My belief runs with John Key on this matter. The doctors have PC image to maintain because of a foolish though well meaning law. I am much closer to the end than JK and would be greatly comforted if I knew that if terminal and in great pain I could decide to have the ‘plug pulled’.
Key is right in that it does happen, but I think it’s a lot more of a grey area than he intimated. I also expect that the ‘euthanasia by inaction’ that he’s hinting at comes quite late in the piece, when the individual involved probably would have chosen to end their life months earlier if they’d had the choice.
Maybe they’ve had enough of this gov’t BS with all the porkys Ryall keeps telling about increased doctors and nurses and the slash by stealth they’ve been up to in the health sector along with farming out elective work off the waiting lists to their private hospital mates.
They’re in a tough spot, taking the oath to preserve human life in a system where their paychecks are written by the born to rule neo liberal worhippers and the DHB’s are run by NACT’s mates.
A doctor in the UK kill many many older people without their consent.
The question surely is, in cases where the individual cannot commit suicide then the
consideration of euthanasia can be entered into, but doctor who quicken the end of
life are committing murder and it should not be allowed.
I watched Parliament yesterday and I thought that a comedian had snuck in and was masquerading as John Banks. Because the speech had to be a joke. It is very difficult to achieve the amount of belligerence coupled with stupidity that was on show. Then I confirmed it was actually Banksie.
This is the guy who thinks it’s still 1981 (the time of the 40th NZ government) and who says he’ll be back for the 50th term, when Shearer will be the leader of the opposition – except the current government is the 50th.
He had the gall to say that the Greens can’t get elected in in an electorate seat – ignoring that the Greens have a bigger vote nationally than Act’s pitiful less than 1% (compared with Green Party’s 11-14%) …
Banks is still living in 1981 First Past the Post NZ, when the issue of climate change had far less media attention.
Banks only got elected in an electorate seat because National did a deal. Labour did no such deals with the Greens, although I wouldn’t be surprised if they did something in 2014.
It doesn’t look like the Greens are going to need it. If I was them I wouldn’t want it. Becoming too dependent on an electorate seat for a party seems to result in the party expending too much effort and mana defending it with the inevitable result that they wind up being unable to run a nationwide campaign and a slow descent into being a party of one MP.
They’d be better reaching a loose accord prior to the election so that they can fight to get the voters to vote for their policies to improve their negotiating position after election result.
I’d also add that the party that relies on one electorate MP tends to place more emphasis on the personal beliefs of that indispensable MP than on its policies, i.e. the common beliefs of its membership.
Duh Mickey, that’s pretty much the attitude of the top 1%.
The real movers and shakers don’t live in parliamentary type venues and would never be caught dead on record saying such things, like the Koch Brothers.
Banks is a simply a distracting loon used by the Nat’s to divert attention from the great NZ swindle and should be treated like any child throwing a tantrum and ignored.
Haha John Banks having a go at the Green MPs because they are list MPs and “would never get elected anywhere.”
1. They did get elected, NZers gave the Green party their party vote. 11% to ACTs 1%.
2. John Banks is only there because of a cup of tea ffs.
Also love the challenge to “stand in Epsom in 2014” when JBs dodgyness has been so sorely exposed. It’s going to take a lot of cups of tea for him to get elected anywhere again. Even in BMWtown I mean Epsom.
Shame on Brownleee and NAct for focusing on Roads of Negligible Significance over the importance of revitalising KiwiRail after years of decline under private ownership:
The Labour Party has asked tough questions about the state of KiwiRail after it won a temporary injunction preventing the publication of sensitive material from a leaked business plan.
…
But parts of it were read in Parliament yesterday by Labour MP Phil Twyford under the absolute privilege MPs have, without the source document being identified.
…
Mr Twyford asked several questions of the Minister of State Owned Enterprises, pointing to aspects of the report:
* Has the board of KiwiRail advised him that from 2014 onwards the rail asset will decline and disruption will grow,
…
* Has the board of KiwiRail advised him that the amount to be spent on timber bridges will be cut substantially, projects on the main trunk line will be cancelled or deferred, the overall condition of railway sleepers will decline, …
It takes them too long to revitalise KR so they can flick it off to their mates so they’ll ignore it as it can’t be achieved in their window of power.
So they place their man Quinney atop and park the brownlee bus in front for his unique brand of arrogance and BS and stay the course Joyce set last term.
Charter schools are an experiment on our most vulnerable children, teachers’ union advocate Frances Guy says.
More than 150 parents, teachers and education leaders gathered at the Kelston Community Centre on Tuesday to discuss the Government’s decision to introduce charter schools.
With quotes from John Minto, Waikato University professor of education Martin Thrupp, Massey High School principal Bruce Ritchie, Massey Primary School principal Bruce Barnes, and Kelston Intermediate School teacher Sue Newby. They give a thumbs down to Charter Schools and refer to the fact that NZ already has a very good education system so why try something as dodgy as Charter Schools.
Maybe because 20% are falling out of the bottom of our current system and they want to be proactive and do something about it. All the education establishment will agree to do is the same as they have always been doing so nothing will change.
You do know that the biggest influence is poverty right? Get rid of the poverty and the few percent who are having difficulty will mostly disappear. Do what NACT want and our education will actually suffer – just as what happened in the US and UK after similar reforms.
The education establishment is always doing the research and changing. That’s why schools are better today than when I went to school 30+ years ago. You’re just one of the people who are too stupid to realise that.
The trouble is they are getting worse results than they were getting 30 years ago. The education system is being dumbed down with focus on soft subjects such as “inquiry (aka googling on the internet), kapa haka and “enviro”(aka recycling).
Maths especially is actively demoted, probably because most teachers just dont like it. It is left to one or two teachers in a school to pick up the slack. Same with English with “text” language not being acceptable. And all though this “yes of course little Jimmy’s doing well” – except he’s not and the parents dont find out until the next teacher or he next school. Or the student doesnt find out until he tries to get a job or tries t go to uni and has to do a year of catch up or woese yet just cant get in at all.
In addition to that, the far left-wing bias of the teachers unions and most teachers leaves the students with little exposure to radical ideas such as working hard to achieve goals, looking after yourself and not depending on the state for handouts. Everyone one is a “winner”, no matter how hard they try (or not). It’s “mean” not to give everyone a “reward” (talk about newspeak- even words are changing their meaning) just for turning up.
From what I’ve read/seen it seems that it’s actually getting more challenging. Actually being able to think is far harder than wrote learning.
In addition to that, the far left-wing bias of the teachers unions and most teachers leaves the students with little exposure to radical ideas such as working hard to achieve goals, looking after yourself and not depending on the state for handouts.
Individualism is a dead end – quite literally. You must be a part of a society to survive so it’s not a question of looking for handouts on the left but working together. The right is the home of the handouts. Just look at the RoNS, the cronyism that’s shining through and the massive increase in government borrowing.
It’s “mean” not to give everyone a “reward” (talk about newspeak- even words are changing their meaning) just for turning up.
Got any proof of that or is it just another RWNJ meme?
Om charter schools. It is concerning that at a regulated NZ school a dedicated trickster and paedophile found a way to breach the barriers to staying in teaching. He ingratiated himself into a Maori community by adopting a Maori-centric behaviour. That was an extra breach of trust by someone who was not even NZ pakeha on top of the whole bad behaviour of false friendship with children serving his own personal desires. Procedures were not followed that should have sent a red flag of warning before he could get so entrenched. The Teachers Council were duped, the police did not have the confidence and evidence to proceed further etc. The system failed the children and their parents.
Now if charter schools are to be able to widely employ non-teachers they will be fertile fields for this sort of twisted individual.
Hon Nanaia Mahuta: Is she aware that teachers are police vetted every 3 years when they have to reregister, and can she assure the House that non-registered teachers working in charter schools will also be police vetted every 3 years?
Hon HEKIA PARATA: Indeed, they are often vetted more often than every 3 years, and we will be expecting the same level of probity, protection, and safeguarding of all students in all schools.
Hon Nanaia Mahuta: If there is no difference whatsoever in the vetting and background checks for non-registered charter school teachers, why did officials warn the Minister last year that “There is the challenge of ensuring that students are not put at risk by mentors who are not necessarily subject to professional licensing.”?
Carol
I have a tape of an old piece of advice for budding politicians on how not to answer a question. I don’t know if it was meant to be cutting analysis or spoof. But Parata has learned well. Is there a psychological and speaking test before the NACTs will endorse a candidate for parliament?
I am entirely unreasonable of course. In wanting NZ policies to be more effective and well researched. As I have got older the accretion of examples of our she’ll-be-right, research and expertise lite, approach have grown so I can no longer overlook our innate capacity to go into almost everything on a wing and a prayer. And we aren’t a very religious society either. This is an important revelation to me and so while we must keep trying for better, we are bound to get this sort of vague shit from politicians in answer to searching questions. And this can apply for Left and Right. I just felt I had to get this off my chest. There, there I feel better now.
Rob 6.2
Good point. But it is obvious that conditions where there are no or fewer controls will allow worse situations or more bad ones to surface. Don’t you think?
A black mark for Tonga. A Tongan now a decorated NZ policeman goes home to attend his grandfather’s funeral and ends up dead there after violence with Tongan police involvement. Very sad for his family. Very sad for the state of Tongan male culture. And following my former piece about the destructive power of alcohol when it isn’t carefully limited, an unhappy example that reinforces the rightness of my point.
The Slippery little Shyster’s empty suitcase of intellectual rigor has been opened and exposed for all to see,
Having alienated everyone but the National core 40% of the vote Slippery is beginning to lash out in anger and not having a particular group of people to be angry at,
Making accusations that Doctors and Nurses are regularly killing people in New Zealand hospitals will sure as hell get em all voting for ya,
All but accusing the Hungarian PRT serving in Baghlan Province of being COWARDS is likely to have one of them pay some deviant Afghani to plant road-side explosives in reply to the Prime Ministers abhorrent utterance,
The sooner the country gets rid of this Slippery used-car-salesman the better…
All but accusing the Hungarian PRT serving in Baghlan Province of being COWARDS is likely to have one of them pay some deviant Afghani to plant road-side explosives in reply to the Prime Ministers abhorrent utterance,
That’s as big a slur against the Hungarians as what Key said.
If ever an apology was painfully obviously required it’s here. The Hungarian minister of Defense writes an open letter than says a) you’re wrong, and b) it’s a shame your “comradely spirit” appears to be lacking.
I think that’s diplomatic speak for “f*ck you.”
A no comment response from Key here is pretty much like extending the middle finger in reply. Key is not capable of seeing that there are exceptions to every rule, including the politicians ‘Never admit you are wrong, never apologize’ rule. Sometimes you put your foot so far in it that not apologizing is worse. This dick is supposed to be representing us. Thanks JK.
I’ve made an open Facebook group about this, which I intend to bring to the attention of the Hungarian Ministry of Defence and as many Hungarians as I can. http://www.facebook.com/groups/172650396204620/
Wow a message of hope and change from the Murdoch clan. Golly. I may well be being cynical here, but I do note that her husband is noted PR guru Matthew Freud (Sigmund’s great-grandson no less) who was in with the Tony Blair crowd.
Yay, the news on RadioNZ National, we are saved, the balance of trade tipped firmly in New Zelands favor for this quarter we exported 100 and something million dollars worth of stuff more than what we imported,
Party anyone???
Yeah i’m friggin lying, the whole thing took another tiny step towards the column over to the right of the profit one, you know the one what sez ”gone tits up”
Imports are down 1.4% for the quarter and more telling exports are down 0.4%, expect another 2000 unemployed…
“The thing is, a black man can’t be president in America, given the racial aversion and history that’s still out there,” Cornell Belcher, a pollster for Obama, told the journalist Gwen Ifill after the 2008 election. “However, an extraordinary, gifted, and talented young man who happens to be black can be president.”
Belcher’s formulation grants the power of anti-black racism, and proposes to defeat it by not acknowledging it. His is the perfect statement of the Obama era, a time marked by a revolution that must never announce itself, by a democracy that must never acknowledge the weight of race, even while being shaped by it. Barack Obama governs a nation enlightened enough to send an African American to the White House, but not enlightened enough to accept a black man as its president.
[…]
While Beck and Limbaugh have chosen direct racial assault, others choose simply to deny that a black president actually exists. One in four Americans (and more than half of all Republicans) believe Obama was not born in this country, and thus is an illegitimate president. More than a dozen state legislatures have introduced “birther bills” demanding proof of Obama’s citizenship as a condition for putting him on the 2012 ballot. Eighteen percent of Republicans believe Obama to be a Muslim. The goal of all this is to delegitimize Obama’s presidency. If Obama is not truly American, then America has still never had a black president.
John Beattie, Director of FiordlandLink Experience (monorail) needs to understand that the World Heritage status of our parks is based on the pristine, unaltered nature of the environment and most tourists want to experience that too and if they don’t, there is always Disneyland. http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/fiordland-or-disneyland.html
I saw a ‘story’ which showed Michelle Obama at a soup kitchen handing out food etc and to mark the occasion the final photo showed the young female beneficiary taking a photo with her $500 iPod.
This to me smells of bene-bashing that why should somebody with such a phone get food for free. Completely ignoring the upheavals sadly so common in America and around the world and seemingly requiring one to drop all one’s assets before getting help.
Well that would make no sense because pods and pads and phones are cheaper than food. But it will make for a good ignorant rant by many ignorant ranters.
pfft. Just a recommendation, innit? I’m sure Johnny Boy can pull any number of other recommendations from, erm…well, out his arse really. And be guided by them. (Don’t know how to categorise that [unfortunate?, disturbing?, amusing?…all of the pre-mentioned?] image I just had of JK following his recommendations and so disappearing up his own arse )
Loathe as I am to bring it all up again (who am I kidding, I am not loathe! 🙂 ) have a shufti at tnis: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m90539&fb=1
The bizarre, unhealthy blinding media contempt for Julian Assange.
A warning to all those heading off over the Tasman to live in Australia. Things may not be all that good there as a flock of Aussie Pelicans have settled in the Kaipara Harbour. Perhaps they know something we don’t!
John Key is hamming it up on the dance floor with a bunch of youngsters. Nothing wrong with that. All in good fun.
But does anyone remember when Pete Hodgson and another Labour minister (can’t remember who) did exactly the same thing in 2007/8? They were derided and lampooned by a spiteful MSM.
What’s the bet Key will be lauded by the same MSM as a… good fellow who joins in the fun and makes everyone smile and laugh.
Similarly on NewstalkZB this afternoon, host Larry Williams and NBR hackette Ellen Read snarled that the law needs to come down far more heavily on people who drink too much. When token liberal Tim Watkin pointed out that they usually slam talk like that as “nanny state”, Williams and Read did not miss a beat.
“That’s not nanny state!” shouted Read.
“No,” agreed Williams, “That’s just doing something about drinking!”
As usual, Watkin declined to challenge them any further.
“The point of the treaty-based international consensus was to make it comfortable for multinationals to romp around the world while paying minimal tax.”
and
“A pernicious fiction propagated by the OECD is that the arm’s-length method produces precise results, while all other methods of allocating income are sloppy. The arm’s-length method is illusory.. . . fiction piled on top of fiction”
The KiwiRail report has the figure of $200 million over 3 years as a shortfall or reduction in funding. With unfortunate consequences for its effectiveness. Brownlee throws in the ‘information’ that the government is spending hundreds of millions on it. I think the job he’s in is too big for him. The roads are using up hundreds of millions or is it billions. The difference is that it is glamorous to float along in the BMW or the latest humvee, while only peasants and hard working productive firms are using rail.
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
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Looks as though John-Mr-nice-and-natural-tell-it-how-it-is-Key’s off the cuff, unresearched sound bites are beginning to get him into trouble. Now it’s not only the Hungarian’s he has upset but also New Zealand’s hospitals and doctors
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7538178/PMs-euthanasia-claim-sparks-anger
My belief runs with John Key on this matter. The doctors have PC image to maintain because of a foolish though well meaning law. I am much closer to the end than JK and would be greatly comforted if I knew that if terminal and in great pain I could decide to have the ‘plug pulled’.
Having the “plug pulled” is not euthenasia in the context of the bill being proposed.
Key is right in that it does happen, but I think it’s a lot more of a grey area than he intimated. I also expect that the ‘euthanasia by inaction’ that he’s hinting at comes quite late in the piece, when the individual involved probably would have chosen to end their life months earlier if they’d had the choice.
Lanthanide, it may well be a grey area, I cannot be certain (who can?), but it would be a change to see Key using a little more “grey matter”!
Key is right in that it does happen,
Nonsense. Can you provide us with one example of a doctor killing a patient in this country?
Maybe they’ve had enough of this gov’t BS with all the porkys Ryall keeps telling about increased doctors and nurses and the slash by stealth they’ve been up to in the health sector along with farming out elective work off the waiting lists to their private hospital mates.
They’re in a tough spot, taking the oath to preserve human life in a system where their paychecks are written by the born to rule neo liberal worhippers and the DHB’s are run by NACT’s mates.
A doctor in the UK kill many many older people without their consent.
The question surely is, in cases where the individual cannot commit suicide then the
consideration of euthanasia can be entered into, but doctor who quicken the end of
life are committing murder and it should not be allowed.
Is Shipman at all relevant to the current bill?
No.
I watched Parliament yesterday and I thought that a comedian had snuck in and was masquerading as John Banks. Because the speech had to be a joke. It is very difficult to achieve the amount of belligerence coupled with stupidity that was on show. Then I confirmed it was actually Banksie.
The speech was on the Government’s further undermining of the ETS.
If the attitude of Banks is held by even a minority of the world’s population then the planet is fcuked.
This is the guy who thinks it’s still 1981 (the time of the 40th NZ government) and who says he’ll be back for the 50th term, when Shearer will be the leader of the opposition – except the current government is the 50th.
He had the gall to say that the Greens can’t get elected in in an electorate seat – ignoring that the Greens have a bigger vote nationally than Act’s pitiful less than 1% (compared with Green Party’s 11-14%) …
Banks is still living in 1981 First Past the Post NZ, when the issue of climate change had far less media attention.
Banks only got elected in an electorate seat because National did a deal. Labour did no such deals with the Greens, although I wouldn’t be surprised if they did something in 2014.
It doesn’t look like the Greens are going to need it. If I was them I wouldn’t want it. Becoming too dependent on an electorate seat for a party seems to result in the party expending too much effort and mana defending it with the inevitable result that they wind up being unable to run a nationwide campaign and a slow descent into being a party of one MP.
They’d be better reaching a loose accord prior to the election so that they can fight to get the voters to vote for their policies to improve their negotiating position after election result.
Yeah, I agree with that assessment.
Except where Labour and the Greens doing a deal means that a seat goes to the left instead of the right.
Yep, that’s the one.
I’d also add that the party that relies on one electorate MP tends to place more emphasis on the personal beliefs of that indispensable MP than on its policies, i.e. the common beliefs of its membership.
So did Labour do a deal with Jim Anderton similar to Banks ?
National had to gift a seat to Banks.
Anderton always had his seat to begin with.
Didn’t Labour accommodate the Greens so that Fitsimmons got Coromandel?
Not sure, but National consistently beat the Greens there from 2002 on.
Duh Mickey, that’s pretty much the attitude of the top 1%.
The real movers and shakers don’t live in parliamentary type venues and would never be caught dead on record saying such things, like the Koch Brothers.
Banks is a simply a distracting loon used by the Nat’s to divert attention from the great NZ swindle and should be treated like any child throwing a tantrum and ignored.
He should have been kicked out for insulting elected members of parliament. List MPs are elected.
I think his robot circuitry is affected by solar flares.
Haha John Banks having a go at the Green MPs because they are list MPs and “would never get elected anywhere.”
1. They did get elected, NZers gave the Green party their party vote. 11% to ACTs 1%.
2. John Banks is only there because of a cup of tea ffs.
Also love the challenge to “stand in Epsom in 2014” when JBs dodgyness has been so sorely exposed. It’s going to take a lot of cups of tea for him to get elected anywhere again. Even in BMWtown I mean Epsom.
Shame on Brownleee and NAct for focusing on Roads of Negligible Significance over the importance of revitalising KiwiRail after years of decline under private ownership:
Good work by Twyford:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/QOA/3/4/a/50HansQ_20120823_00000001-1-KiwiRail-Confidence-in-Board.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tSzzUZM8JU
It takes them too long to revitalise KR so they can flick it off to their mates so they’ll ignore it as it can’t be achieved in their window of power.
So they place their man Quinney atop and park the brownlee bus in front for his unique brand of arrogance and BS and stay the course Joyce set last term.
Stand with Pussy Riot
http://www.avaaz.org/en/free_pussy_riot_free_russia_e
A slightly more Russian perspective on Pussy Riot. Which suggests why they got a more than negligible 2 year sentence.
http://exiledonline.com/crime-pussy-riot-the-russian-soul-world-war-iii-how-pussy-riot-troupe-got-the-exile-censored-in-2008/
I see the Western Leader (West Auckland local paper) has a (hard copy) front page article slamming Charter Schools. Online version here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/western-leader/7539981/Charters-experiment-on-poor
With quotes from John Minto, Waikato University professor of education Martin Thrupp, Massey High School principal Bruce Ritchie, Massey Primary School principal Bruce Barnes, and Kelston Intermediate School teacher Sue Newby. They give a thumbs down to Charter Schools and refer to the fact that NZ already has a very good education system so why try something as dodgy as Charter Schools.
Maybe because 20% are falling out of the bottom of our current system and they want to be proactive and do something about it. All the education establishment will agree to do is the same as they have always been doing so nothing will change.
Bollocks
You do know that the biggest influence is poverty right? Get rid of the poverty and the few percent who are having difficulty will mostly disappear. Do what NACT want and our education will actually suffer – just as what happened in the US and UK after similar reforms.
The education establishment is always doing the research and changing. That’s why schools are better today than when I went to school 30+ years ago. You’re just one of the people who are too stupid to realise that.
yep.
Most of our social ills are symptoms of a deeper malady, not maladies themselves.
The trouble is they are getting worse results than they were getting 30 years ago. The education system is being dumbed down with focus on soft subjects such as “inquiry (aka googling on the internet), kapa haka and “enviro”(aka recycling).
Maths especially is actively demoted, probably because most teachers just dont like it. It is left to one or two teachers in a school to pick up the slack. Same with English with “text” language not being acceptable. And all though this “yes of course little Jimmy’s doing well” – except he’s not and the parents dont find out until the next teacher or he next school. Or the student doesnt find out until he tries to get a job or tries t go to uni and has to do a year of catch up or woese yet just cant get in at all.
In addition to that, the far left-wing bias of the teachers unions and most teachers leaves the students with little exposure to radical ideas such as working hard to achieve goals, looking after yourself and not depending on the state for handouts. Everyone one is a “winner”, no matter how hard they try (or not). It’s “mean” not to give everyone a “reward” (talk about newspeak- even words are changing their meaning) just for turning up.
Yeah the education system is doing real well.
But they’re not are they? 30 years ago 50% passed and the results of the pupils were altered to ensure that.
From what I’ve read/seen it seems that it’s actually getting more challenging. Actually being able to think is far harder than wrote learning.
Individualism is a dead end – quite literally. You must be a part of a society to survive so it’s not a question of looking for handouts on the left but working together. The right is the home of the handouts. Just look at the RoNS, the cronyism that’s shining through and the massive increase in government borrowing.
Got any proof of that or is it just another RWNJ meme?
OT/U-T
Om charter schools. It is concerning that at a regulated NZ school a dedicated trickster and paedophile found a way to breach the barriers to staying in teaching. He ingratiated himself into a Maori community by adopting a Maori-centric behaviour. That was an extra breach of trust by someone who was not even NZ pakeha on top of the whole bad behaviour of false friendship with children serving his own personal desires. Procedures were not followed that should have sent a red flag of warning before he could get so entrenched. The Teachers Council were duped, the police did not have the confidence and evidence to proceed further etc. The system failed the children and their parents.
Now if charter schools are to be able to widely employ non-teachers they will be fertile fields for this sort of twisted individual.
Yes, prism, Nania Mahuta quizzed Parata on that very issue this week. I’m not convinced by her replies:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/QOA/1/7/2/50HansQ_20120822_00000007-7-Teaching-Staff-Non-registered-Application.htm
Carol
I have a tape of an old piece of advice for budding politicians on how not to answer a question. I don’t know if it was meant to be cutting analysis or spoof. But Parata has learned well. Is there a psychological and speaking test before the NACTs will endorse a candidate for parliament?
I am entirely unreasonable of course. In wanting NZ policies to be more effective and well researched. As I have got older the accretion of examples of our she’ll-be-right, research and expertise lite, approach have grown so I can no longer overlook our innate capacity to go into almost everything on a wing and a prayer. And we aren’t a very religious society either. This is an important revelation to me and so while we must keep trying for better, we are bound to get this sort of vague shit from politicians in answer to searching questions. And this can apply for Left and Right. I just felt I had to get this off my chest. There, there I feel better now.
So you are condeming charter schools for heinous issues that are hapening in the current system?
Rob 6.2
Good point. But it is obvious that conditions where there are no or fewer controls will allow worse situations or more bad ones to surface. Don’t you think?
A black mark for Tonga. A Tongan now a decorated NZ policeman goes home to attend his grandfather’s funeral and ends up dead there after violence with Tongan police involvement. Very sad for his family. Very sad for the state of Tongan male culture. And following my former piece about the destructive power of alcohol when it isn’t carefully limited, an unhappy example that reinforces the rightness of my point.
The PM should apologise to the Hungarians.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1208/S00354/hungarian-defence-minister-on-nz-afghanistan-deaths.htm
Honestly, our Prime Minister is a dick NZ.
What a bozo.
Bozo the clown. Hungary, euthanasia, John Key is seriously lacking not just wisdom and depth but also basic knowledge.
What the fuck is he doing?
The Slippery little Shyster’s empty suitcase of intellectual rigor has been opened and exposed for all to see,
Having alienated everyone but the National core 40% of the vote Slippery is beginning to lash out in anger and not having a particular group of people to be angry at,
Making accusations that Doctors and Nurses are regularly killing people in New Zealand hospitals will sure as hell get em all voting for ya,
All but accusing the Hungarian PRT serving in Baghlan Province of being COWARDS is likely to have one of them pay some deviant Afghani to plant road-side explosives in reply to the Prime Ministers abhorrent utterance,
The sooner the country gets rid of this Slippery used-car-salesman the better…
That’s as big a slur against the Hungarians as what Key said.
+1
Well, he “won’t be commenting” on the Hungarian open letter according to Felix Marwick.
Dick. (not Marwick, he’s just doing his job)
If ever an apology was painfully obviously required it’s here. The Hungarian minister of Defense writes an open letter than says a) you’re wrong, and b) it’s a shame your “comradely spirit” appears to be lacking.
I think that’s diplomatic speak for “f*ck you.”
A no comment response from Key here is pretty much like extending the middle finger in reply. Key is not capable of seeing that there are exceptions to every rule, including the politicians ‘Never admit you are wrong, never apologize’ rule. Sometimes you put your foot so far in it that not apologizing is worse. This dick is supposed to be representing us. Thanks JK.
What a wanker.
I wonder houw our diplomatic corp’s already high esteem for John Key is doing now.
“What the fuck is he doing?”
He’s making up as he goes along.
Should read “making it up”.
I’ve made an open Facebook group about this, which I intend to bring to the attention of the Hungarian Ministry of Defence and as many Hungarians as I can.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/172650396204620/
What weight would any apology from the PM carry? What self-respecting nation would want to receive a chunk of his insincerity?
The ongoing saga of the Murdochs and MSM….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/7540529/Murdoch-profit-alone-a-disaster
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!( Pleased to see they have a dark sense of humour)….
Wow a message of hope and change from the Murdoch clan. Golly. I may well be being cynical here, but I do note that her husband is noted PR guru Matthew Freud (Sigmund’s great-grandson no less) who was in with the Tony Blair crowd.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-406666/The-night-Tony-Blair-cross-fertilised-PR-guru-Freud.html
Yay, the news on RadioNZ National, we are saved, the balance of trade tipped firmly in New Zelands favor for this quarter we exported 100 and something million dollars worth of stuff more than what we imported,
Party anyone???
Yeah i’m friggin lying, the whole thing took another tiny step towards the column over to the right of the profit one, you know the one what sez ”gone tits up”
Imports are down 1.4% for the quarter and more telling exports are down 0.4%, expect another 2000 unemployed…
Ta-Nehisi Coates: Fear of a Black President
“The thing is, a black man can’t be president in America, given the racial aversion and history that’s still out there,” Cornell Belcher, a pollster for Obama, told the journalist Gwen Ifill after the 2008 election. “However, an extraordinary, gifted, and talented young man who happens to be black can be president.”
Belcher’s formulation grants the power of anti-black racism, and proposes to defeat it by not acknowledging it. His is the perfect statement of the Obama era, a time marked by a revolution that must never announce itself, by a democracy that must never acknowledge the weight of race, even while being shaped by it. Barack Obama governs a nation enlightened enough to send an African American to the White House, but not enlightened enough to accept a black man as its president.
[…]
While Beck and Limbaugh have chosen direct racial assault, others choose simply to deny that a black president actually exists. One in four Americans (and more than half of all Republicans) believe Obama was not born in this country, and thus is an illegitimate president. More than a dozen state legislatures have introduced “birther bills” demanding proof of Obama’s citizenship as a condition for putting him on the 2012 ballot. Eighteen percent of Republicans believe Obama to be a Muslim. The goal of all this is to delegitimize Obama’s presidency. If Obama is not truly American, then America has still never had a black president.
Meanwhile….
This too.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/08/lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-loquacious/261481/
John Beattie, Director of FiordlandLink Experience (monorail) needs to understand that the World Heritage status of our parks is based on the pristine, unaltered nature of the environment and most tourists want to experience that too and if they don’t, there is always Disneyland.
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/fiordland-or-disneyland.html
I saw a ‘story’ which showed Michelle Obama at a soup kitchen handing out food etc and to mark the occasion the final photo showed the young female beneficiary taking a photo with her $500 iPod.
This to me smells of bene-bashing that why should somebody with such a phone get food for free. Completely ignoring the upheavals sadly so common in America and around the world and seemingly requiring one to drop all one’s assets before getting help.
Well that would make no sense because pods and pads and phones are cheaper than food. But it will make for a good ignorant rant by many ignorant ranters.
A quick search on Ebay shows a used Apple iPhone 1st Generation at $50 through to an Apple iPhone 3G at $95.
what about “KILLER” key.
he has an opinion on anything and everything these days.
next time he goes to the “states” maybe he should stay there.
The Waitangi Tribunal has ruled that the asset sales process must be stopped until the water claim is resolved.
Cat meet pidgeons.
pfft. Just a recommendation, innit? I’m sure Johnny Boy can pull any number of other recommendations from, erm…well, out his arse really. And be guided by them. (Don’t know how to categorise that [unfortunate?, disturbing?, amusing?…all of the pre-mentioned?] image I just had of JK following his recommendations and so disappearing up his own arse )
“nom nom nom …pigeons!” *burp*
The Week in Pictures
“Whistle-blower”, speaking from the Ecuadorian embassy, maintains right to reveal restricted information
Link
funny
Well done. If those posters don’t bring down the government, nothing will.
Loathe as I am to bring it all up again (who am I kidding, I am not loathe! 🙂 ) have a shufti at tnis:
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m90539&fb=1
The bizarre, unhealthy blinding media contempt for Julian Assange.
Thanks for that, Vicky.
Here’s something on the same theme from the excellent Media Lens site….
http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=686:incinerating-assange-the-liberal-media-go-to-work&catid=25:alerts-2012&Itemid=69
Nice link to David Green’s article.
Bookmarked.
Thanks for the genuinely informative links.
30% of recent US fatalities in Afghanistan were ‘Green on Blue’ killings by Afghan “allies”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_WM64iCt24&feature=g-all-u
The highest ever in the history of the Afghanistan conflict. Its a fuck up. And our troops are dying over there.
…and our “leaders” couldn’t give a fuck.
A warning to all those heading off over the Tasman to live in Australia. Things may not be all that good there as a flock of Aussie Pelicans have settled in the Kaipara Harbour. Perhaps they know something we don’t!
Picked this video up on the Herald site:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=127574
John Key is hamming it up on the dance floor with a bunch of youngsters. Nothing wrong with that. All in good fun.
But does anyone remember when Pete Hodgson and another Labour minister (can’t remember who) did exactly the same thing in 2007/8? They were derided and lampooned by a spiteful MSM.
What’s the bet Key will be lauded by the same MSM as a… good fellow who joins in the fun and makes everyone smile and laugh.
Similarly on NewstalkZB this afternoon, host Larry Williams and NBR hackette Ellen Read snarled that the law needs to come down far more heavily on people who drink too much. When token liberal Tim Watkin pointed out that they usually slam talk like that as “nanny state”, Williams and Read did not miss a beat.
“That’s not nanny state!” shouted Read.
“No,” agreed Williams, “That’s just doing something about drinking!”
As usual, Watkin declined to challenge them any further.
An interesting take on transfer pricing.
The KiwiRail report has the figure of $200 million over 3 years as a shortfall or reduction in funding. With unfortunate consequences for its effectiveness. Brownlee throws in the ‘information’ that the government is spending hundreds of millions on it. I think the job he’s in is too big for him. The roads are using up hundreds of millions or is it billions. The difference is that it is glamorous to float along in the BMW or the latest humvee, while only peasants and hard working productive firms are using rail.