so they can sell out their supporters by coming to yet another ‘arrangement’ with the Tories. Brilliant idea, Einstein.
New Zealand’s Green Tourism Push Clashes With Realities
That’s in the NYT so our clean, green brand is history. Which is good, might give us a chance to reign in those filthy farmers and put in place better regulations to protect the environment.
Then there’s this one from the World Bank:
And what’s this government done? Oh, yeah, weakened the RMA, put in place the EPA which seems to be more about boosting business than protecting the environment and dropped out of the Kyoto Protocol.
Time we cleaned up our act.
Australia is far far cleaner than new Zealand. One of the reasons is probably as there are rubbish bins on every corner in the cities. You walk around Wellington and the bins are like hens teeth. Same goes for Auckland and other cities.
There’s also a possibility that immigrant cultures aren’t used to using bins. Visiting Samoa as I do every year, I remain constantly appalled at the amount of rubbish there. Apia park is always covered in plastic and food wrappers, mcds and kfc bags etc every afternoon.
The users of the ferry services just throw their rubbish overboard into the sea.
Absolutely terrible and one can see how that environment conditions those who move to Nz to carry on the fine littering tradition as espoused by their parents.
Nz is a dirty country, make no mistake.
Which is what I said a while back, National and Tourism New Zealand are living on another planet. New Zealanders view their nation differently to how it is viewed in the rest of the world, which is quite poorly on the environment front.
Tourism New Zealand is totally out of touch…so much so that the only increases in tourist numbers are coming from places like China, which has far worse pollution problems that New Zealand. Europe and America however have led big declines in visitor numbers here, and it can no longer be held to be because of ‘the difficult recession conditions’.
Time that NZ stopped branding itself ‘100% pure’ and instead focussed its attention on the multicultural society we have here, especially on our culture, music and art. Anyone can visit Finland, Sweden, Iceland etc and get similar scenery, why does Tourism NZ keep claiming the 100% Pure brand is working, when visitor numbers show a decline.
Thanks for the heads up Te Reo Putake.
Had too kick some witch in the head last night ……
Looks like Labour has a problem with Smacko male witches as well M8 🙂
Thank God that’s all over. Until February.
interesting
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10848680
Auckland Canton-ese
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10848593
love pacifica
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10848652
hardly surprising
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10848644
Can you actually give some context for what these links are about?
sociocultural-political patterns to consider, from a leftish political position if interested
The world, and Aotearoa’s place within, it is changing at an ever-increasing rapidity, exponentially, I believe.
salience (not assuming that TS readers do not keep abreast of current affairs, but links kept me returning to the site when I began)
lprent can give me feedback, he knows how unorthodox I can be
This chappie, whose thought I am learning about, was active academically across a wide range of fields / disciplines- law, politics, history, philosophy and theology.
I think that the promotion of such a wide critical gaze is helpful
Re Auckland Canton-ese: Good lord, another bit of racism from our news-makers for no reason. Central story: people with less money can’t compete in an auction-like environment with people who have more money. Wow. Insightful stuff. But wait, what’s this? Oh the rich people are Chinese? That explains it then. Everyone knows Chinese money has special evil mega powers. uh? 😯
Reminds me of last night’s news story that, and I’m paraphrasing, “maori and pacific people are refusing to wear life jackets, even though they have been repeatedly told to do as us whities say. Education can’t reach them, they are unteachable!” uh? 😯
The reason I caught that piece of stupid was because I’d just finished watching Moneyball. Behind the simpering of Brad Pitt and the unsurprising end that comes from projecting ones own problems onto one’s job, was a message of the importance of a healthy skepticism of the norm, dismissing outward appearances and identifying the various ways inferior traits can be applied.
Hi Uturn. Always good exchanging with you. I been doing it all year under four earlier pseudonyms (from memory, can ya list them?). The thing about this site, the only one I have time to read, is the critical thinking often displayed; TINA is bullshit, but then, if I may be a little immodest, all my life I wondered what had prevented a wider dissemination of international thought and subsequent influence on policy in Aotearoa, and concluded very early on, that it was the dominant imported / colonial culture/s.
As I read Ellul, I find that his thought was matched by his experiences and offerings in the real world, down amongst the delinquents (french equivalent of teddy-boys), university politics, church politics, the war, revolutionary politics, family, community, parish and so on. Yet, everywhere his great mind was directed politically, he was met by power and self-interest ( sorta like this debacle playing out within New Zealand politics), yet, he still contributed and taught and published (gave away) thousands of newspaper and journal articles and wrote approximately fifty books.
Well, after a lifetime of exposure to MSM in this country, what the majority of the electorate consume, I personally conclude it is absolute rubbish, and that is saying something as I have spent literally years in time consuming music, film, fiction, MSM current events, Sky documentaries, and what has passed for television for four decades.
Now, I feel liberated, as I can only bear flicking through the news on television and skimming the local and international press for the zeitgeist (thats what the context is Lanth, the zeitgeist).The television and what passes for the majority of journalism and socially acceptable commentary in this country is like another, more primal, language to me now
Thinkers such as Ellul are very critical of the implications of technology for social well-being, harmony, yet, reading this blog and the links provided by thinkers such as Draco and others has had one identifiable personal positive outcome; it has opened up, and made more efficient, my cognitive processes, so that when I do think about things, it is precise, and draws on my exposure to both life and many disciplines. Also, there are many things / most things, that I do not even have to give any thought, or worry, to at all now.Furthermore, after frequent consideration of the many perspectives that are encountered on a political blog such as this, the MSM is just too freakin narrow and slow; I imagine that this is the case with the politicians too, just too simple and self-serving; not you Julie Ann and Helen Kelly, You do Impress me!
As I once heard, sadly, people get the politicans they deserve (that is harsh, it feels harsh writing it, but really, what sort of people vote for a government that includes John Banks, Peter Dunne, Maggie Barry, Paula Bennet, Anne Tolley, Tremain et al; and that is without even starting on the opposition)
I am just very thankful that I was born here, and that we are well situated geo-politically, yet I tend to avoid what passes for polite discourse around us; Racism, Ageism, Xenophobia, Aquisitiveness, Consumption, Bigotry,Labelling (self-deprecation) 🙂 it takes strong filters to prevent these attitudes soaking in to one if around them.
Anyway, I am no saint; I literally lived the will-to-power White male New Zealand / American dream for two and a half decades, well-paying work, the toys I wanted, the experiences I sought; it was weighed, and found wanting; it was all on the backs of the billions of simple folk that populate the remainder of the planet, the people Tolstoy considered, and eventually understood.
I, like Ellul, agree with Kierkegaard; Faith (not virtue) overcomes “sin” (that’s “missing the mark”, not being right with “God”, for you atheists)
anyway, might head off to the “shop” and encourage some awareness of Mana while I’m there.
Great site lprent
Probably I could list the previous handles (I count five 😉 ), but that’d be rude. Ideas count, not labels. It’s strange you know, admin here are quick to say there is no hive mind, but since we all talk about the same thing and tend towards similar perspectives, there is often a natural flow to the ideas outlined here. While no one tells us what to think before we think it, many of us seem to arrive in the same place, more or less. Last night I was thinking of the source of the colonial culture we have and why it is still dominant and how certain other dominant psychological theories would either have to be completely wrong to allow for that cultural dominance, or the idea of culture being anything more than a failed brain process would have to be true. In which case, who exactly would “we” be at any given moment if everything in our past is just an illusion? What or which guidelines are we living if there is no such thing as culture and memory is a delusion?
I was impressed to see the link you offered a few days ago under the title of Logos; an element of western philosophy of a distinctly Eastern outlook that I was not aware existed; and seems to have little influence in global affairs these days. This also contributed to my thoughts last night that, somehow, a whole sphere of thinking has been suppressed by the western mind at a level that suggests something more powerful than the usual conspiracy theory of a shadowy group of patriarchal puppeteers controlling what rises and what doesn’t. Maybe “western mind” is too vague. Let’s say, Celtic. The mind of the people as a group who began in central Europe and spread outwards from there. It didn’t seem possible to me that for seven thousand years or so, people have only ever been behaving like animals – worse than that – mindless animals… not even looking after their own interests. Impossible. So why is a “colonial” attitude so entrenched in our collective psyche? I couldn’t answer that specifically. There were questions of inescapable evil, evils downgraded to popular virtues because everyone has to live them if they want to eat; and if you’re born into it, you’ll never find out what’s happening at least before fifteen years have passed. A blind spot in the psyche? How would we find and recognise something everyone has forgotten and how would we know what we were looking at was the real deal, not just some pipe dream to make us feel better?
Yeah, I agree this site is the only one I’ve found where the people can think in a way I can be bothered participating. (That might motivate them to change their style 😉 ). It’s a pity it’s centred around politics, because as you say, so much that goes on in politics isn’t politics and the polarisation of attitudes that our NZ style encourages makes me impatient. Not much humour and creativity in polarised arguments. I owe some debt of gratitude to regular contributors here for pushing me this way and that and helping to breaking down some of the hurdles that were proving difficult. It is a little embarrassing, and unethical, when I think about what they had to go through to give me an education I could have found myself, if I’d just been better at asking the right questions. But that’s the cost of self directed learning, learning through doing – no one comes out clean. It’s common now to realise that to argue for balance is an equally immoral interference as the aggression of a singular opinion, because of the way I came to know the difference. Supporting what is right, isn’t always right and so knowledge hits it’s useful limit.
I’ve been over a little of my past here already and like you, owing to a number of personal dispositions and unknowable motivations, it all fell apart. My level of reasonably assured comfort presently extends to 14 day periods, which is privileged, compared to many who ran out of food two days ago. I’ve had more and wasted too much, had almost nothing and still wasted some and at times been able to create something out of nothing. I still live the evils of our time: own gadgets, drive a car, live in a house surrounded by other houses – all things paid for by the on-going colonial mindset, the destructions of others. There’s even a lawn. What bizarre stately Victorian reality are we all condoning with our acceptance of lawns? Thank god the people in my new neighbourhood dig theirs up for vegetable gardens.
Life often bewilders me and the Christian God scares me. He appears to be one seriously unrelenting individual. So when I remember, I put my faith in “overshooting” the mark and hope that should we meet he’s in the mood for grace. It’s fair to note that I haven’t met anyone that can make him sound as reasonable as you often do. Have we sucked up enough space yet? I think I hear people snoring.
Not quite. On any one topic you’ll have the people who are interested in a particular discussion. People who aren’t interested or use a different ‘language’ for it tend to go to other discussions either here or elsewhere. So there is a certain amount of self-selection going on.
theology is often defined as “faith seeking understanding”
I have always valued Satre’s concept of “good faith”
I have just come from a walk around the city of the province and a read of the local paper
-more of that later
anyway, Thomas Mann said “when a man comes to know himself, he is never quite the same” and Mary Wollenscroft (sp probably) said “prejudice can make a psychology unstable and flow out in a flood when barriers are removed” or something like that (quotes at back of paper) and I see that with the flow of information in the “media”.
even people of faith have struggles, it is all in there (in Colossians at the moment); I never profess to understand how it works, but clearly faith was around for a long time before
“psychologizing” and man, has there been some rubbish psychology around (I understand the assertions and findings of neuroscience, I believe in the current findings of science, but as I think felix said “science is taught by telling lies to children”; like when I studied my degree and all those resources and time is wasted with the loitering around the foundations, when one finds when one is introduced to (drip-fed) advanced papers that the whole discipline has been examined in a post-modern, deconstructive sense, and that “philosophising” is the ascendent modality (hence health workers utilising “logotherapy” and “mindfulness” techniques, which are effective imo, ime,).
anyway, back to the walk, clearly we can become determined by the technology / tools/ la tecnique, via our relationship through the day to many forms of technology, utilitarian and recreational, and it is the involvement in virtual reality, vicarious living and fiction that interests me (and we are not alone, my best friend, who lives with dyslexia, gets these ideas, and we question why, a,young people are not taught how to be “human beings” and how to “drive their bodies” alongside preparation for economic contribution and, b, why they are not made more aware of the influence of economically-rationalised propaganda)
I value creativity in art (“creation” in the Hebrew was “created to create”), I just lament the capitalist prostitution
anyway, time will tell, I’m with the wide variety of environmentally aware Posters and commentators on here who warn us about climate and pollution, here is one for Draco
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proudhon
however The Chinese are very industrious people and they may take greater steps towards
a more sustainable future, yet for much of the people on the planet, the coming decades appear likely to be “dystopian” sadly,
back to the bay, Retail sales are down across all cities, some 5% down year-on-year and the local fishermen have been carrying out regular surveys of fish stocks (gurnard in particular) over a decade, and stocks are consistently, across a wide range of surveys, by a wide range of organizations, not looking healthy. Even Supermarkets report “same amount of people, generally spending less each”.
More and more different ethnicities though, especially people from or around the sub-continent, many men with long flowing beards, and these people remember their customers in retail and are easy to engage.(not good PR for the buddhists in Myanmar though, sadly, see when the teachings split into Theravada and Mahayana, and all these “scriptures” I started thinking wtf?, sorta like trying to understand Christian denominations, which I don’t, but I understood John Walton, and all the dynamics possible in a large loving family)
Like archetypes / myths influencing culture influencing archetypes, for example The Matrix (I must apologize and state my position on “gaming using information technology”; never been interested) I’ve looked at cyberpunk lit, but it is not really my thing, anything too culturally determined is bound to be prejudicial, don’t you think?
The editor of the local paper is a shill for the retailers though, while in the same editorial acknowledging what “a low-wage economy” the region is (we are in the bottom of employment, health and a few other lovely (not) socio-economic statistical indicators)
There is a great literary journalist at the local paper though-Mark Story, so not all is lost
Wittgenstein stated “that the meaning of the system, is outside the system”, however he also asserted, that faith is just another “language game” so either/or as Johannes /Judge Vilhelm would argue
however, readings recently strongly suggest that there are enough common referents and definitions between moderate Christian and Islamic scholars understanding of the monotheistic God of Abraham to allow discourse at the highest levels even with the Pope,
and over half the population of the planet acknowledge that understanding, or variations of it now, and have done across generations within the “advancing” cultures for more than Three millennia;
If the medical science priests could get away with it, they would seek a pathogen (of course, they would not look at food, or the socio-cultural-economic situation of peoples lives) and they would develop and trial a vaccine; they could call it a “cluster-munition”
I might be fortunate enough to get a wee flat soon, thanks to the provisions and foresight of earlier Labour governments, and then if I can get a job gardening, I will be more secure than many of our fellow people, one way or another (i’m gonna getcha, getcha getcha good) They ripped into Debbie too for her past, freakin paparazzi parasites
Imagine being Mick Fleetwood and having memories snorting you-know-what- off the bottom of you-know-who.With my memory, I do not think I would need to ever open my eyes again, just kidding
Blues-Gospel-Soul-R&B-Rock-Steady-Reggae-Rock-Punk-New Order-House-Grunge
Drum and Bass-Pulp-Blur-Radiohead-TripHop-Bluegrass-Grunge-Black Sabbath Worship
John Tamihere – Asshole of the Week
Tamihere might come across as a jovial kind of chap, but his recent statements have been entirely undiplomatic and show him to be just another political fool…
Very good post by Susun Krumdiek over at The Jackal. Practical suggestions presented in an easy to understand form. A couple of excerpts:
and
http://thejackalman.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/a-guest-post-by-susan-krumdieck.html
How about focusing on the REAL issues folks?
REPEALING the legislative framework upon which the neo-liberal ROGERNOMICS model was based / OPENING THE BOOKS/ and supporting an ACTION PLAN TO PREVENT CORRUPTION – ‘WHITE COLLAR’ CRIME & ‘CORPORATE WELFARE’ IN NZ?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/11/14/new-zealand-tops-list-of-the-best-countries-for-business/
(My comment- yet to be published.)
“OPEN LETTER SENT TO TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL BY NEW ZEALAND ‘ANTI-CORRUPTION’ CAMPAIGNER /’WHISTLEBLOWER’ Penny Bright:
31 October 2012
For the URGENT attention of Transparency International Secretariat, and global member ‘chapters’.
I, Penny Bright, from New Zealand, was an attendee at the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference 2010, in Bangkok, and widely distributed a ‘whistle-blowing’ NZ ‘Corruption Reality Checklist’ – which showed the lack of transparency and accountability in New Zealand, which is consistently ‘perceived’ to be ‘the least corrupt country in the world’ (according to the TI ‘Corruption Perception Index’).
In my considered opinion, if Transparency International is going to ignore the FACTS and EVIDENCE presented by ‘whistleblowers’ such as myself – then your ‘Corruption Perception Index’ is going to be seen as being effectively meaningless as a global indicator of global corruption.
(This ‘whistle-blowing’ NZ ‘Corruption Reality Checklist’ has since ‘morphed’ into the following:)
ACTION PLAN TO PREVENT CORRUPTION – ‘WHITE COLLAR’ CRIME & ‘CORPORATE WELFARE’ IN NZ:
1. Get our anti-corruption domestic legislative framework in place so NZ can ratify the UN Convention Against Corruption.
2. Set up an NZ independent anti-corruption body tasked with educating the public and PREVENTING corruption.
3. Change NZ laws to ensure genuine transparency in the funding of candidates for elected public office and political parties at central and local government level.
4. Legislate for an enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for NZ Members of Parliament (who make the rules foreveryone else).
5. Make it an offence under the Local Government Act 2002 for NZ Local Government elected representatives to breach their ‘Code of Conduct’.
6. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Local Government elected representatives.
7. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Central Government staff responsible for property and procurement, (including the Ministry of Health), in order to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
8. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available ‘Register of Interests’ for NZ Local Government staff, and Directors and staff employed by ‘Council-Controlled Organisations (CCOs) responsible for property and procurement.
9. Make it a lawful requirement for details of ‘contracts issued’ – including the name of the contractor; scope, term and value of the contract to be published in NZ Central Government Public Sector, and Local Government (Council), and ‘Council-Controlled Organisation (CCO) Annual Reports so that they are available for public scrutiny.
10. Make it a lawful requirement that a ‘cost-benefit analysis’ of NZ Central Government, and Local Government public finances be undertaken to prove that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in-house’ is cost-effective for the public majority. If not – then return public service provision to staff directly employed ‘in-house’ and cut out these private contractors who are effectively dependent on ‘corporate welfare’.
11. Legislate for a legally-enforcable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary, to ensure they are not ‘above the law’.
12. Ensure that ALL NZ Court proceedings are recorded, and audio records made available to parties who request them.
13. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’, to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
14. Make it a lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ ‘Register of Lobbyists’ and ‘Code of Conduct for Lobbyists’ at Central Government Ministerial level.
15. Make it a lawful requirement at NZ Central and Local Government level for a ‘post-separation employment quarantine’ period from the time officials leave the public service to take up a similar role in the private sector. (Help stop the ‘revolving door’).
16. Make it a lawful requirement that it is only a binding vote of the public majority that can determine whether public assets held at NZ Central or Local Government level are sold; or long-term leased via Public-Private –Partnerships (PPPs).
17. Make it unlawful for politicians to knowingly misrepresent their policies prior to election at central or local government level.
18. Make laws to protect individuals, NGOs and community-based organisations who are ‘whistleblowing’ against ‘conflicts of interest’ and corrupt practices at central and local government level and within the judiciary.
19. Legislate to help stop ‘State Capture’, a form of ‘grand corruption’ arguably endemic in NZ – where vested interests get their way at the ‘policy level’ before legislation is passed which serves their interests.
Prepared by Penny Bright, ‘Anti-corruption’ and ‘Anti-privatisation’ campaigner waterpressure@gmail.com)
_______________________________________________________________
CORRUPTION AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF THE AUCKLAND $UPERCITY:
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/SiteCollectionDocuments/aboutcouncil/governingbody/governingbodymin20121025.pdf
7.1 Penny Bright – Open letter to Auditor General
Ms Bright was present to address the meeting regarding her open letter to the Auditor-General on conflicts of interest.
_______________________________________________________________
This presentation was filmed, and can be viewed, (after registering – costs nothing to register) athttp://www.allaboutauckland.com/
“CORRUPTION AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS” 25 October 2012: ”
_______________________________________________________________
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
(New Zealand)
[lprent: Frigging hell Penny. We need to get you onto the mandatory verbiage reduction diet. ]
Actually. Penny is doing good here. Reminding us of how corrupt our “leaders” really are.
It’s not ‘verbiage’ – these are concrete, sensible proposals that any political party with any brains would pick up?
In my considered opinion?
(You may prefer this ‘verbiage’? 🙂
“NZ Herald – News digest Tuesday 20 November 2012
Banks faces more counts
Act leader John Banks is facing two fresh charges in a private prosecution brought by political activist Graham McCready. The charges relate to Mr Banks’ role at investment company Huljich Wealth Management before he became an Act MP. ”
_____________________________________________________________
Graham McCready states that the Wellington Deputy Registrar ‘confirmed she would set them down for Banks to be Summons to appear on these two with the Local Elections Act charge on 11 December 2012 at 1:45.
The Court will ensure the Police serve all three summonses.’
So!
The arguably ‘Not-so Honorable’ John Banks will appear in the Wellington District Court, on Tuesday 11 December 2012, to face private prosecutions over alleged electoral fraud and ‘Mr Banks’ role at investment company Huljich Wealth Management before he became an Act MP’.
Bit of a sad day for the ‘perceived’ least corrupt country in the world, when individual citizens have to take private prosecutions in order to help ensure ‘ONE LAW FOR ALL’ actually does apply equally in New Zealand?
Where were the regulatory and statutory bodies when it came to applying ‘ONE LAW FOR ALL’ to fellow former Directors of Huljich Wealth Management(NZ) Ltd – current and former leaders of the ACT Party – John Banks and Don Brash?
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
About bloody time!
The count down has begun
http://transitionvoice.com/2012/11/a-farewell-to-arms/
A farewell to arms
By Guy McPherson November 19, 2012
In previous essays in this space I have mentioned two phenomena worth fighting for: the living planet and freedom based in anarchy. I surrender. I no longer believe the struggle matters on either front.
Kiss goodbye the living planet
I no longer think we’ll save the remaining shards of the living planet beyond another human generation. We’ll destroy every — or nearly every – species on Earth when the positive feedbacks associated with climate change come seriously into play (and I’ve not previously considered the increasingly dire prospects of methane release from Antarctica or the wildfire-induced release of carbon from Siberian peat bogs). Due to numerous positive feedbacks, climate change has become irreversible over temporal spans relevant to humans. Such is the nature of reaching the acceleration phase of the nonlinear system that is climate catastrophe.
The climate-change data, models and assessments keep coming at us, like waves crashing on a rocky, indifferent beach. The worst drought in 800 years in the western United States is met by levels of societal ignorance and political silence I’ve come to expect. I would be stunned if this valley — or any other area in the interior of a northern-hemisphere continent — will provide habitat for humans five years from now. And climate change is only part of the story.
My trademark optimism vanishes when I realize that, in addition to climate chaos, we’re on the verge of tacking on ionizing radiation from the world’s 444 nuclear power plants. Let’s ignore for now the radioactive waste we’ve left lying around without a plan or already dumped into the world’s oceans. When we choke on our own poison, we’ll be taking the whole ship down with us, spewing a global blanket of radiation in the wake of collapse. Can we kill every single species on Earth? Apparently we’re willing to give it a try, and I will not be surprised by our “success” at this omnicidal endeavor.
“My trademark optimism”
hahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahhahahahaahahhaahahahahhaahahahahahahahhahahahahaahhahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa!
When you get up off the floor, read the rest of Guy’s essay. Its a real laugh.
Your excerpt was funny enough. It looked like you wrote that bit about optimism. And I have doubts about claims to optimism by people who are preaching 100% extinction of life on the planet. Blatant bollocks – or at least a massive bias towards higher life forms. Which makes me doubt the reliability of other predictions made by the same people.
Lazy thinking.
I think Guy has a clue, more so than anyone else I know anyway. But then I might have a small circle of stupid friends).
Guy’s bio – Academic B.S. Forest Resources, University of Idaho, 1982
M.S. Range Science, Texas Tech University, 1984
Ph.D. Range Science, Texas Tech University, 1987
Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Georgia Institute of Ecology, 1987-1988
Visiting Assistant Professor, Texas A & M University Range Science Department, 1988-1989
Assistant Professor, University of Arizona School of Renewable Natural Resources, 1989-1995
Visiting Associate Professor, University of California-Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, 1995-1996
Associate Professor, University of Arizona School of Renewable Natural Resources, 1995-2000
Director, The Nature Conservancy David H. Smith Fellows Program, 1999-2000
Professor, University of Arizona School of Renewable Natural Resources, 2000-present
Professor, University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, 2002-present.
Guy in Auckland http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk9I0peQOmg
Given that there are fungi growing inside the Chernobyl sarcophagus, I’m saying that:
… is a pretty massive call. Even human extinction is a big call – humans have managed to build communities is the harshest places on the planet. So worst case we’re looking at a significant reduction in the human population down to sustainable levels, maybe a bit of the old soylent green scenario as a transition period.
But sterilizing the planet? Not a hope.
Company executives receive bonuses after causing business to collapse in bankruptcy
Or attempt to but, still:
We aren’t exactly seeing great management here and it has been getting very well rewarded for trashing the company.
Hostess looted their employees pension fund too.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/18/1162786/-Inside-the-Hostess-Bankery
Also, private equity has sniffed blood.
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/11/19/hostess-sun-buyout/
A something awful post about the CEO Gregory Rayburn.
Correct. Let’s take a look at current Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn’s executive resume, per Businessweek and LinkedIn:
CEO, Hostess Brands: February 2012 – Present (10 months)
CRO, Indiana Live Casino and Indiana Downs Racetrack: February 2011 – April 2012 (1 year 3 months)
CEO, NYCOTB: July 2010 – January 2011 (7 months)
CEO, Magna Entertainment Corp. March 2009 – May 2010 (1 year 3 months)
CEO, Muzak: 2005 – 2006 (1 year)
CRO, AAIPharma Services Corp.: 2004 – 2005 (1 year)
CRO, WorldCom: 2003 – 2004 (1 year)
CEO. Sunterra: 2002 – 2003 (1 year)
Co-Founder, Capstone Equity: 1999 – 2001 (2 years)
Huh. In ten years, he’s helped run eight (8) companies, yet his average tenure is just under one (1) year. Sounds like just the guy to provide some stability to a company that’s hemorrhaging cash (Hostess has had six CEOs in eight years, an obvious indicator of sensible and stable leadership; insert deck-chairs-on-Titanic metaphor here).
Arctic versus Antarctic Sea Ice.
Suggestions that modest increases in sea ice around Antarctica offset significant losses in Arctic sea ice are based on a bogus “apples and oranges” comparison. Through interviews with a range of respected experts, Peter Sinclair’s newest Yale Forum video explains why such suggestions do not stand up to scientific scrutiny.