Awesome, I’ll be checking it out too, not tonight though but when they upload it onto the Country Calendar website. Much more interesting than the shows on standard farming.
The Archdruid explaining why the Left has been losing to the Right.
‘
There are at least two reasons why a strategy of pure reaction, without any coherent attempt to advance an agenda of its own or even a clear idea of what that agenda might be, has been a fruitful source of humiliation and defeat for the American left. The first is that this approach violates one of the most basic rules of strategy: you win when you seize the initiative and force the other side to respond to your actions, and you lose by passively responding to whatever the other side comes up with. In any contest, without exception, if you surrender the initiative and let the other side set the terms of the conflict, you’re begging to be beaten, and will normally get your wish in short order.
That in itself is bad enough. A movement that defines itself in purely negative terms, though, and attempts solely to prevent someone else’s agenda from being enacted rather than pursuing a concrete agenda of its own, suffers from another massive problem: the best such a movement can hope for is a continuation of the status quo, because the only choice it offers is the one between business as usual and something worse. That’s fine if most people are satisfied with the way things are, and are willing to fling themselves into the struggle for the sake of a set of political, economic, and social arrangements that they consider worth fighting for.
From the same article.
What a perfect description of many compromised Labour MPs in the UK and NZ.
‘I’m not sure why so many people on the leftward end of American politics haven’t noticed that this is not the case today. One hypothesis that comes to mind is that by and large, the leftward end of the American political landscape is dominated by middle class and upper middle class white people from the comparatively prosperous coastal states. Many of them belong to the upper 20% by income of the American population, and the rest aren’t far below that threshold. The grand bargain of the Reagan years, by which the middle classes bought a guarantee of their wealth and privilege by letting their former allies in the working classes get thrown under the bus, has profited them hugely, and holding onto what they gained by that maneuver doubtless ranks high on their unstated list of motives—much higher, certainly, than pushing for a different future that might put their privileges in jeopardy.’
He is just so wrong.
The monolithic left failed in the 1980s, and won. It won because “the left” split into a series of highly successful liberative movements in the late 1960s, which continued and established themselves throughout the media, academia, and education systems.
It failed because conservative governments could smash the post-WW11 Labour-capital-consumerism world while the Soviet empire remained the boogeyman of strong-state redistributive economies.
we forget the continuing successes of the former too easily, as if we are in a world of perpetual progressive regret. we are not.
Yet the basic premise of the the Archdruid Report’s latest post rings true: the Left has been losing to the Right for several decades now, and continues to lose.
It continues to lose because the Right sets the agenda and the Left reacts to it, all in an environment where the Right now has massively more institutional power than the Left.
On this, Greer, the Archdruid is spot on.
The monolithic left failed in the 1980s, and won. It won because “the left” split into a series of highly successful liberative movements in the late 1960s,
Please clarify. Where in the world did the political economic left win.
The political economic left didn’t always win.
But the importance of the economic can be overstated.
The political left found ways to recapture power elsewhere than electoral politics.
In most big-state countries, the social welfare state hasn’t been dismantled – hell even National hasn’t touched Working for Families, Kiwisaver, the unemployment benefit, or NZSuper.
Also, even National was perfectly happy to push through Gay Marriage, not repeal the Anti-Smacking Law, pushed on with Waitangi settlements, and can’t even pull someone’s hair without a smackdown. NZ is far more socially liberal than it ever used to be – and that’s a set of victories caused by the left.
Not defending this government. Just pointing out that many of the left’s victories have been banked, even built on, by National.
That particular Druid is a misanthrope.
A really simple way to keep any movement alive, or indeed any patient, is to tell them what is working, and do more of it. That writer is just a cheerleader for the Global Movement Of Told You So’s.
I posted this last night Paul. I think this will help you understand that the left is very much alive. I’ve been saying on here that labour is not the left. I know the activist who write here think it is, but they need to realise they have a real problem with hard right wing members in the labour party, who distort and twist a strong social democratic message.
And if that sounds like the manifesto of your average political party, then you’re right on the money. The endless pursuit of the Centrist voter has reduced our politicians to the equivalent of those journalistic low-lifes who go scavenging through the garbage of the rich and famous. In much the same way, the carelessly discarded detritus of the men and women “in the middle” gets picked over by political rubbish men, cleaned up, and re-cycled into party policy.
I think the Chairman is one who demands a citation when presented with a commenters’ opinion here, so it is only right to request details of a criticism from him about a media event.
can’t understand why citations should be asked for on opinions. Perhaps the question response should be – why do you think that?
I felt exactly the same, the loss of David Cunliffe’s ability to front the hard issues on television in his calm, cool and articulate way, is very apparent these days in my opinion. The Labour caucus have a lot to be ashamed of, they gave David Cunliffe a very short amount of time to establish himself before the election and then forced him out . He won every debate on television and would have been so good right now, with everything turning to custard on the economic front. Thanks Phil Goff, David Shearer, Clayton Cosgrove, Annette King, Grant Robertson, Jacinda Adern, Phil Twyford, etc etc etc.
The business of tossing out a new leader after a loss in the polls is uncannily like what happens in the sporting community. Cunliffe lost so out he goes like an unsuccessful coach.
This backs up an idea I have that politics today is not being addressed as an idealistic and practical way of attempting better conditions, fair and peaceful actions that produce good for individuals and the whole population. It is a competitive game like a sport, with great commitment to one’s team to see them win. In sport, winning is the name of the game (s.d that business about losing honourably). And these days money and perks will follow, and overseas travel. Sounds like many modern politicians’ dream wouldn’t you say.
So in politics the leader is a servant of the caucus and needs to help them win or else, and the caucus are servants of whom?
Who is behind caucus though? If the defining object for the membership is not to serve the people’s good, and they are not operating on cultural and social ethical ideas, then who and what presses their buttons, pulls their strings.
Is it now the ideology of wealthy people advancing their profit through efficiency and global opportunities. Are politicians seduced by views of them striding the world stage and talking up our importance in the financial and political world. In NZ I guess is it the 1-10% as seen behind the NZ Initiative. the Concentric Table?
CV
I think you have hit the target. That would explain their risk aversion in pursuing meaningful policies. They want to ensure that they offer enough to attract punters and keep Labour MPs in their jobs in caucus, but not ones that might be right but the voters are not ready to receive. What to do? Cut the career line to the placenta of goodies? How? I think we would get less monkeys wanting more peanuts.
And thanks for the disingenuous Matthew Hooton for doing his shapeshifter thing and derailing the thought line.
It’s Hotel California stuff.
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
“Relax, ” said the night man,
“We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave! ”
+ 1000 C V – I’m still a party member but my energy levels have waned somewhat since DC was replaced. He’s keeping a very low profile – not sure whether it’s self imposed (I do know his mother is most unwell and in hospital) or forced upon him.
I feel his low profile may be imposed by caucus wanting the likes of Grant Robertson etc to “shine” – good luck with that one! Who in the caucus is actually making a huge impact lately? Jacinda? Dream on! David Cunliffe doesn’t even seem to be allowed to ask a question in Question Time these days. I miss his articulate manner, grasp of the big picture and the curly questions he might pose if given the chance!
I really miss David Cunliffe’s intellect and his ability to communicate complex issues clearly.
Little started well, but really hasn’t impressed fora number of months now.It seems to me that he is so busy trying to appease everybody that nobody knows what he stands for any more. On radio he sounds offhand and unconvincing. His main achievement is that the caucus do look more united, but IMO Little really needs to inject a bit of passion into his performance.
They run a tight ship because they have money and positions to move their deadwood and unwanted MPs on to when their due time comes, nice and smooth like.
I realize that but from what I’m aware of in you’re case is that you have been on the inside and now you are on the outs a bit so I just see you’re behaviour as sour grapes.
I caught most of the nation this am and apart from a lack of clarity around the ninety day he did OK with as clemgeopin says some poor gotcha attempts.
That’s jumping to conclusions bwaghorn. Presumably CV knows more about caucus and the interior view of Labour than you and therefore has something real to critique. Whereas you know how you feel at any given moment. So your opinion is interesting, whereas CV’s may be enlightening.
But please forget about Cunliffe as leader-he will make a fine minister if Labour wins the election, but going on about his demise gets us nowhere. (I will never forget John Armstrong’s disgusting article calling for him to resign over the 10 year old pro-forma letter.)
In the meantime Little will lead Labour to the next election so he needs constructive criticism to keep improving his performance. I think Labour have been performing well recently-Twyford, Parker and King especially.
Little goes off track, barely answers to the question about Serco, misses an opportunity to deride the concept of private prisons; seems like Little wouldn’t have Serco do state housing because Serco did a bad job at Mt Eden. (So if Serco improves at Mt Eden, Little would be open to them being involved in state housing?). Overall, mediocre to poor.
Then up to 5:00:
Average to mediocre on health and safety. Started off well, and then declined as he got bogged down in detail and not principles. Ended up sounding like a health and safety consultant, not the Leader of the Opposition. Even praised some National Party MPs. Didn’t effectively push back against Owen’s claim that Labour was advocating for more red tape for small businesses.
Up to 7:45:
Mediocre to poor on the claim that Labour has changed its position on the right to fire legislation. This resulted from Little not being clear who he was addressing – workers, Labour supporters or business owners. So the message was very mixed sounding.
Little should have said – Labour will definitely abolish the right to fire legislation as we have always said – but we will also ensure that employers have the right to use trial periods for staff where there are safeguards of fairness to all.
Up to 9:00
OK on the TPPA but he could have landed some better hits on the Government’s broken promises on its negotiations. At this point Little seems to not be able to pull out the short sharp meaningful one liner which has a big impact.
Up to 11:30
OK to mediocre on Climate Change, but Little didn’t really give a concise coherent explanation of why he thinks Climate Change is such a big moral issue of this century – yet Labour is still going to support coal mining and oil drilling. Most people against climate change won’t find the position sensible; most people who don’t care about climate change will wonder if Labour is just all talk.
to the finish:
Not good. Little seemed to give some disingenuous answers with regards to NZF as a coalition partner, and then the clip ends at an awkward moment where Little seems a bit frustrated with Lisa Own.
Your ‘put the boot into Andrew and Labour’ at every opportunity you get is just like Hooton’s ‘analysis’.
Did it occur to you that apart from the H& S, ‘most’ questions were
hypothetical ‘gotcha’ type of questions that could not be answered definitively with certainty without the yet to be known details and were designed to trip him up for possible sensational headlines?
Corbyn isn’t the leader of a political party YET. Did you forget that?
Once he becomes the leader, he will HAVE to reconsider some or many of his policies and bluster that happens during an internal party leadership campaign, and give more seriously measured responses in media interviews with the responsibility of knowing that he is the potential Prime Minister who will need to make sensible, workable and pragmatic decisions which will not only have the support of most of the voters but will also be good for the people and the country.
There is a big difference in pitching oneself to the faithful for party leadership and actually being the leader and potential PM for the entire country.
Of course he has worked to do. He is yet to gain more experience in the job and has to tread with care and caution. That is elementary Dr Watson. Do you remember the sweet talking Key in his early days as the opposition leader and the PM in his early days?
But some of us have been very impatient and too harsh on Little and parroting the RW statements and agenda, when he has been in the job for just about nine months, while the Labour party policies are under review and the election is still more than two years away.
Sure, criticise him, but do so constructively and not in a way to demean and harm him and the Labour party. Only enemies of the left do that.
Also, it would be useful to email him or the party with ideas and suggestions if they are useful and made with good intentions.
Fuck off a centrist establishmentarian like you Clemgeopin having the audacity to call me an enemy of the left; further Little ran out of grace period with me when he signed off on the Chinese house buyers gambit.
He wanted Cunliffe’s job now he better start doing a better job. Or shall we give Little another 6 months to get it together.
“Fuck off a centrist establishmentarian like you Clemgeopin”
You are funny!
I am not a centrist establishmentarian, nor an anti centre-right-disestablishmentarian.
What I am is a pragmatic socialist democrat for the modern times and I take the pragmatic ‘electable’ view that a modern socialist party such as Labour should be a party (1) of the left, (2) of the left-of-centre and (3) the centre, (and not foolishly be just the party of the left and die a permanent death).
That is exactly the positions that Sanders has taken if you watch many of his speech videos. He advocates for the sick, the poor, the students and primarily for the care of the middle classes. I do too!
If you loved Cunliffe’s delivery so much why did your people oust him?
I know you’re going to say “they’re not my people”, but the truth is CV, you are so all over the place that an observer has no idea what you actually stand for.
Actually I think CV has given some good examples of how Little could have done better. It is far more constructive criticism than “putting the boot in.”
Pretending that Little is performing really well in media interviews (when it is obvious that he is not) is not helpful if you want Labour to win the next election. My big worry is that Little isn’t getting any better at communication, and he really does need to.
wot??? YOU support coal mining and oil drilling? say it ain’t so – you will dig it up at great cost to many areas including the environment, emissions and so on, and then not burn it or sell it??? Wot you gonna do with it? Why not just not dig it up or suck it out? bloody/facedesk
so you and draco want to continue to dig, drill and suck – just like the gnats as it happens, and you want to use the high grade coal dug out through your eyesore, destructive, open cast mines, to make carbon fibre. Perchance why??? It doesn’t really matter what fancy you come up with be it space ships or alien cricket bats btw.
Well guess what – I oppose that. I don’t want you the gnats to dig any more shit up
No more exploitation of Papatūānuku for bullshit western lavish lifestyles and fake futures.
so now I’ve answered my own question I’ll go beddy byes.
so we don’t have to dig it, drill it or suck it after all – certainly not if we want carbon fibre for use in the ” aerospace, construction, and electronics industry” (from Grey’s post below)
this is the beauty of the net
problem – marty don’t want holes dug, draco do want them dug because he and adam want the carbon fibre to build stuff
solution – create operation to get carbon out of atmosphere thus reducing it in the atmosphere and making it (by turning it into carbon fibre) available to build spaceships and toasters.
result – less carbon in atmosphere, spaceships built of carbon fibre, and the process is likely, after development and testing to be potentially less expensive than existing methods – ahem yay!
They have even tested this new method and they were able to “generate the large amount of heat needed to run the desired reaction.” – okay yay again to that I think
problem – marty don’t want holes dug, draco do want them dug because he and adam want the carbon fibre to build stuff
I want more than the carbon fibre. I want the life saving drugs that come from the use of the hydro carbons. I want the advanced recyclable plastics that can be made from them. And hundreds if not thousands of other products that are essential to a good and healthy living.
Now, here’s a thing: Digging holes in the ground isn’t really a problem – Papatūānuku will just fill them again and often with a marvellous new ecosystem. The problem comes if we poison that hole so we don’t do that. That is going to need strong regulation and you’ll get lots of whinging from the capitalists saying that it will cost too much to keep clean but we should have learned by now that we simply shouldn’t be listening to the capitalists.
result – less carbon in atmosphere, spaceships built of carbon fibre, and the process is likely, after development and testing to be potentially less expensive than existing methods – ahem yay!
Have you considered the problem with that? To give you a hint, it’s the exact opposite of the one we have now.
How many fossil fuels are needed to create that industry? To keep it running?
None. Again, you misunderstand the nature of fossil fuels and their use and how they’re simply not needed.
@Reality +1 Little did just fine in this interview. He is smart and the Nats are having trouble knocking his solid, common-sense image after the pathetic Angry-Andy smear failed.
Reading Audrey Young’s column in Granny Herald today was a fairly interesting read about Michael Woodhouse’s absolutely pathetic handling of the Health and Safety legislation. I thought she was being fairly reasonable in her criticism of the Government, but then at the end, the boot went into Andrew Little for demanding that several Ministers should have been stood down/resigned over several botch ups. It’s all his fault/Labour did it too/it’s Labour’s fault etc etc. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11500944
Hats off to Neil Miller.*
Not many people would be so magnanimous after being made to look so foolish. The Panel, Radio NZ National, Friday 21 August 2015
Jim Mora, Andrew “Dire” Clay, Neil Miller
Should the police be armed or not? Neil Miller opined that New Zealand is an “out-lier” on this issue, but that nothing will change until not only policemen, but members of the public start getting shot. Of course, members of the public are getting shot—by the police. Sadly, however, neither Jim Mora nor Andrew “Dire” Clay had the presence of mind to remind him of this.
Miller then announced how much of a fan he is of police using tasers. Clay, who often refers to himself as a “liberal”, endorsed Miller’s view, burbling: “I’m a big fan of tasers.”
To introduce some informed comment on to the program, the producers had arranged for Mora to cross to Deakin University Associate Professor in Criminology Dr Darren Palmer, who quickly and eloquently showed that neither Clay nor Miller had a clue what they were talking about. Politely but devastatingly, he showed that every single point that they had made was fallacious.
Neil Miller had nothing at all to offer by way of counter-argument. However, once Dr Palmer had departed, Miller said sportingly: “Very sensible comments from an academic, I must say.”
If only Neil Miller’s sportsmanship and honour could be emulated by the likes of Cameron Slater or Jordan Williams or David Farrar or Barry Corbett or Stephen Franks or Michelle Boag or Denise L’Estrange-Corbet or Nevil “Breivik” Gibson.
* Yesterday this writer, i.e., moi, misheard Neil Miller’s generous comment and posted that he had called Dr Palmer’s comments “cynical”. Thanks to our vigilant friend Gabby for pointing out my grievous error. Here’s the original post…. http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21082015/#comment-1061375
Here is an interesting article on policing in USA.
“More than one thousand people are killed by police every year in America,” the group states on its website. “Nearly sixty percent of victims did not have a gun or were involved in activities that should not require police intervention such as harmless ‘quality of life’ behaviors or mental health crises.”http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/Interim_TF_Report.pdf http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/08/21/campaign-zero-blueprint-ending-police-violence
The article refers to an Interim report from the task force on policing in USA and this paragraph caught my attention.
“In 2012, we began asking the question, “Why are we training police officers like
soldiers?” Although police officers wear uniforms and carry weapons, the similarity
ends there. The missions and rules of engagement are completely different. The
soldier’s mission is that of a warrior: to conquer. The rules of engagement are decided before the battle. The police officer’s mission is that of a guardian: to protect. The rules of engagement evolve as the incident unfolds. Soldiers must follow orders. Police officers must make independent decisions. Soldiers come into communities as an outside, occupying force. Guardians are members of the community, protecting from within.”
This makes sense to me and I wonder what path Greg O’Connor is wanting to take our police down?
Thanks for that, my friend. I share your concerns about Greg O’Connor. Whenever he appears on television or radio, his views seem poorly thought out and reflexively right wing.
It just goes to show that not every union rep is of the calibre of Helen Kelly or Richard Wagstaff. O’Connor is a union rep more in the mould of Tau Henare, who sneered at cleaning women at a select committee hearing and reduced them to tears.
I see John Pilger is being interviewed on RNZ in the morning about Assange. Whatever other interesting and useful things he has to say, I’ll also be listening to see if he has learnt how not to support rape culture in his support for Assange.
Your answer was confusing too, but I assumed you meant I was lying about something (calling Pilger a rape apologist?). So if a govt attacks Corbyn and people defending Corbyn use rape culture in their defense in the way that Pilger has, I will name that. But it won’t be a lie because it’s just happened and I’m just making an observation about it.
Of course I am guessing because you were obscure. How about you write in plain English?
but I assumed you meant I was lying about something (calling Pilger a rape apologist?).
Good. You do understand that I was calling you on your absurd lie.
…..use rape culture in their defense in the way that Pilger has
Could you expand on this bizarre claim, please? I suspect you’re already way out of your depth, but I’m willing for you to show us otherwise.
I’m just making an observation about it
You’re not making an “observation” about anything. You are simply reiterating one of the most brutal lies about a human rights activist that has been propagated in living memory. The viciousness of your mindless activity is not mitigated by the fact you write so poorly.
There’s nothing vicious in what I said, unless you are suggesting that a feminist having a political analysis of rape culture is vicious. Which is not an uncommon assertion, but that doesn’t make it any less absurd.
If you want the detail, search ts for weka +pilger, I’ve commented on it before. That Pilger is so good in other ways is precisely the point that feminists have been making for a long time now. Left wing men still have large blind spots when it comes to the oppressions they take part in.
Interestingly, if you want an example of how to write about Assange without promoting rape culture, look at CV’s post from the other day. He got his points across without using rape myths or undermining women who routinely get caught up in the politics of rape. That’s a very good sign.
unless you are suggesting that a feminist having a political analysis of rape culture is vicious.
There is not a shred of analysis in what you have said. You have merely recycled the black propaganda of the British and U.S. regimes. You might see such behaviour as virtuous, I see it as the very opposite.
I have read what you said about Pilger, and it is as vacuous now as when it was first published on this mostly excellent forum.
“There is not a shred of analysis in what you have said”
Not on this page, because all I did was name something.
“You have merely recycled the black propaganda of the British and U.S. regimes.”
Please link to where the British and US regimes have named Pilger as promoting rape culture. A couple of examples will suffice.
“You might see such behaviour as virtuous, I see it as the very opposite.”
I’d be very surprised if the British and US regimes had even considered the idea.
“I have read what you said about Pilger, and it is as vacuous now as when it was first published on this mostly excellent forum.”
That doesn’t match what you said before when you asked me to explain. I’m getting the sense of disingenuous here. I notice that you haven’t put up a single thing to refute my claim other than that Pilger is Great.
Every one of the ridiculous, completely discredited accusations made against this dangerous, truth-telling, dissenting journalist is the result of deliberate lies orchestrated by the British secret services.
You need to seriously do some reading. Your naiveté is alarming, to say the least.
You might like to start by listening to someone else who was targeted in the same way as Assange, except the agents of his intended destruction were a little more ham-fisted and vulnerable than the likes of the odious Marianne Ny….
oh right, silly little feminists couldn’t come up with an argument of their own, they’re just parrotting the evil British SS.
You have failed to provide any evidence that the US or Brits have named Pilger as a rape apologist. Get a grip Morrisey, and put up an actual proper argument or fuck off. I can’t be bothered with a Pilger fanboy who just wants to spout florid rhetoric and move goal posts instead of discussing actual issues.
“silly little feminists couldn’t come up with an argument of their own, they’re just parrotting the evil British SS.”
You’re trying to argue that the persecution of this dissenter is being organized by feminists? That’s about as foolish a thing as you’ve written here. And that’s saying something.
I note that Women Against Rape almost immediately denounced this ridiculous campaign, as did the young women who had been bullied and manipulated into complying with this obscene business.
Everything you have said about Pilger lacks even a hint of credibility.
the only thing I’ve said about Pilger is that I hope he’s changed and doesn’t talking about Assange tomorrow in ways that promote rape culture. If you don’t understand what I mean by that, it’s up to you to ask.
All the other stuff about persecution by the state etc is what you’ve brought up, nothing to do with my point.
there is no contest. Morrissey went off on a mission of his own making that had nothing to do with my comment. Last time I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Please don’t make his mistake. I wasn’t talking about Assange.
Objectives To identify published clinical trials in which an FDA inspection found significant evidence of objectionable conditions or practices, to describe violations, and to determine whether the violations are mentioned in the peer-reviewed literature
Conclusions and Relevance When the FDA finds significant departures from good clinical practice, those findings are seldom reflected in the peer-reviewed literature, even when there is evidence of data fabrication or other forms of research misconduct.
The Blairites that dominate the Labour Party and the media are running scared of this bloke. He’s the MP for Islington North. His majority at the last election was 21,194, but Blair’s cronies insist on calling him “unelectable”….
Clearly not, as his 21,194 majority demonstrates only too clearly.
What real “Labour” voters and the wider public believe are worlds apart.
So the huge majority of Labour voters who back Corbyn, and the majority of the British population that agree with his views, are not real voters. Got it.
Perez’s conservative administration has spent much of this year mired in public protests and scandals over corruption allegations against senior officials, several of whom the retired general fired during a cabinet purge in May.
I remember when conservatives actually had some moral fortitude…
1: Im not religious
2: I believe in the right to Protest and Counter Protest.
3: I Like America.
4: I have no idea if the TPPA will be good or not.
5: Told ya Hoverboards will be invented.
So walking down the street in Nelson today, I heard a lone protester screaming “The TPPA is awful” he looked really angry, his eyes were popping out his head, his fists were clenched, he looked like he wanted to punch someone.
He then yelled “Jesus Hates the TPPA, even Jesus hates the TPPA”
he walked straight past me, I said “Seriously even Jesus hates it?”
He got in my face yelled rather loudly said “Yes, everybody hates it” and walked off.
He is my friendly advice to future protesters.
1: Just because your angry, that doesnt make you right.
2: I can be turned around on any issue, if you provided facts/data/stats and are very analytical in how you present them.
3: If you attend a lot of protests where you burn the American flag, I will believe that your more about political ideology than whether a certain law is good or not.
4: Please dont scream in my face or poke your finger in my eye.
5: You may believe if New Zealand was a socialist country, we will all be on seven figure salaries, I dont believe this.
6: The people who make the most noise, don’t come across as Rhode Scholars or people I would trust with any economic law.
7: Please know that there are people who are just as passionate about a issue and may be on the Opposite side of that issue.
Again, I think you will get a lot further with your protests if you take this advice.
and yes I was expecting you back – you said when hoverboards happen you will return and apparently they are happening but for me I’m still not convinced yet.
I thank you Brett Dale for your detailed exposition on behalf of all protesters, who are all individuals not a collective of yellow-eyed children into groupthink as in Wyndhams book The Midwich Cuckoos,
The politics of TPPA are enough to drive sensitive people nutty. Thank goodness you are not sensitive, nutty or shy of advising everyone on how to avoid such states.
yep the absurd asking for the impossible – “Male gnats often assemble in large mating swarms or ghosts, particularly at dusk.” We’ve all seen them milling around in the late afternoon light – bet they don’t have to crawl to the doctor.
Still, others said they had plenty of advice for the man they regularly identified in conversation as “Mr. Trump.”
“Hopefully, he’s going to sit there and say, ‘When I become elected president, what we’re going to do is we’re going to make the border a vacation spot, it’s going to cost you $25 for a permit, and then you get $50 for every confirmed kill,’ ” said Jim Sherota, 53, who works for a landscaping company. “That’d be one nice thing.”
Thanks for the links. The article on Corbyn and the dirty politics was very intertesting. Fascinating elections coming up with Corbyn on IK and Sanders in USA!
“Maybe sometime in the past the British establishment could succeed in destroying an alternative voice, as they did with Labour’s Michael Foot and Tony Benn during the 1980s. But, today, the public no longer rely on the media mouthpieces of the establishment. They can make their own minds up with abundant alternative information sources.
The surging popular support for Corbyn is proof of that. The British people have had it with the rich getting richer and the vast majority getting poorer. They have had it with war, state-sponsored lawlessness and “professional” politician-puppets like Tony Blair and his New Labour ilk.
Corbyn is showing that socialism is a real alternative, no matter what the establishment says’
A new method for taking carbon dioxide directly from the air and converting it to oxygen and nanoscale fibers made of carbon could lead to an inexpensive way to make a valuable building material—and may even serve as a weapon against climate change.
Licht says his group’s newly demonstrated technology, which both captures the carbon dioxide from the air and employs an electrochemical process to convert it to carbon nanofibers and oxygen, is more efficient and potentially a lot cheaper than existing methods
But it’s more than just a simpler, less expensive way of making a high value product. It’s also a “means of storing and sequestering carbon dioxide in a useful manner, a stable manner, and in a compact manner,” says Licht. He points out that if the process is powered by renewable energy, the result is a net removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In a recent demonstration, his group used a unique concentrated solar power system, which makes use of infrared sunlight as well as visible light to generate the large amount of heat needed to run the desired reaction..
Our own Rdion is up to dte with this. Plese note – I hve spilt some wter on my keybord, now the left side keys including the first lphbet letter don’t work. In the opinion of people who know, will it dry out nd the function return?
9:21 AM. Researchers invent a process that turns polluting carbon dioxide into carbon nanofibers, a highly sought-after manufacturing material with the potential to be used in the aerospace, construction, and electronics industry. Stuart Licht, Professor of Chemistry at George Washington University.
Thanks I lifted and angled keyboard overnight. More keys down. Have a spare and the old one was due to move on. Maybe my head is a bit wet – will use the hairdryer on that.
I thought the article was really good too, it’s hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you’re already small but we must try.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from 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 public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
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:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
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. ...
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 ...
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. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
https://www.facebook.com/CountryCalendar/videos/vb.320771647948378/1208219955870205/?type=2&theater
Tonight at 7:00, heritage apples and forest-gardens.
Excellent! I heard the fascinating report about your place on Radio New Zealand a year or so ago. Look forward to seeing this one.
Awesome, I’ll be checking it out too, not tonight though but when they upload it onto the Country Calendar website. Much more interesting than the shows on standard farming.
Thanks – both for letting us know and for the great work you’re doing. Was definitely worth catching.
The Archdruid explaining why the Left has been losing to the Right.
‘
There are at least two reasons why a strategy of pure reaction, without any coherent attempt to advance an agenda of its own or even a clear idea of what that agenda might be, has been a fruitful source of humiliation and defeat for the American left. The first is that this approach violates one of the most basic rules of strategy: you win when you seize the initiative and force the other side to respond to your actions, and you lose by passively responding to whatever the other side comes up with. In any contest, without exception, if you surrender the initiative and let the other side set the terms of the conflict, you’re begging to be beaten, and will normally get your wish in short order.
That in itself is bad enough. A movement that defines itself in purely negative terms, though, and attempts solely to prevent someone else’s agenda from being enacted rather than pursuing a concrete agenda of its own, suffers from another massive problem: the best such a movement can hope for is a continuation of the status quo, because the only choice it offers is the one between business as usual and something worse. That’s fine if most people are satisfied with the way things are, and are willing to fling themselves into the struggle for the sake of a set of political, economic, and social arrangements that they consider worth fighting for.
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/the-suicide-of-american-left.html?m=1
‘
From the same article.
What a perfect description of many compromised Labour MPs in the UK and NZ.
‘I’m not sure why so many people on the leftward end of American politics haven’t noticed that this is not the case today. One hypothesis that comes to mind is that by and large, the leftward end of the American political landscape is dominated by middle class and upper middle class white people from the comparatively prosperous coastal states. Many of them belong to the upper 20% by income of the American population, and the rest aren’t far below that threshold. The grand bargain of the Reagan years, by which the middle classes bought a guarantee of their wealth and privilege by letting their former allies in the working classes get thrown under the bus, has profited them hugely, and holding onto what they gained by that maneuver doubtless ranks high on their unstated list of motives—much higher, certainly, than pushing for a different future that might put their privileges in jeopardy.’
He is just so wrong.
The monolithic left failed in the 1980s, and won. It won because “the left” split into a series of highly successful liberative movements in the late 1960s, which continued and established themselves throughout the media, academia, and education systems.
It failed because conservative governments could smash the post-WW11 Labour-capital-consumerism world while the Soviet empire remained the boogeyman of strong-state redistributive economies.
we forget the continuing successes of the former too easily, as if we are in a world of perpetual progressive regret. we are not.
Yet the basic premise of the the Archdruid Report’s latest post rings true: the Left has been losing to the Right for several decades now, and continues to lose.
It continues to lose because the Right sets the agenda and the Left reacts to it, all in an environment where the Right now has massively more institutional power than the Left.
On this, Greer, the Archdruid is spot on.
Please clarify. Where in the world did the political economic left win.
The political economic left didn’t always win.
But the importance of the economic can be overstated.
The political left found ways to recapture power elsewhere than electoral politics.
In most big-state countries, the social welfare state hasn’t been dismantled – hell even National hasn’t touched Working for Families, Kiwisaver, the unemployment benefit, or NZSuper.
Also, even National was perfectly happy to push through Gay Marriage, not repeal the Anti-Smacking Law, pushed on with Waitangi settlements, and can’t even pull someone’s hair without a smackdown. NZ is far more socially liberal than it ever used to be – and that’s a set of victories caused by the left.
Not defending this government. Just pointing out that many of the left’s victories have been banked, even built on, by National.
Plus, Archdruid is at base a misanthropist.
He can’t see the point of people existing anymore – it’s life through a glass, half darkly.
Druids aren’t misanthropes. But they can see when the seasons are changing.
That particular Druid is a misanthrope.
A really simple way to keep any movement alive, or indeed any patient, is to tell them what is working, and do more of it. That writer is just a cheerleader for the Global Movement Of Told You So’s.
I posted this last night Paul. I think this will help you understand that the left is very much alive. I’ve been saying on here that labour is not the left. I know the activist who write here think it is, but they need to realise they have a real problem with hard right wing members in the labour party, who distort and twist a strong social democratic message.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/08/19/bernie-sanders-gives-wall-street-journal-reporter-the-best-tongue-lashing-youve-ever-seen-video/
The Left is very much alive, but it lacks institutional power and it lacks funding and resources.
And is undermined by hard right wing members in the labour party.
“undermined by hard right wing members in the labour party”
What are you talking about?
This may be more accurate:
Labour isn’t truly working as a Left wing party.
Yes, to quote Clemgeopin, what are you talking about?
Try following the conversation.
Another poor performance from Little on the Nation today.
More detail please.
I think the Chairman is one who demands a citation when presented with a commenters’ opinion here, so it is only right to request details of a criticism from him about a media event.
can’t understand why citations should be asked for on opinions. Perhaps the question response should be – why do you think that?
I felt exactly the same, the loss of David Cunliffe’s ability to front the hard issues on television in his calm, cool and articulate way, is very apparent these days in my opinion. The Labour caucus have a lot to be ashamed of, they gave David Cunliffe a very short amount of time to establish himself before the election and then forced him out . He won every debate on television and would have been so good right now, with everything turning to custard on the economic front. Thanks Phil Goff, David Shearer, Clayton Cosgrove, Annette King, Grant Robertson, Jacinda Adern, Phil Twyford, etc etc etc.
In reality, Little is a relatively new backbencher and certainly has had no Ministerial experience.
Cunliffe certainly had room to improve but also had the potential to be the outstanding Labour Leader of our era, given a little bit more time.
Which was exactly what many in his caucus did not want to give him.
The business of tossing out a new leader after a loss in the polls is uncannily like what happens in the sporting community. Cunliffe lost so out he goes like an unsuccessful coach.
This backs up an idea I have that politics today is not being addressed as an idealistic and practical way of attempting better conditions, fair and peaceful actions that produce good for individuals and the whole population. It is a competitive game like a sport, with great commitment to one’s team to see them win. In sport, winning is the name of the game (s.d that business about losing honourably). And these days money and perks will follow, and overseas travel. Sounds like many modern politicians’ dream wouldn’t you say.
So in politics the leader is a servant of the caucus and needs to help them win or else, and the caucus are servants of whom?
Caucus serves itself, and despite what is said is effectively accountable to no one else.
Who is behind caucus though? If the defining object for the membership is not to serve the people’s good, and they are not operating on cultural and social ethical ideas, then who and what presses their buttons, pulls their strings.
Is it now the ideology of wealthy people advancing their profit through efficiency and global opportunities. Are politicians seduced by views of them striding the world stage and talking up our importance in the financial and political world. In NZ I guess is it the 1-10% as seen behind the NZ Initiative. the Concentric Table?
Not so much, who, but what.
Careerism is the driving force. The details of how this is expressed varies according to the personality and ability of the individual.
CV
I think you have hit the target. That would explain their risk aversion in pursuing meaningful policies. They want to ensure that they offer enough to attract punters and keep Labour MPs in their jobs in caucus, but not ones that might be right but the voters are not ready to receive. What to do? Cut the career line to the placenta of goodies? How? I think we would get less monkeys wanting more peanuts.
And thanks for the disingenuous Matthew Hooton for doing his shapeshifter thing and derailing the thought line.
It’s Hotel California stuff.
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
“Relax, ” said the night man,
“We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave! ”
The whole song is quite apt for the scenario we are thinking of.
AZ Lyrics present the lines well.
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/eagles/hotelcalifornia.html
and for those who love the music.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyy4yaVwsv0)
Sir Graham Henry was kept on as All Blacks coach after the 2007 Rugby World Cup debacle.
“Debacle”? They were beaten by France. Did you think it was going to be a gimme?
+ 1000 C V – I’m still a party member but my energy levels have waned somewhat since DC was replaced. He’s keeping a very low profile – not sure whether it’s self imposed (I do know his mother is most unwell and in hospital) or forced upon him.
I feel his low profile may be imposed by caucus wanting the likes of Grant Robertson etc to “shine” – good luck with that one! Who in the caucus is actually making a huge impact lately? Jacinda? Dream on! David Cunliffe doesn’t even seem to be allowed to ask a question in Question Time these days. I miss his articulate manner, grasp of the big picture and the curly questions he might pose if given the chance!
+1 Hami
I really miss David Cunliffe’s intellect and his ability to communicate complex issues clearly.
Little started well, but really hasn’t impressed fora number of months now.It seems to me that he is so busy trying to appease everybody that nobody knows what he stands for any more. On radio he sounds offhand and unconvincing. His main achievement is that the caucus do look more united, but IMO Little really needs to inject a bit of passion into his performance.
Putting some more boots in? Do you even realise what the hell you are actually ending up doing?
Exactly the left is its own worst enemy as much as I despise national I have to admire the tight ship they run.
They run a tight ship because they have money and positions to move their deadwood and unwanted MPs on to when their due time comes, nice and smooth like.
I realize that but from what I’m aware of in you’re case is that you have been on the inside and now you are on the outs a bit so I just see you’re behaviour as sour grapes.
I caught most of the nation this am and apart from a lack of clarity around the ninety day he did OK with as clemgeopin says some poor gotcha attempts.
That’s jumping to conclusions bwaghorn. Presumably CV knows more about caucus and the interior view of Labour than you and therefore has something real to critique. Whereas you know how you feel at any given moment. So your opinion is interesting, whereas CV’s may be enlightening.
Sour grapes, yes indeed: the exact feeling when you realise that you have been sold a false bill of goods.
@Karen Agree about the the passion.
But please forget about Cunliffe as leader-he will make a fine minister if Labour wins the election, but going on about his demise gets us nowhere. (I will never forget John Armstrong’s disgusting article calling for him to resign over the 10 year old pro-forma letter.)
In the meantime Little will lead Labour to the next election so he needs constructive criticism to keep improving his performance. I think Labour have been performing well recently-Twyford, Parker and King especially.
AH the voice of reason.
Nothing to inspire – just keep calm, trust us – we have not done working folk any harm (Of late).
Look we will just cut you off at the knees, is that not better than being cut off at the hip.
Why are working class people so bloody demanding!!!
My sarcasm is a bit lame tonight. How about this
The Radical Peasant: We’ve got to get rid of this Feudal system, it’s killing us! Are you with us?
The Liberal Peasant: No, no, just wait till we get a new Lord. I hear his son has some good views on crop rotation.
I was going to post a link (to let commentators judge for themselves) but its not up yet.
Use your words then.
His position on the 90 day trial law was far from clear.
In fact, clear answers weren’t forthcoming. Too much waffle.
Little reaffirmed Nationals rowing boat campaign, with the opposition rowing in all different directions.
See for yourself:
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/thenation/interview-labour-leader-andrew-little-2015082210#axzz3jUXymhOn
Andrew Little’s responses were perfectly fine. He talks sense and rightly highlighted the worm farm and lavender growing nonsense.
First 90s:
Little goes off track, barely answers to the question about Serco, misses an opportunity to deride the concept of private prisons; seems like Little wouldn’t have Serco do state housing because Serco did a bad job at Mt Eden. (So if Serco improves at Mt Eden, Little would be open to them being involved in state housing?). Overall, mediocre to poor.
Then up to 5:00:
Average to mediocre on health and safety. Started off well, and then declined as he got bogged down in detail and not principles. Ended up sounding like a health and safety consultant, not the Leader of the Opposition. Even praised some National Party MPs. Didn’t effectively push back against Owen’s claim that Labour was advocating for more red tape for small businesses.
Up to 7:45:
Mediocre to poor on the claim that Labour has changed its position on the right to fire legislation. This resulted from Little not being clear who he was addressing – workers, Labour supporters or business owners. So the message was very mixed sounding.
Little should have said – Labour will definitely abolish the right to fire legislation as we have always said – but we will also ensure that employers have the right to use trial periods for staff where there are safeguards of fairness to all.
Up to 9:00
OK on the TPPA but he could have landed some better hits on the Government’s broken promises on its negotiations. At this point Little seems to not be able to pull out the short sharp meaningful one liner which has a big impact.
Up to 11:30
OK to mediocre on Climate Change, but Little didn’t really give a concise coherent explanation of why he thinks Climate Change is such a big moral issue of this century – yet Labour is still going to support coal mining and oil drilling. Most people against climate change won’t find the position sensible; most people who don’t care about climate change will wonder if Labour is just all talk.
to the finish:
Not good. Little seemed to give some disingenuous answers with regards to NZF as a coalition partner, and then the clip ends at an awkward moment where Little seems a bit frustrated with Lisa Own.
Your ‘put the boot into Andrew and Labour’ at every opportunity you get is just like Hooton’s ‘analysis’.
Did it occur to you that apart from the H& S, ‘most’ questions were
hypothetical ‘gotcha’ type of questions that could not be answered definitively with certainty without the yet to be known details and were designed to trip him up for possible sensational headlines?
Not good enough, I’m afraid. Cunliffe, Peters, Clark, Key would have all pushed back more effectively.
Andrew is a different person and a different type of leader. He is not the ‘usual’ type of politician that you are looking/longing for.
Among the four names you mentioned, Peters and Key are still there for you to choose between.
yeah well Corbyn is not the usual smoothy politician type either and he seems to do just fine in tough interviews.
Corbyn isn’t the leader of a political party YET. Did you forget that?
Once he becomes the leader, he will HAVE to reconsider some or many of his policies and bluster that happens during an internal party leadership campaign, and give more seriously measured responses in media interviews with the responsibility of knowing that he is the potential Prime Minister who will need to make sensible, workable and pragmatic decisions which will not only have the support of most of the voters but will also be good for the people and the country.
There is a big difference in pitching oneself to the faithful for party leadership and actually being the leader and potential PM for the entire country.
All I know is that Little has work to do.
Of course he has worked to do. He is yet to gain more experience in the job and has to tread with care and caution. That is elementary Dr Watson. Do you remember the sweet talking Key in his early days as the opposition leader and the PM in his early days?
Would you prefer a thoughtful honest leader who tries to give honest answers or a leader who smiles, easy going but seems quite untrustworthy?
Take a look at this clip:
http://www.3news.co.nz/politics/highlights-from-keys-2008-no-job-cuts-speech-2012031418#axzz3jV9pfRhh
But some of us have been very impatient and too harsh on Little and parroting the RW statements and agenda, when he has been in the job for just about nine months, while the Labour party policies are under review and the election is still more than two years away.
Sure, criticise him, but do so constructively and not in a way to demean and harm him and the Labour party. Only enemies of the left do that.
Also, it would be useful to email him or the party with ideas and suggestions if they are useful and made with good intentions.
Fuck off a centrist establishmentarian like you Clemgeopin having the audacity to call me an enemy of the left; further Little ran out of grace period with me when he signed off on the Chinese house buyers gambit.
He wanted Cunliffe’s job now he better start doing a better job. Or shall we give Little another 6 months to get it together.
“Fuck off a centrist establishmentarian like you Clemgeopin”
You are funny!
I am not a centrist establishmentarian, nor an anti centre-right-disestablishmentarian.
What I am is a pragmatic socialist democrat for the modern times and I take the pragmatic ‘electable’ view that a modern socialist party such as Labour should be a party (1) of the left, (2) of the left-of-centre and (3) the centre, (and not foolishly be just the party of the left and die a permanent death).
That is exactly the positions that Sanders has taken if you watch many of his speech videos. He advocates for the sick, the poor, the students and primarily for the care of the middle classes. I do too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFAq-4Vv5c0&feature=youtu.be
Not sure if Corbyn says the same thing about the vast majority of the middle classes. Probably does.
Labour will be electable when it stands in solidarity with the bottom 80% in society. Currently it is too concerned with what the top 5% think of it.
“Labour will be electable when it stands in solidarity with the bottom 80% in society”
I certainly think they do!
“Currently it is too concerned with what the top 5% think of it”
I doubt that and hope not.
Now go to bed and have happy peaceful dreams. 晚安
If you loved Cunliffe’s delivery so much why did your people oust him?
I know you’re going to say “they’re not my people”, but the truth is CV, you are so all over the place that an observer has no idea what you actually stand for.
Actually I think CV has given some good examples of how Little could have done better. It is far more constructive criticism than “putting the boot in.”
Pretending that Little is performing really well in media interviews (when it is obvious that he is not) is not helpful if you want Labour to win the next election. My big worry is that Little isn’t getting any better at communication, and he really does need to.
Indeed, Karen.
So do I. I just say that we should ban burning it or selling it to people who are going to burn it.
wot??? YOU support coal mining and oil drilling? say it ain’t so – you will dig it up at great cost to many areas including the environment, emissions and so on, and then not burn it or sell it??? Wot you gonna do with it? Why not just not dig it up or suck it out? bloody/facedesk
As per usual, your ignorance is showing. You can do more with the hydrocarbons than just burn them.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/plastic5.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrochemical
answer the questions
I did.
Please show where you answered this question – why not just not dig it up or suck it out?
I thought Draco T Bastard gave a couple of great introduction links – you can expand from there marty mars – try google.
Here’s a heads up.
NZ has quite a substantial reserve of high grade coal – which should not be burnt as it is awesome for many other things – ever heard of carbon fibre?
that’s nice adam
I did read the links.
so you and draco want to continue to dig, drill and suck – just like the gnats as it happens, and you want to use the high grade coal dug out through your eyesore, destructive, open cast mines, to make carbon fibre. Perchance why??? It doesn’t really matter what fancy you come up with be it space ships or alien cricket bats btw.
Well guess what – I oppose that. I don’t want you the gnats to dig any more shit up
No more exploitation of Papatūānuku for bullshit western lavish lifestyles and fake futures.
so now I’ve answered my own question I’ll go beddy byes.
Carbon is a very useful element.
We just been stupid enough to burn it.
Not sure what you expect to use if not carbon for quite a few things – please if you have a solution, I’m all for reading about it.
can you give some examples of the things you think are important?
further down this page a solution!!!
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-22082015/#comment-1061769
so we don’t have to dig it, drill it or suck it after all – certainly not if we want carbon fibre for use in the ” aerospace, construction, and electronics industry” (from Grey’s post below)
this is the beauty of the net
problem – marty don’t want holes dug, draco do want them dug because he and adam want the carbon fibre to build stuff
solution – create operation to get carbon out of atmosphere thus reducing it in the atmosphere and making it (by turning it into carbon fibre) available to build spaceships and toasters.
result – less carbon in atmosphere, spaceships built of carbon fibre, and the process is likely, after development and testing to be potentially less expensive than existing methods – ahem yay!
They have even tested this new method and they were able to “generate the large amount of heat needed to run the desired reaction.” – okay yay again to that I think
What are the potential pollution problems arising from that? Manufacture, disposal at end of life, etc.
How many fossil fuels are needed to create that industry? To keep it running?
I want more than the carbon fibre. I want the life saving drugs that come from the use of the hydro carbons. I want the advanced recyclable plastics that can be made from them. And hundreds if not thousands of other products that are essential to a good and healthy living.
Now, here’s a thing: Digging holes in the ground isn’t really a problem – Papatūānuku will just fill them again and often with a marvellous new ecosystem. The problem comes if we poison that hole so we don’t do that. That is going to need strong regulation and you’ll get lots of whinging from the capitalists saying that it will cost too much to keep clean but we should have learned by now that we simply shouldn’t be listening to the capitalists.
Have you considered the problem with that? To give you a hint, it’s the exact opposite of the one we have now.
None. Again, you misunderstand the nature of fossil fuels and their use and how they’re simply not needed.
It will require more mining though.
@Reality +1 Little did just fine in this interview. He is smart and the Nats are having trouble knocking his solid, common-sense image after the pathetic Angry-Andy smear failed.
Reading Audrey Young’s column in Granny Herald today was a fairly interesting read about Michael Woodhouse’s absolutely pathetic handling of the Health and Safety legislation. I thought she was being fairly reasonable in her criticism of the Government, but then at the end, the boot went into Andrew Little for demanding that several Ministers should have been stood down/resigned over several botch ups. It’s all his fault/Labour did it too/it’s Labour’s fault etc etc. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11500944
Hats off to Neil Miller.*
Not many people would be so magnanimous after being made to look so foolish.
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Friday 21 August 2015
Jim Mora, Andrew “Dire” Clay, Neil Miller
Should the police be armed or not? Neil Miller opined that New Zealand is an “out-lier” on this issue, but that nothing will change until not only policemen, but members of the public start getting shot. Of course, members of the public are getting shot—by the police. Sadly, however, neither Jim Mora nor Andrew “Dire” Clay had the presence of mind to remind him of this.
Miller then announced how much of a fan he is of police using tasers. Clay, who often refers to himself as a “liberal”, endorsed Miller’s view, burbling: “I’m a big fan of tasers.”
To introduce some informed comment on to the program, the producers had arranged for Mora to cross to Deakin University Associate Professor in Criminology Dr Darren Palmer, who quickly and eloquently showed that neither Clay nor Miller had a clue what they were talking about. Politely but devastatingly, he showed that every single point that they had made was fallacious.
Neil Miller had nothing at all to offer by way of counter-argument. However, once Dr Palmer had departed, Miller said sportingly: “Very sensible comments from an academic, I must say.”
If only Neil Miller’s sportsmanship and honour could be emulated by the likes of Cameron Slater or Jordan Williams or David Farrar or Barry Corbett or Stephen Franks or Michelle Boag or Denise L’Estrange-Corbet or Nevil “Breivik” Gibson.
* Yesterday this writer, i.e., moi, misheard Neil Miller’s generous comment and posted that he had called Dr Palmer’s comments “cynical”. Thanks to our vigilant friend Gabby for pointing out my grievous error. Here’s the original post….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21082015/#comment-1061375
Here is an interesting article on policing in USA.
“More than one thousand people are killed by police every year in America,” the group states on its website. “Nearly sixty percent of victims did not have a gun or were involved in activities that should not require police intervention such as harmless ‘quality of life’ behaviors or mental health crises.”http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/Interim_TF_Report.pdf
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/08/21/campaign-zero-blueprint-ending-police-violence
The article refers to an Interim report from the task force on policing in USA and this paragraph caught my attention.
“In 2012, we began asking the question, “Why are we training police officers like
soldiers?” Although police officers wear uniforms and carry weapons, the similarity
ends there. The missions and rules of engagement are completely different. The
soldier’s mission is that of a warrior: to conquer. The rules of engagement are decided before the battle. The police officer’s mission is that of a guardian: to protect. The rules of engagement evolve as the incident unfolds. Soldiers must follow orders. Police officers must make independent decisions. Soldiers come into communities as an outside, occupying force. Guardians are members of the community, protecting from within.”
This makes sense to me and I wonder what path Greg O’Connor is wanting to take our police down?
Thanks for that, my friend. I share your concerns about Greg O’Connor. Whenever he appears on television or radio, his views seem poorly thought out and reflexively right wing.
It just goes to show that not every union rep is of the calibre of Helen Kelly or Richard Wagstaff. O’Connor is a union rep more in the mould of Tau Henare, who sneered at cleaning women at a select committee hearing and reduced them to tears.
This looks like an interesting movie about this topic:
http://www.peaceofficerfilm.com
I see John Pilger is being interviewed on RNZ in the morning about Assange. Whatever other interesting and useful things he has to say, I’ll also be listening to see if he has learnt how not to support rape culture in his support for Assange.
9.30 Sunday http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/20150823
He’s also going to be talking about Corbyn.
If someone in the British secret services concocts a fantastic case against Jeremy Corbyn, you’ll no doubt be repeating those lies enthusiastically.
Only if the person who writes about it misuses rape culture as part of their argument. In which case it won’t be lie, will it.
Your answer is totally confusing. Could you write in plain English please?
Your answer was confusing too, but I assumed you meant I was lying about something (calling Pilger a rape apologist?). So if a govt attacks Corbyn and people defending Corbyn use rape culture in their defense in the way that Pilger has, I will name that. But it won’t be a lie because it’s just happened and I’m just making an observation about it.
Of course I am guessing because you were obscure. How about you write in plain English?
Your answer was confusing too,
No it was not. You know exactly what I meant.
but I assumed you meant I was lying about something (calling Pilger a rape apologist?).
Good. You do understand that I was calling you on your absurd lie.
…..use rape culture in their defense in the way that Pilger has
Could you expand on this bizarre claim, please? I suspect you’re already way out of your depth, but I’m willing for you to show us otherwise.
I’m just making an observation about it
You’re not making an “observation” about anything. You are simply reiterating one of the most brutal lies about a human rights activist that has been propagated in living memory. The viciousness of your mindless activity is not mitigated by the fact you write so poorly.
There’s nothing vicious in what I said, unless you are suggesting that a feminist having a political analysis of rape culture is vicious. Which is not an uncommon assertion, but that doesn’t make it any less absurd.
If you want the detail, search ts for weka +pilger, I’ve commented on it before. That Pilger is so good in other ways is precisely the point that feminists have been making for a long time now. Left wing men still have large blind spots when it comes to the oppressions they take part in.
Interestingly, if you want an example of how to write about Assange without promoting rape culture, look at CV’s post from the other day. He got his points across without using rape myths or undermining women who routinely get caught up in the politics of rape. That’s a very good sign.
unless you are suggesting that a feminist having a political analysis of rape culture is vicious.
There is not a shred of analysis in what you have said. You have merely recycled the black propaganda of the British and U.S. regimes. You might see such behaviour as virtuous, I see it as the very opposite.
I have read what you said about Pilger, and it is as vacuous now as when it was first published on this mostly excellent forum.
“There is not a shred of analysis in what you have said”
Not on this page, because all I did was name something.
“You have merely recycled the black propaganda of the British and U.S. regimes.”
Please link to where the British and US regimes have named Pilger as promoting rape culture. A couple of examples will suffice.
“You might see such behaviour as virtuous, I see it as the very opposite.”
I’d be very surprised if the British and US regimes had even considered the idea.
“I have read what you said about Pilger, and it is as vacuous now as when it was first published on this mostly excellent forum.”
That doesn’t match what you said before when you asked me to explain. I’m getting the sense of disingenuous here. I notice that you haven’t put up a single thing to refute my claim other than that Pilger is Great.
Every one of the ridiculous, completely discredited accusations made against this dangerous, truth-telling, dissenting journalist is the result of deliberate lies orchestrated by the British secret services.
You need to seriously do some reading. Your naiveté is alarming, to say the least.
You might like to start by listening to someone else who was targeted in the same way as Assange, except the agents of his intended destruction were a little more ham-fisted and vulnerable than the likes of the odious Marianne Ny….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tvmi14pzto
oh right, silly little feminists couldn’t come up with an argument of their own, they’re just parrotting the evil British SS.
You have failed to provide any evidence that the US or Brits have named Pilger as a rape apologist. Get a grip Morrisey, and put up an actual proper argument or fuck off. I can’t be bothered with a Pilger fanboy who just wants to spout florid rhetoric and move goal posts instead of discussing actual issues.
“silly little feminists couldn’t come up with an argument of their own, they’re just parrotting the evil British SS.”
You’re trying to argue that the persecution of this dissenter is being organized by feminists? That’s about as foolish a thing as you’ve written here. And that’s saying something.
I note that Women Against Rape almost immediately denounced this ridiculous campaign, as did the young women who had been bullied and manipulated into complying with this obscene business.
Everything you have said about Pilger lacks even a hint of credibility.
I can’t tell if you are being extremely thick or just trying to wind me up. I think I’ll go for the latter.
To be clear, what I have said today has nothing to do with the persecution of Assange (or Pilger) by the US or UK.
You seem to think I am talking about the rape charges against Assange. I’m not.
Then why are you making these nutty allegations about Pilger?
the only thing I’ve said about Pilger is that I hope he’s changed and doesn’t talking about Assange tomorrow in ways that promote rape culture. If you don’t understand what I mean by that, it’s up to you to ask.
All the other stuff about persecution by the state etc is what you’ve brought up, nothing to do with my point.
Weka – Morrissey on Assange. Can anyone give me the result of the contest without me having to read it. I am guessing its nil all.
there is no contest. Morrissey went off on a mission of his own making that had nothing to do with my comment. Last time I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Please don’t make his mistake. I wasn’t talking about Assange.
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2109855
Objectives To identify published clinical trials in which an FDA inspection found significant evidence of objectionable conditions or practices, to describe violations, and to determine whether the violations are mentioned in the peer-reviewed literature
Conclusions and Relevance When the FDA finds significant departures from good clinical practice, those findings are seldom reflected in the peer-reviewed literature, even when there is evidence of data fabrication or other forms of research misconduct.
http://charlesseife.com/fdadocuments.html
Andrew Little’s well considered answers for difficult questions, in spite of cachya type of questions in this morning’s The Nation’s interview.
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/thenation/interview-labour-leader-andrew-little-2015082210#axzz3jV9pfRhh
Meet the next British prime minister
The Blairites that dominate the Labour Party and the media are running scared of this bloke. He’s the MP for Islington North. His majority at the last election was 21,194, but Blair’s cronies insist on calling him “unelectable”….
Jeremy Corbyn – Leeds 8th August 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhhYnEYnM9A
Corbyn will never be Prime Minister.
I believe that the guy is unelectable. What real “Labour” voters and the wider public believe are worlds apart.
Someone who must be an ACT voter writes….
I believe that the guy is unelectable.
Clearly not, as his 21,194 majority demonstrates only too clearly.
What real “Labour” voters and the wider public believe are worlds apart.
So the huge majority of Labour voters who back Corbyn, and the majority of the British population that agree with his views, are not real voters. Got it.
Yes Morrissey I too believe that James is an ACT voter. He regularly comes over as a RW twit.
I notice the young people in the meeting. Few grey older people to be seen. Very responsive meeting for Corbyn.
Guatemala prosecutors seek to impeach president after ex-VP’s arrest
I remember when conservatives actually had some moral fortitude…
Oh, wait, no I don’t.
Why Corbynomics could be a good idea.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ftalphaville.ft.com/2015/08/06/2136475/corbyns-peoples-qe-could-actually-be-a-decent-idea/
First off.
1: Im not religious
2: I believe in the right to Protest and Counter Protest.
3: I Like America.
4: I have no idea if the TPPA will be good or not.
5: Told ya Hoverboards will be invented.
So walking down the street in Nelson today, I heard a lone protester screaming “The TPPA is awful” he looked really angry, his eyes were popping out his head, his fists were clenched, he looked like he wanted to punch someone.
He then yelled “Jesus Hates the TPPA, even Jesus hates the TPPA”
he walked straight past me, I said “Seriously even Jesus hates it?”
He got in my face yelled rather loudly said “Yes, everybody hates it” and walked off.
He is my friendly advice to future protesters.
1: Just because your angry, that doesnt make you right.
2: I can be turned around on any issue, if you provided facts/data/stats and are very analytical in how you present them.
3: If you attend a lot of protests where you burn the American flag, I will believe that your more about political ideology than whether a certain law is good or not.
4: Please dont scream in my face or poke your finger in my eye.
5: You may believe if New Zealand was a socialist country, we will all be on seven figure salaries, I dont believe this.
6: The people who make the most noise, don’t come across as Rhode Scholars or people I would trust with any economic law.
7: Please know that there are people who are just as passionate about a issue and may be on the Opposite side of that issue.
Again, I think you will get a lot further with your protests if you take this advice.
I cannot understand why you didn’t outline your 7 step plan to the ACTUAL protester you wrote the plan for.
indeed, hard to see what that advice has to do with anyone here.
It all happened to quickly, I guess I can now, if someone else starts screaming in my face.
Did you outline to this person—assuming he exists and you’re not fantasizing—your carefully thought out view on the plight of the Palestinians?
(i,e. “They deserve everything that happens to them.”)
and yes I was expecting you back – you said when hoverboards happen you will return and apparently they are happening but for me I’m still not convinced yet.
I believe they will. In October. Maybe really expensive, but theres two companies that have working prototypes.
I thank you Brett Dale for your detailed exposition on behalf of all protesters, who are all individuals not a collective of yellow-eyed children into groupthink as in Wyndhams book The Midwich Cuckoos,
The politics of TPPA are enough to drive sensitive people nutty. Thank goodness you are not sensitive, nutty or shy of advising everyone on how to avoid such states.
Cool story bro.
With National your ‘Brighter Future’ involves:
Yeah, crawling up driveways because you can no longer walk to get the treatment that would allow you to walk.
yep, they cooked the booked for a shiter future, as we knew they would
yep the absurd asking for the impossible – “Male gnats often assemble in large mating swarms or ghosts, particularly at dusk.” We’ve all seen them milling around in the late afternoon light – bet they don’t have to crawl to the doctor.
The little guy from the embarrassing MasterCard ads…
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CM9hxiMUkAAFYgT.png
Thanks Weepus beard – great wee giggle.
M’urica
https://twitter.com/julito77/status/634932196776759296/photo/1
edit: the source
Still, others said they had plenty of advice for the man they regularly identified in conversation as “Mr. Trump.”
“Hopefully, he’s going to sit there and say, ‘When I become elected president, what we’re going to do is we’re going to make the border a vacation spot, it’s going to cost you $25 for a permit, and then you get $50 for every confirmed kill,’ ” said Jim Sherota, 53, who works for a landscaping company. “That’d be one nice thing.”
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/08/22/us/donald-trump-fails-to-fill-alabama-stadium-but-fans-zeal-is-undiminished.html
Good news on workers solidarity from.
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazil-Hundreds-of-Thousands-Protest-Against-Coup-Attempts-20150820-0033.html
And some bad news from the Ukraine. It seem to getting worse not better there. Worth watching the vice video if you have not yet.
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150820/1025986430/ukraine-right-sector-child-soldiers.html
One more piece – depressing – when they go so hard after social democrat’s.
http://sputniknews.com/columnists/20150821/1026006091.html
Dutch blogger Dajey Petros tells a rather different story.
http://ukraineatwar.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/nazis-are-core-of-russias-hybrid-army.html
I think there are neo-nazis on both sides. That said, right-sector is a ultra right wing group who are fubar.
Thanks for the links. The article on Corbyn and the dirty politics was very intertesting. Fascinating elections coming up with Corbyn on IK and Sanders in USA!
“Maybe sometime in the past the British establishment could succeed in destroying an alternative voice, as they did with Labour’s Michael Foot and Tony Benn during the 1980s. But, today, the public no longer rely on the media mouthpieces of the establishment. They can make their own minds up with abundant alternative information sources.
The surging popular support for Corbyn is proof of that. The British people have had it with the rich getting richer and the vast majority getting poorer. They have had it with war, state-sponsored lawlessness and “professional” politician-puppets like Tony Blair and his New Labour ilk.
Corbyn is showing that socialism is a real alternative, no matter what the establishment says’
Great to hear that! Fingers crossed.
This is an interesting development
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/540706/researcher-demonstrates-how-to-suck-carbon-from-the-air-make-stuff-from-it/
Our own Rdion is up to dte with this. Plese note – I hve spilt some wter on my keybord, now the left side keys including the first lphbet letter don’t work. In the opinion of people who know, will it dry out nd the function return?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201767441
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201767441/a-groundbreaking-co2-strategy-that-pays-for-itself
9:21 AM. Researchers invent a process that turns polluting carbon dioxide into carbon nanofibers, a highly sought-after manufacturing material with the potential to be used in the aerospace, construction, and electronics industry. Stuart Licht, Professor of Chemistry at George Washington University.
Yes I had heard it on the radio, but I couldn’t recall where, so I went hunting for the “original” article.
It sound really interesting.
Aha rdion = radionz!!!
May be a hairdryer might help?
Thanks I lifted and angled keyboard overnight. More keys down. Have a spare and the old one was due to move on. Maybe my head is a bit wet – will use the hairdryer on that.
I thought the article was really good too, it’s hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you’re already small but we must try.