The Herald this morning has lashed the Government for legislating away the right of kiwis, apart from the few who already have, to seek to be paid for looking after their disabled Whanau.
In a particularly hitting passage it said “[i]t could be argued the World Cup and the Canterbury earthquakes were events out of the ordinary that demanded such an urgent response setting aside constitutional nuance. But that can hardly be said to be the case in terms of improving the support of disabled people and their families. The Government’s unseemly focus on reducing litigation risk has triggered a shabby piece of legislation and a deplorable flouting of parliamentary process.”
So why smash this through under urgency even though it does not come into effect until October?
The answer seems to be that in its haste to produce a “surplus” it had to get a potential liability off its books. Even very modest potential liabilities can negate the wafer thin surplus the government is pinning its reelection chances on.
Maybe the Herald could lead with ‘Democracy under attack.’
This totalitarian government should be a wake up call to the sleepy hobbits, as Bomber puts it.
We get angry when Loan Sharks trap the unwary and next minute the trapped are in an impossible place. So imagine the unwary being trapped through having the temerity to borrow for educational improvement! How stupid is she! Getting a degree indeed! Know your place woman!
I have a relative who wants to complete his MA but there is no Student Allowance. More debt.
Indeed there have been changes to tighten up the allowance and they were achieved by stealth which is the way this government likes to work. After 2.5 years as a fulltime extramural student I’ve had to stop studying because the allowance was ridiculous but the debt is still there. Anytime you go to studylink now it’s log on to igovernment so they can keep extra vigilance on students and make sure they get their pound of flesh.
I am still trying to work out how anyone would be eliagable for a post grad student allowance when most people would have used up their allocation in undergrad and honours
Well, some of us made use of student loan living costs for undergrad, which if you can find a cheap flat that does communal cooking is nearly liveable without turning to student job search for work. But if you’re unlucky, pretty much you need to have a steady part time job just to pay for rent, bills and your own food, as well as stuff like car costs, recreation etc, so the student allowance becomes very appealing to avoid the debt and give yourself more time for study and living.
The rational solution would be to go back to fully subsidised university and tertiary study, with appropriate gating via GPA and a complete scrapping of bums-on-seats funding and declare the current student debt as a lose and wipe it. As effectively tertiary education is an investment by society that usually leads to a person earning higher wages and so paying more in taxes, along with providing valuable skills or new businesses via start ups.
Unfortunately, well, NZ governments since the 1980’s have had an irrational love of short term benefits/costs and a rather twisted, non-empirical view of sustainable social costs vis viability, resulting in under investment in health, education and social security. Costs of which are now rather visible to all but the most ideological blind.
Not free…if you gained an income advantage from your higher level of education, then a truly progressive tax system would effectively mean your education entered into the realms of ‘fair exchange’.
But yup, although there would be a somewhat justified level of resentment from those who have bust their arses to repay loans to this point, wipe the debt.
I reckon that concentrating on the private benefit, provided it’s not extreme, is the wrong way of looking at things that are broad-brush policies.
Question is, do we as a society need an ongoing or even increasing number of highly trained individuals (from plumbers/gasfitters to brain surgeons)? If so, sticking a disincentive like fees and loans on people who we need (and who we need to stay in NZ) is counter-productive. If they get a massive income benefit from the increased training, then they pay tax on a higher threshold.
[edit] argh crap, that’s exactly what you said. My bad – busy day at the office
Chomsky claims that one of the main purposes of student loans was to discourage activism, both during and after the university years. When the government can arbitrarily change the interest rates, repayment thresholds, and minimum payments, any debtor is certainly in a vulnerable position.
The whole idiotic scheme should be done away with. University can be paid for via progressive taxation, or maybe even some form of work bonding. As it stands, someone setting up as a dentist, for example, basically has a mortgage to pay before they even start earning. This cost is pushed onto the wider community through increased professional charges. Taxpayers still pay for tertiary education indirectly anyway, so wouldn’t it be better to just pay for the study and maybe even benefit from said dentist working at a public clinic for a couple of years?
Actually if YOU do some reading (other than the Protocols or whatever it is you usually read), the US hasn’t stopped calling for a two state solution, they are in fact warning it must come soon before Israel goes too far.
No, but your hysterical Israel conspiracies incorporating any remotely Jewish celebrity beyond simply stating: Israel is a country in the Middle East and is doing bad things to further its interests, does mark you out as having a special antipathy for Jews. I don’t particularly like bigots. Nor do I like your relentless monologue of vitriol. You have nothing nice to say nor anything particularly constructive to contribute apart from one-sided anti-Semitic rants and acid bitchfests about broadcasters for th emost trite reasons.
It’s been the usual very bad day for poor old Populuxe1, and it just keeps getting worse. Let’s enjoy—if that’s the word for how one feels after encountering the outpourings of the deranged—his latest splash about in the depths of depraved rhetoric….
…your hysterical Israel conspiracies incorporating any remotely Jewish celebrity beyond simply stating: Israel is a country in the Middle East and is doing bad things to further its interests, does mark you out as having a special antipathy for Jews.
Of course, that unhinged barking says nothing about me or anything I have said. It does, sadly, say quite a lot about the unfortunate fellow who was driven to write it.
Nor do I like your relentless monologue of vitriol. You have nothing nice to say nor anything particularly constructive to contribute….
Yes I do, actually. And you know it. You go on obsessing on the bits that enrage you, though. I’m actually looking forward to it, in a grisly sort of way.
…. apart from one-sided anti-Semitic rants and acid bitchfests about broadcasters for th emost [sic] trite reasons.
Again with the anti-Semitic allegations. I challenge anyone—not you, Populuxe1, you’re not capable of rational argument—-to find one thing I have ever written that is anti-Semitic.
So? The BBC one deals with a number of proposals to ameliorate global warming, proposals being the key word.
The Guardian one gives a few symbols on a map, without any details. To look at one example, “increased precipitation” presumably means cloud seeding. This has been around for years, isn’t done on a global scale, and isn’t highly effective.
You ominously mentioned some program that had been going for fifty years. I see no evidence of anything like that.
However, there are several things which have been done and are still happening that affect climate over quite large areas. We can begin with CO2 and CH4 in the atmosphere, which have a truly global effect. Deforestation, forestation, urbanisation and the flooding of huge areas for hydroelectricity all have marked effects over reasonably large areas, but are not generally considered as being geoengineering.
I still have no real idea what you’re on about.
See also….
No. 8: Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20052013/#comment-635343
No. 7: Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15052013/#comment-633295
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632598
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632594
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628803
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628703
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013) http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25042013/#comment-624381
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19042013/#comment-621738
while seeing the case for food in schools..(aside from qualms about it being used by fonterra (and other unhealthy ‘food’-peddlers) to hook the young generations on their vile/cancer-causing-products)..
..isn’t such a move too much ambulance at bottom of cliff..?
..and would not so much of that clear need be obviated by the institution of a guaranteed minimum income for all citizens..?
..that would come close to ending poverty with one fell stroke..
..so my question would be..why not focus on moving the common-will towards that concept..?
..and my concerns are that the bandaid to poverty that food-in-schools will be..will be deemed for far too long to be ‘having done enough’ to fight the poverty that blights nz in 2013..
..that the energy of that common will/concern-at-poverty will be dissapated before the real reforms needed will/can be enacted..
Hmmm. So I’m guessing fuck all those mothers whose milk has dried up for medical reasons, or because they are in the middle of a famine, or they’ve had a double mastectomy, or they can’t for other reasons, or they don’t want to (I’m old-fashioned enough to think women should have the choice), or the father is raising the baby on his own because the mother has died in childbirth, or any one of a number of reasons. And the ant-milk hysteria is farcical, as ably demonstrated by the many generations who have grown up on cow milk.
Nice to see Jim doing a gig when he still took the music seriously and wasn’t totally trashed. Two years later and he probably couldn’t have recreated that performance.
i always found the doors (especially morrison) somewhat pedestrian/one-dimensional/white-boy/cartoon-rock..(especially compared to their competition/compatriots..)
..(a slightly heavier version of the eagles..?..monkees..?..)
..and given the signature organ-hooks came from manzarek..
..where does that leave morrison..?
..aside from flopping out his drug-addled wang a few-times on stage..?..and being generally ‘messy’ in his drug-use..
..what else did he do that any halfway competent bar-band lead singer couldn’t do..?
It must disappoint Maori National party supporters (I’m assuming there are some) that they aren’t allowed to have a candidate in the up-coming byelection. ).
Sure the result is predictable but it is still showing indifference if not contempt for those who would like to exercise their right to have their say in the democratic process and also those Maori who would like to stand as candidates for National.
I guess the message is for National supporters is to tick the Maori party candidate while Labour, Mana and the Greens? split the vote.
I don’t think Maori voters are as malleable and gullible as the bewildered folks of Epsom. It’s a Labour win, guaranteed. Look for the almost total collapse of the Key regime’s stooge party.
Gavin Ellis is Mogadon
National Radio, 11:59 a.m., Tuesday May 21, 2013.
I’m listening to that bore Gavin Ellis droning on in his utterly uninteresting fashion. I don’t know how Kathryn Ryan manages to stay awake. I swear she yawned a couple of times as this dullard bored on.
Surely there are more interesting media commentators available in this country.
Not only did he canvass the pain of the Anzus rift over New Zealand’s anti-nuclear laws and his part in the healing, he used the occasion to vent about the perils of deregulation leading to the global financial crisis in 2008, on multinationals making billions and paying little tax, and the responsibility of free traders to be focused on people.
He was playing to an audience that wasn’t there, that was obvious from the eye-rolling going on at the reception and the murmurs about it afterwards.
I found this bit interesting too in a disturbing way
Ten New Zealand companies with expertise in security and intelligence technology will spend several days at the New Zealand Embassy in Washington this week collaborating in a bid to expand their work with United States government agencies and companies.
Hey Marty – always be weary of anything an ex-politician attmpts to take credit for, especially one who played a core role in the destruction of so many lives, he deserves the gallows, nothing less!
Agree about the intelligence sharing, being disturbing, and that’s the little they want the plebs to know about.
The grid is formed, and was dropped a long time ago, yet people are still discussing, *rights/privacy/constitution*, and so on!
That’s all part of history now, cell phones, internet, smart meters, cloud et al, the control to legislate change at the whim of technology companies, and the control of the tech companies to enforce later versions of the technology through *retiring* earlier versions etc.
Technology will be the end of most people (it already is), thats a certainty, rather like the designed financial collapse/bankrupcy of NZ/Major cities, it has to happen, it can’t be any other way!
What struck me most about that piece is that the writer considers eye rolling and murmurs as an appropriate response to the issues Bolger mentioned. It really is “let them eat cake stuff”.
speaking of which, Morrissey,
Listened to Brian S. Roper , Political Historian, Otago University, on RNZ last night re Marxist perspective on Climate Change;
-“feedback loops = abrupt climate change= draconian government”.
A not so subtle propaganda exercise Ottolenghi’s Mediterranean Feast, Episode 6: Israel
Channel 4, played on Choice TV, Thursday 16 May 2013, 8:30 p.m.
When he unleashed his infamous foam-flecked rant against Hezbollah a few years ago, Anthony Bourdain established himself as the most aggressively ignorant of all celebrity chefs. The London-domiciled Israeli chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi is without doubt a more intelligent, personable and humane person than the coke-snorting, foul-mouthed, self-involved Bourdain.
Ottolenghi’s exploration of the delights of Israeli cuisine made for a highly interesting, engaging show. However, it contained a couple of outrageous, politically charged statements, one of them an outright lie, and some carefully managed evasions of the actual situation in Israel.
The outright lie comes first, as we see Ottolenghi speeding along a highway, enthusing about the hour of gustatory pleasures ahead of us: “I was brought up in the capital—JERUSALEM,” he shouts excitedly. “But the most dynamic city in Israel is Tel Aviv!” Cut to evocative shots of vibrant, bustling cafetarias and bars. It might be Italy, or Portugal, or Barcelona.
It seems like a small matter, an oversight, a mere mistake perhaps, to say that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. But Ottolenghi understood perfectly well what he was saying. Deliberately, flagrantly insisting that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel was the first of several little dishonesties to mar this program and take it beyond mere entertainment into the more sinister realm of state propaganda.
Ottolenghi might be an obvious and shameless liar, but he is a great guide to food and Israeli culture. The food he shows us is mouthwateringly gorgeous: hummus, flat breads, beef shakshuka, herb and ginger fishcakes with beetroot sauce, fig and goat-cheese tart with lemon icing, tomato and pomegranate salad. The men who cook these dishes are characters in their own right: smiling, affable, good-humored. But on his way out to the pomegranate farm of a chef called Shlomo, Ottolenghi casually drops another of his little propaganda bombs; as their car speeds past lush fields, he remarks that “until recently, this land was largely uncultivated.”
In Ottolenghi World, Jerusalem is simply beautiful, and ancient and mystical; an aesthetic and spiritual experience. We see extended coverage of Ottolenghi gathering herbs in the hills, which are, needless to say, picturesque, quiet and Palästinensischerfrei. There is not the slightest hint that there might be anything wrong; all views of the illegal, ugly, internationally condemned annexation wall have been meticulously excluded.
Then it’s back to the restaurant for pancakes stuffed with apple, sugar and goat’s cheese.
He’s an Israeli. As far as most Israelis are concerned, Jerusalem is the capital even if it isn’t internationally recognised as such. Hell, most Aucklanders are convinced Auckland is the capital of New Zealand. Not sure what your problem with Bourdain is – not enough Aryan baby blood in the motza balls?
So, in short, the vast majority of Israelies as practicing Jews are “terminally stupid” because as mandated by their faith in their worldview Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish nation. And you don’t like anyone remotely popular. Especially if they’re Jewish….
Of the 88 cases mentioned 27 were found to have had no information intercepted.
The remaining were said to involve the collection of metadata and the Inspector-General formed the view that there had arguably been no breach, noting once again that the law is unclear.
Metadata is the information surrounding a communication as opposed to the communication itself. For instance in an email it would involve the sender, receiver, and time of transmission. The content of the email itself would not be included.
I am not sure that the legal situation is unclear, section 14 of the GCSB Act prohibits the “intercepting the communications of a person (not being a foreign organisation or a foreign person) who is a New Zealand citizen or a permanent resident”. Overseas cases have always treated the metadata (for instance a phone number) as less worthy of privacy.
But if this is the case why doesn’t the Government just clarify this rather than give the GCSB open access?
But if this is the case why doesn’t the Government just clarify this rather than give the GCSB open access?
Because clarification is the last thing they want – instead, they want an uncertainty maintained and excuses – and a hand-picked crony has given exactly that. This is just perpetuating what’s already gone before.
What this country needs is a constitutional watchdog with teeth, but the Governor General is just another sock puppet and considering Goff’s actions over Peter Ellis and Ahmed Zaoui, as long as he’s in Labour, the “main opposition party” won’t do anything to change that once it’s “their turn” either.
“But if this is the case why doesn’t the Government just clarify this rather than give the GCSB open access?”
Because the news item is a puff-piece designed to try and put the issue to bed. In the next few days I expect we’ll hear John Key saying that he’s satisfied nothing illegal has happened with the GCSB and the law change will ensure this is never an issue again. And he’s right… it won’t be, because from now on the spying on NZers will be 100% Pure-ly Legit.
If there was arguably no breach, arguably, there was. So Mr Fletcher could also presumably have reported simply that the conclusion is that GCSB may have breached the law.
MS, your barking up the wrong tree if you think the intelligence services, give a rats, about adhering to legislative piffle!
The times they are a changin are way past concerning, but I’m pleased the agenda is becoming clear enough, that even the most stubborn mind should be starting to stir!
Banking/Military/Intelligence, dominates this world, and they’re tightening the net!
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 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 ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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The Herald this morning has lashed the Government for legislating away the right of kiwis, apart from the few who already have, to seek to be paid for looking after their disabled Whanau.
In a particularly hitting passage it said “[i]t could be argued the World Cup and the Canterbury earthquakes were events out of the ordinary that demanded such an urgent response setting aside constitutional nuance. But that can hardly be said to be the case in terms of improving the support of disabled people and their families. The Government’s unseemly focus on reducing litigation risk has triggered a shabby piece of legislation and a deplorable flouting of parliamentary process.”
The editorial is at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10884930.
So why smash this through under urgency even though it does not come into effect until October?
The answer seems to be that in its haste to produce a “surplus” it had to get a potential liability off its books. Even very modest potential liabilities can negate the wafer thin surplus the government is pinning its reelection chances on.
New Zealand it’s time to get angry.
Shameful at so many levels.
Maybe the Herald could lead with ‘Democracy under attack.’
This totalitarian government should be a wake up call to the sleepy hobbits, as Bomber puts it.
Yeah, still waiting for that angry banner headline, Herald.
We’ll have to wait till the government suggests we use energy saving lightbulbs….
We’ll have to wait till the government suggests we use energy saving lightbulbs….
Correction: We’ll have to wait till the LABOUR government suggests we use energy saving lightbulbs.
A 19th Century style debtor’s prison for this woman if she should ever return?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff-nation/assignments/share-your-news-and-views/8694964/Me-and-my-100k-student-loan
We get angry when Loan Sharks trap the unwary and next minute the trapped are in an impossible place. So imagine the unwary being trapped through having the temerity to borrow for educational improvement! How stupid is she! Getting a degree indeed! Know your place woman!
I have a relative who wants to complete his MA but there is no Student Allowance. More debt.
Indeed there have been changes to tighten up the allowance and they were achieved by stealth which is the way this government likes to work. After 2.5 years as a fulltime extramural student I’ve had to stop studying because the allowance was ridiculous but the debt is still there. Anytime you go to studylink now it’s log on to igovernment so they can keep extra vigilance on students and make sure they get their pound of flesh.
I am still trying to work out how anyone would be eliagable for a post grad student allowance when most people would have used up their allocation in undergrad and honours
Well, some of us made use of student loan living costs for undergrad, which if you can find a cheap flat that does communal cooking is nearly liveable without turning to student job search for work. But if you’re unlucky, pretty much you need to have a steady part time job just to pay for rent, bills and your own food, as well as stuff like car costs, recreation etc, so the student allowance becomes very appealing to avoid the debt and give yourself more time for study and living.
What’s the solution to this? She can’t be the only person in similar straits and it’s not a problem that will go away by itself.
The rational solution would be to go back to fully subsidised university and tertiary study, with appropriate gating via GPA and a complete scrapping of bums-on-seats funding and declare the current student debt as a lose and wipe it. As effectively tertiary education is an investment by society that usually leads to a person earning higher wages and so paying more in taxes, along with providing valuable skills or new businesses via start ups.
Unfortunately, well, NZ governments since the 1980’s have had an irrational love of short term benefits/costs and a rather twisted, non-empirical view of sustainable social costs vis viability, resulting in under investment in health, education and social security. Costs of which are now rather visible to all but the most ideological blind.
Forgive all student debt and make getting an education free.
Not free…if you gained an income advantage from your higher level of education, then a truly progressive tax system would effectively mean your education entered into the realms of ‘fair exchange’.
But yup, although there would be a somewhat justified level of resentment from those who have bust their arses to repay loans to this point, wipe the debt.
I reckon that concentrating on the private benefit, provided it’s not extreme, is the wrong way of looking at things that are broad-brush policies.
Question is, do we as a society need an ongoing or even increasing number of highly trained individuals (from plumbers/gasfitters to brain surgeons)? If so, sticking a disincentive like fees and loans on people who we need (and who we need to stay in NZ) is counter-productive. If they get a massive income benefit from the increased training, then they pay tax on a higher threshold.
[edit] argh crap, that’s exactly what you said. My bad – busy day at the office
Who officially owns the student debt , these days?
The government. Looks like an asset on their balance sheet
a liability, do you not mean.
Nope, an asset.
and yet it’s one of the shortcomings of capitalism that having highly qualified citizens isn’t viewed as an asset for the state.
hey Flockie, how come you don’t put up many informative links? (if you don’t mind me asking.
Chomsky claims that one of the main purposes of student loans was to discourage activism, both during and after the university years. When the government can arbitrarily change the interest rates, repayment thresholds, and minimum payments, any debtor is certainly in a vulnerable position.
The whole idiotic scheme should be done away with. University can be paid for via progressive taxation, or maybe even some form of work bonding. As it stands, someone setting up as a dentist, for example, basically has a mortgage to pay before they even start earning. This cost is pushed onto the wider community through increased professional charges. Taxpayers still pay for tertiary education indirectly anyway, so wouldn’t it be better to just pay for the study and maybe even benefit from said dentist working at a public clinic for a couple of years?
“Middle East a hot topic as McCully meets Kerry”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10885007
Yeah we get it. We were us bitches, then we weren’t for a bit, now we are again.
McCULLY: Mr. Secretary of State, I hear the Arabs are revolting.
KERRY: Revolting? They’re utterly disgusting, noisome, beastly, loathsome, monstrous, obnoxious, odious, hideous, foul and frightful.
Gosh, that must be why the Democrats have been pushing for a two state solution since the Clinton presidency.
You know nothing. Do some reading, fool.
some reading below Morrissey
Thank you, my friend. I’ll have a look when I get back from downtown. Have to go now.
Actually if YOU do some reading (other than the Protocols or whatever it is you usually read), the US hasn’t stopped calling for a two state solution, they are in fact warning it must come soon before Israel goes too far.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/05/why-kerry-was-wrong-to-say-the-two-state-solution-is-nearly-dead/275758/
Actually if YOU do some reading (other than the Protocols or whatever it is you usually read),
There you go again, attempting to smear instead of argue your corner. If you had any credibility, perhaps that crude jibe would have annoyed me.
Not really, I just like winding you up because I don’t like you
Not really, I just like winding you up because I don’t like you
No need to admit that you’re not serious; that’s been obvious for a long time. But why the personal animosity? That’s intriguing.
Do you often just start hating on people away from this Second Life forum?
No, but your hysterical Israel conspiracies incorporating any remotely Jewish celebrity beyond simply stating: Israel is a country in the Middle East and is doing bad things to further its interests, does mark you out as having a special antipathy for Jews. I don’t particularly like bigots. Nor do I like your relentless monologue of vitriol. You have nothing nice to say nor anything particularly constructive to contribute apart from one-sided anti-Semitic rants and acid bitchfests about broadcasters for th emost trite reasons.
It’s been the usual very bad day for poor old Populuxe1, and it just keeps getting worse. Let’s enjoy—if that’s the word for how one feels after encountering the outpourings of the deranged—his latest splash about in the depths of depraved rhetoric….
…your hysterical Israel conspiracies incorporating any remotely Jewish celebrity beyond simply stating: Israel is a country in the Middle East and is doing bad things to further its interests, does mark you out as having a special antipathy for Jews.
Of course, that unhinged barking says nothing about me or anything I have said. It does, sadly, say quite a lot about the unfortunate fellow who was driven to write it.
Nor do I like your relentless monologue of vitriol. You have nothing nice to say nor anything particularly constructive to contribute….
Yes I do, actually. And you know it. You go on obsessing on the bits that enrage you, though. I’m actually looking forward to it, in a grisly sort of way.
…. apart from one-sided anti-Semitic rants and acid bitchfests about broadcasters for th emost [sic] trite reasons.
Again with the anti-Semitic allegations. I challenge anyone—not you, Populuxe1, you’re not capable of rational argument—-to find one thing I have ever written that is anti-Semitic.
Attn: Murray Olsen (you asked for somewhere to start)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/graphic/2012/jul/17/geoengineering-world-map
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8338853.stm
So? The BBC one deals with a number of proposals to ameliorate global warming, proposals being the key word.
The Guardian one gives a few symbols on a map, without any details. To look at one example, “increased precipitation” presumably means cloud seeding. This has been around for years, isn’t done on a global scale, and isn’t highly effective.
You ominously mentioned some program that had been going for fifty years. I see no evidence of anything like that.
However, there are several things which have been done and are still happening that affect climate over quite large areas. We can begin with CO2 and CH4 in the atmosphere, which have a truly global effect. Deforestation, forestation, urbanisation and the flooding of huge areas for hydroelectricity all have marked effects over reasonably large areas, but are not generally considered as being geoengineering.
I still have no real idea what you’re on about.
LIARS OF OUR TIME
No. 9: NewstalkZB PR dept
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
—NewstalkZB, just before the news begins.
See also….
No. 8: Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20052013/#comment-635343
No. 7: Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15052013/#comment-633295
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632598
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632594
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628803
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628703
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013)
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25042013/#comment-624381
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19042013/#comment-621738
A very good post on Waitakere News about the government’s now-you-see-it;now-you-don’t food in schools policy.
while seeing the case for food in schools..(aside from qualms about it being used by fonterra (and other unhealthy ‘food’-peddlers) to hook the young generations on their vile/cancer-causing-products)..
..isn’t such a move too much ambulance at bottom of cliff..?
..and would not so much of that clear need be obviated by the institution of a guaranteed minimum income for all citizens..?
..that would come close to ending poverty with one fell stroke..
..so my question would be..why not focus on moving the common-will towards that concept..?
..and my concerns are that the bandaid to poverty that food-in-schools will be..will be deemed for far too long to be ‘having done enough’ to fight the poverty that blights nz in 2013..
..that the energy of that common will/concern-at-poverty will be dissapated before the real reforms needed will/can be enacted..
..phillip ure..
How is Fonterra an unhealthy food peddler again?
Is your new baby a calf or a human? Does your new baby prefer human proteins and enzymes to grow or cow proteins and enzymes to grow?
Hmmm. So I’m guessing fuck all those mothers whose milk has dried up for medical reasons, or because they are in the middle of a famine, or they’ve had a double mastectomy, or they can’t for other reasons, or they don’t want to (I’m old-fashioned enough to think women should have the choice), or the father is raising the baby on his own because the mother has died in childbirth, or any one of a number of reasons. And the ant-milk hysteria is farcical, as ably demonstrated by the many generations who have grown up on cow milk.
you got me there fair and square, having cow’s milk is indeed better than starving the baby on nothing during a famine.
populuxe:..first:..there are other options than just cow and breast milk..
..and yes..’generations’ also puffed furiously on cigarettes..
..put morphine/opium in cough medicines..
..(the list goes on and on..)
..surely you can see that is not really a rational argument/rejoinder you have proffered..?
..and like i said..do yr own research..make up yr own mind..
..just try to keep yr mind open to new knowledge..
..phillip ure
there is increasing evidence of the ill-effects from consuming baby-cow food..and bye-products..
..i have lots of that evidence at my place..under ‘vegan’..or if averse to going there..
..just google the question..and be overwhelmed by the evidence..
..don’t just take my word for it..eh..?
..phillip ure..
and a jaw-dropping (local-focused) fact from that evidence..is that the cancers increasingly being linked to dairy consumption..
..are cancers that we here in nz have at world-beating rates..
..and funny story..!..i think we are second in the world for consumption of that dairy…
..so..when you have that knowledge/awareness/warning locked in..
…it is easy to move to the opinion..that as far as health outcomes as adults are concerned..
..fonterra had may as well be handing out free-cigarettes to those schools..
..the concept/fonterra-plan is the same..hook ’em while they’re young..
..cancer..?..what cancer..?
..(and like i said..don’t take my word for it..do yr own research if doubting the veracity of these claims..
..and then start spreading the word..eh..?..
..but be warned..under the current repressive-laws..you could be opening yrslf up to charges of ‘economic-treason’..eh..?
..for even writing/talking/warning of such matters..
..wither free-speech..?..eh..?..)
..phillip ure..
and as compelling evidence of the benefits to be had from shedding that dairy-habit..
…have you seen bill clinton lately..?
..whoar..!..eh..?..he’s never looked that good..!..as fit as a jailhouse-rat..
..his daughter talked him into trying an animal-flesh/dairy-free diet..
..and ‘bubba?’…has now become “bubba!”
..and his heart-issues have all cleared up..
..go figure..!..eh..?
..phillip ure..
How can you tell a vegan? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you. Worse than Evangelical Christians.
how can you tell a reactionary-carnivore/dairyvore..?
..they don’t have to speak..usually the high-blood-pressure-flushed-face/short-breath/power-belly/old-skin will give them away..
..eh..?
phillip ure..
He even tells the simplest jokes wrongly.
Bad day keeps on gettin’ badder.
so..morrissey..i take it you don’t follow the dietary-recommendations of the person who’se name/persona you have borrowed..?
..um..!..why actually did you choose that name to borrow..?..that not eating animals thing being so important to morrissey..eh..?
..do you lean into his all round glumness..?
..(i’m having an irony-moment here..heh..!..)
phillip ure..
It’s the music and the politics, phillip.
Unfortunately, I lack my namesake’s strength of character and have remained something of a carnivore.
RIP Ray
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLAr-WlxMZY
Thanks for posting the link to that high quality recording of When The Music’s Over, Marty. Really enjoyed that.
Thanks Clockie yes I loved it too – watched it 3 times and I’m loving it – Ray was amazing on that keyboard, amazing – and as a group wow!!!
Nice to see Jim doing a gig when he still took the music seriously and wasn’t totally trashed. Two years later and he probably couldn’t have recreated that performance.
Yep truth
R.I.P Crystal Ship
i always found the doors (especially morrison) somewhat pedestrian/one-dimensional/white-boy/cartoon-rock..(especially compared to their competition/compatriots..)
..(a slightly heavier version of the eagles..?..monkees..?..)
..and given the signature organ-hooks came from manzarek..
..where does that leave morrison..?
..aside from flopping out his drug-addled wang a few-times on stage..?..and being generally ‘messy’ in his drug-use..
..what else did he do that any halfway competent bar-band lead singer couldn’t do..?
..phillip ure..
Ha, Neil Finn’s an OBE and you’re concerned that JM reverence is unwarranted?
It must disappoint Maori National party supporters (I’m assuming there are some) that they aren’t allowed to have a candidate in the up-coming byelection. ).
Sure the result is predictable but it is still showing indifference if not contempt for those who would like to exercise their right to have their say in the democratic process and also those Maori who would like to stand as candidates for National.
I guess the message is for National supporters is to tick the Maori party candidate while Labour, Mana and the Greens? split the vote.
I don’t think Maori voters are as malleable and gullible as the bewildered folks of Epsom. It’s a Labour win, guaranteed. Look for the almost total collapse of the Key regime’s stooge party.
Epsom was a clear case of Johnnymandering…wait for the PM to have a cuppa with the Maori Party candidate …Honemandering?
Gavin Ellis is Mogadon
National Radio, 11:59 a.m., Tuesday May 21, 2013.
I’m listening to that bore Gavin Ellis droning on in his utterly uninteresting fashion. I don’t know how Kathryn Ryan manages to stay awake. I swear she yawned a couple of times as this dullard bored on.
Surely there are more interesting media commentators available in this country.
Surely?
I can only hope that if you were comatose you would lay off the vitriol. It get’s tiresome after, well, actually, almost immediately.
Really? I’m as tiresome as Gavin Ellis?
I don’t think so. And neither do you.
It get’s [sic] tiresome….
A little mistake, maybe, but it makes you look second-rate. Flustered, were you?
No, more like a combination of flu and you sapping my faith in humanity
lol
McFlock, you managed a laugh at Pops irony, which is nice to see a show of support for him..
Good to see Poppy going full frontal again!
No, more like a combination of flu and you sapping my faith in humanity
You’re flustered.
Hope it’s nothing minor.
classy
Stay classy, Northcote Point.
Jeepers, Jim Bolger I applaud your speech.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10884963
I found this bit interesting too in a disturbing way
Hey Marty – always be weary of anything an ex-politician attmpts to take credit for, especially one who played a core role in the destruction of so many lives, he deserves the gallows, nothing less!
Agree about the intelligence sharing, being disturbing, and that’s the little they want the plebs to know about.
The grid is formed, and was dropped a long time ago, yet people are still discussing, *rights/privacy/constitution*, and so on!
That’s all part of history now, cell phones, internet, smart meters, cloud et al, the control to legislate change at the whim of technology companies, and the control of the tech companies to enforce later versions of the technology through *retiring* earlier versions etc.
Technology will be the end of most people (it already is), thats a certainty, rather like the designed financial collapse/bankrupcy of NZ/Major cities, it has to happen, it can’t be any other way!
What struck me most about that piece is that the writer considers eye rolling and murmurs as an appropriate response to the issues Bolger mentioned. It really is “let them eat cake stuff”.
speaking of which, Morrissey,
Listened to Brian S. Roper , Political Historian, Otago University, on RNZ last night re Marxist perspective on Climate Change;
-“feedback loops = abrupt climate change= draconian government”.
Jonathan Neale “Stop Global Warming”
http://books.google.co.nz/books/about/Stop_Global_Warming_Change_the_World.html?id=lWUcAQAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y
“The Carbon Bubble”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aiko-stevenson/the-carbon-bubble_1_b_3114501.html
http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2013/05/16/after-bubbles-in-dotcoms-and-housing-heres-the-carbon-bubble/
http://theenergycollective.com/davidhone/220316/carbon-bubble-reality-check
http://www.carbontracker.org/carbonbubble
(all these investments in carbon are spread across the major Stock Exchanges)
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/04/20/carbon-bubble-6-trillion-of-new-investments-at-risk/
Stock Exchanges
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2013/apr/19/countries-exposed-carbon-bubble-map
Couldn’t find anything about a Marxist perspective of the link provided to Brian S Roper’s blog but I assume you mean this one.
Thanks Draco. a much-needed sabbatical coming methinks; catch up on some book-reading.
from the tele, and the radio;
-Pacific peoples, soaring unemployment; 19-24 year-olds- 43.5%
-Pacific children in poverty- 40%
Parata’s inane response- “upskill”, “work harder”.
China – U.S tech trade tensions; “a lose- lose for Obama” (and the ‘I’ word has been raised re Barack).
China – E.U trade wars over Solar Panel import duties; “a great mistake”.
Nietzsche and Taoism
(our prayers are with the PRC).
A not so subtle propaganda exercise
Ottolenghi’s Mediterranean Feast, Episode 6: Israel
Channel 4, played on Choice TV, Thursday 16 May 2013, 8:30 p.m.
When he unleashed his infamous foam-flecked rant against Hezbollah a few years ago, Anthony Bourdain established himself as the most aggressively ignorant of all celebrity chefs. The London-domiciled Israeli chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi is without doubt a more intelligent, personable and humane person than the coke-snorting, foul-mouthed, self-involved Bourdain.
Ottolenghi’s exploration of the delights of Israeli cuisine made for a highly interesting, engaging show. However, it contained a couple of outrageous, politically charged statements, one of them an outright lie, and some carefully managed evasions of the actual situation in Israel.
The outright lie comes first, as we see Ottolenghi speeding along a highway, enthusing about the hour of gustatory pleasures ahead of us: “I was brought up in the capital—JERUSALEM,” he shouts excitedly. “But the most dynamic city in Israel is Tel Aviv!” Cut to evocative shots of vibrant, bustling cafetarias and bars. It might be Italy, or Portugal, or Barcelona.
It seems like a small matter, an oversight, a mere mistake perhaps, to say that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. But Ottolenghi understood perfectly well what he was saying. Deliberately, flagrantly insisting that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel was the first of several little dishonesties to mar this program and take it beyond mere entertainment into the more sinister realm of state propaganda.
Ottolenghi might be an obvious and shameless liar, but he is a great guide to food and Israeli culture. The food he shows us is mouthwateringly gorgeous: hummus, flat breads, beef shakshuka, herb and ginger fishcakes with beetroot sauce, fig and goat-cheese tart with lemon icing, tomato and pomegranate salad. The men who cook these dishes are characters in their own right: smiling, affable, good-humored. But on his way out to the pomegranate farm of a chef called Shlomo, Ottolenghi casually drops another of his little propaganda bombs; as their car speeds past lush fields, he remarks that “until recently, this land was largely uncultivated.”
In Ottolenghi World, Jerusalem is simply beautiful, and ancient and mystical; an aesthetic and spiritual experience. We see extended coverage of Ottolenghi gathering herbs in the hills, which are, needless to say, picturesque, quiet and Palästinensischerfrei. There is not the slightest hint that there might be anything wrong; all views of the illegal, ugly, internationally condemned annexation wall have been meticulously excluded.
Then it’s back to the restaurant for pancakes stuffed with apple, sugar and goat’s cheese.
Occupation? What occupation?
He’s an Israeli. As far as most Israelis are concerned, Jerusalem is the capital even if it isn’t internationally recognised as such. Hell, most Aucklanders are convinced Auckland is the capital of New Zealand. Not sure what your problem with Bourdain is – not enough Aryan baby blood in the motza balls?
He’s an Israeli. As far as most Israelis are concerned, Jerusalem is the capital…
No, most Israelis, except the likes of Binjamin Netanyahu and the terminally stupid, are aware that Tel Aviv is the capital.
…even if it isn’t internationally recognised as such.
Jerusalem (Al Quds) is not the capital of Israel. Except in your head.
Hell, most Aucklanders are convinced Auckland is the capital of New Zealand.
No they are not.
Not sure what your problem with Bourdain is –
Bourdain is a fool. You need to find out something about him. (Something else you know nothing about.)
…not enough Aryan baby blood in the motza balls?
Wow, that was funny. No, not really.
So, in short, the vast majority of Israelies as practicing Jews are “terminally stupid” because as mandated by their faith in their worldview Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish nation. And you don’t like anyone remotely popular. Especially if they’re Jewish….
So, in short, the vast majority of Israelies as practicing Jews are “terminally stupid”…
No, but I think we have established with a fair degree of certainty that you are.
on form today, we see, Pop. 😀 (are you reducing your carbon footprint).
Don’t tease him, ghostrider. He’s got the ‘flu, and is thoroughly discombobulated.
The Herald is reporting that the GCSB has been cleared of the illegal spying on New Zealanders by the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10885098)
Of the 88 cases mentioned 27 were found to have had no information intercepted.
The remaining were said to involve the collection of metadata and the Inspector-General formed the view that there had arguably been no breach, noting once again that the law is unclear.
Metadata is the information surrounding a communication as opposed to the communication itself. For instance in an email it would involve the sender, receiver, and time of transmission. The content of the email itself would not be included.
I am not sure that the legal situation is unclear, section 14 of the GCSB Act prohibits the “intercepting the communications of a person (not being a foreign organisation or a foreign person) who is a New Zealand citizen or a permanent resident”. Overseas cases have always treated the metadata (for instance a phone number) as less worthy of privacy.
But if this is the case why doesn’t the Government just clarify this rather than give the GCSB open access?
I see they were investigating weapons of mass destruction.
Those bloody pressure cookers are every where.
*Potential* WMD
But if this is the case why doesn’t the Government just clarify this rather than give the GCSB open access?
Because clarification is the last thing they want – instead, they want an uncertainty maintained and excuses – and a hand-picked crony has given exactly that. This is just perpetuating what’s already gone before.
What this country needs is a constitutional watchdog with teeth, but the Governor General is just another sock puppet and considering Goff’s actions over Peter Ellis and Ahmed Zaoui, as long as he’s in Labour, the “main opposition party” won’t do anything to change that once it’s “their turn” either.
“But if this is the case why doesn’t the Government just clarify this rather than give the GCSB open access?”
Because the news item is a puff-piece designed to try and put the issue to bed. In the next few days I expect we’ll hear John Key saying that he’s satisfied nothing illegal has happened with the GCSB and the law change will ensure this is never an issue again. And he’s right… it won’t be, because from now on the spying on NZers will be 100% Pure-ly Legit.
If there was arguably no breach, arguably, there was. So Mr Fletcher could also presumably have reported simply that the conclusion is that GCSB may have breached the law.
MS, your barking up the wrong tree if you think the intelligence services, give a rats, about adhering to legislative piffle!
The times they
are a changinare way past concerning, but I’m pleased the agenda is becoming clear enough, that even the most stubborn mind should be starting to stir!Banking/Military/Intelligence, dominates this world, and they’re tightening the net!
We’re through the looking glass here people.
‘Arguably’. Says it all about Shonkey’s gummint. So much is ‘arguable’ in his world.
It’s so similar to Work and Income it’s spooky. The furniture and colour scheme I mean.
http://tinyurl.com/par3jpj
Imagine my complete lack of surprise:
“GCSB cleared of illegal spying”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10885098
EDIT: Mickey, snap!