As usual, the media fail to mention climate change.
“Dry spring weather sparks water warnings
Dry spring weather has prompted warnings to conserve water in some parts of the country.
Many farmers fear they are heading for a second dry year in a row.
Most of New Zealand has had less rainfall than usual over the past three months, causing soil moisture levels to dry up, said the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).
In Wairarapa, Masterton residents are not allowed to use hand held hoses, because the water supply from the Waingawa River is running low.
The river’s flow rate has fallen below 1300 litres per second, well below the council’s conservation threshold of 1900 litres.
Masterton District Council assets and operations manager David Hopman said only 31mm of rain had fallen in the region over the past month, well below the average.”
one thing would be good, don’t rip out every shrub, every tree, every single thing with roots n all to grow ‘pasture’ for cows.
roots are needed to store water in the dirt. The drying out of the soil is the biggest issue we have currently. If we cant’ store moisture we are gonna loose the land to erosion.
second, water tanks. lots of them. literally.
maybe less cows, so you would not need all that ‘pasture’. so you don’t need to drain every source of water to water your ‘pasture’.
maybe maybe there are things to do, but hey, surely the government will help?
Drainage systems converted to storage and drainage.
Swales.
Sub surface ripping and deep rooted perennials.
Increasing soil carbon (thus soil water holding capacity).
The trick is to recharge the aquifers from rain. Hardpan from tilling causes rain to run off to the ocean instead of being slowed by the land. It takes expensive ferts via the rivers with it, causes all manner of PR problems.
Subsurface ripping and perennials deal with hardpan over a few years. Ponds are holes in the ground. Swales feed ponds but also slow water down to infiltrate land and replenish aquifers. Trees provide shade and shelter from wind to slow down evaporation. Shelter will also increase animal production.
You would think their ‘representatives’ or even government would have some basic check lists for farmers to avoid droughts, aka put in extra tanks, Swales etc… but no, in spite of all the money in that industry they don’t do the basics, that cost little… consumers on the other hand are constantly being advised on what they should be doing to save water/power what have you…
my point is, they don’t even seem to try to give basic help to farmers and some of them are so old school, they would never think of changing their ways…
I do.
However when they know tax payers will cover their business risk, whenever there is flooding or droughts, there is no incentive to farm sustainably or store water for the future.
Farmers are very keen on socialism, when they benefit.
Not so keen when it comes to paying the taxes for it.
@KJT – yep that thought occurred to me too… why bother with small stuff, when you can dish out million dollars cheques… Fonterra make the farmers pay into a fund for innovation though, but one disgruntled ex employee said it has just become a fat cat fund and they are unwilling to use the money for real projects that will deliver real change and future proof..
I’ve just farmed through the to best seasons the central north island has seen I years . Regular rain right through the last two summers and mild winters . If it wasn’t for that pesky cc thing I’d be loving every bit
True, bwaghorn. But.. the lack of droughts may not be a good sign. The big El Nino in 1998 gave us what it should: Westerly winds and dry.. Now we don’t get that: the last big El Nino gave us Easterly as much as West, and rain from tropics from either direction. (I am a sailor, and have come to study weather patterns..)
We have been lucky in not having droughts in our region over the last 2 years, but I fear that big changes are happening, and it will not be long before we will be less lucky and get some nasty stuff we never expected.
Teen loses sight waiting for help. She’s been left with itching red eyes every day…I can’t begin to imagine how bad that would be, one eye totally blind, the other requiring a strong contact.
What a shocking story. DHB’s need to stop building conferences or what ever the fuck they were doing with money there, and instead spend the money on seeing and fixing patients.
That is so sad for that poor woman. Yep they knew from 11, something was wrong and they do nothing for 6 years! Disgusting.
“New Zealanders fear rising influence of Chinese wealth
For a country whose tourism board sells it to the world as “100 per cent pure”, New Zealand is in danger of looking compromised.
Chinese money, courted by the government in Wellington, has certainly turbo-charged the New Zealand economy, but it comes at a price and is raising questions about the country’s reliability as a western intelligence-sharing ally…..”
Hosking: “here’s the good news, one year in and this current arrangement surely has the right to a glass of something celebratory. It is, as they’ve reminded us many times, our first truly MMP government, and with it came the inherent risks of carnage, none of which has happened. The three-headed monster the previous government warned us of, has been nowhere to be seen.” https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12147863
” This has been a coalition that has set the standard. The gaps in philosophy especially among Labour and New Zealand First are wide in places, but they have not allowed it to be an issue.”
“It might have helped that the Greens are a minor, almost outside sort of group within the deal, but if you were looking to mark this lot on their performance in terms of cohesiveness and professionalism, and staying on message, and out of coalition-type trouble, you’d be being churlish to mark them any less than an eight or maybe even a nine out of 10.”
There must be a tear in the fabric of space and the hoskings from an alternate universe has slipped in . Although it could be the hosk has realised it’s time to change troughs to sup from .
Nah he left heaps of ‘qualifiers’ first in the article. how the inexperienced hapless lot who are hapless and inexperienced surprised him by not imploding yet.
Isn’t there a proverb “A wise man feels the wind and sets his sails accordingly ‘”, although the one about rats and sinking ships is probably more appropriate.
But Hoskings, bugger me !.
You know National is in big trouble when one of National’s biggest fanboy’s in the MSM starts to heap praise on a coalition he has previously tried to say was bad news for New Zealand. He tried to find something bad to write about them but failed.
Meanwhile, Simon has tripped and stumbled and pulled down part of the curtain of illusion that National is one united party. We got a peek through the gap at some of the disharmony and willingness to try and go around the law when it suits them.
A man who National hid deep behind that curtain and tried to claim they had no more contact with has again stepped into the limelight through that hole in the curtain of illusion as a power player in the Bridges vs JLR saga in the media. He will fight tooth and nail not to be shoved back behind that curtain again.
A Captain’s call you mean? Nah, if Simon hadn’t gone like a bull through a China Shop [pun intentional] with his witch hunt to find the Narking Nat this wouldn’t have happened.
The sole reason, IMO, was that the myth of party discipline and unity was threatened, in a very minor way, and Simon’s leadership was questioned. Simon felt so sure about the support of his Caucus and so cock-sure of his own abilities to steer National to a brighter future that he felt compelled to run this investigation. The rest is History as they say …
Could it be that this crisis is mental health care, or the apparent failure of democratic politics to mount an effective policy response is actually related to a far deeper and entrenched element of how we actually ‘do’ politics?
And does the following remind you of a recent debacle in NZ politics?
Occupational psychology research suggests that working within aggressive, low-trust, high-blame, secretive and highly partisan political cultures is unlikely to be good for anyone’s mental health.
An excellent and though-provoking article, which is a must-read for Standardistas IMO.
Here’s the section from yours that identifies why it is flawed thinking to treat JLR’s incarceration as similar to that of a private citizen (a handful of respondents on this site have been staunchly denying that their thinking is flawed):
“Recently, an 18-month project exploring the politics of mental health through a focus on the mental health of politicians in four countries (New Zealand, the UK, Canada and Australia) has revealed how the nature of modern politics – where the dominant mode is competitive representative politics with an increasingly aggressive 24/7 media environment, augmented by a social media backdrop with covert actors seeking to influence agendas – ensures not only that the psychological stressors and strains on politicians are intense, but that the stigma associated with such mental health concerns prevent politicians from acknowledging the existence of these stressors and asking for support. Occupational psychology research suggests that working within aggressive, low-trust, high-blame, secretive and highly partisan political cultures is unlikely to be good for anyone’s mental health.”
The only flaw I could see was that a bunch of commenters here were arguing from a PoV and another lot from theirs and somehow they were completely missing each other’s point and largely talking past each other. That, and a whole lot of irksome ignorance, wild speculation, paranoia, and just simply not giving an inch made for a sorry ‘discussion’ of one of the most important problems of our society, which is mental health.
Well put!
It’s a touchy subject especially for those who’ve had to avail themselves of various services. Some have had good experiences, others bad. It’s an area (like so many others after the past ten years of the junta) that’s been under-resourced and full of workers who are burnt out and with case loads that are unrealistic.
Not surprising then that you get some concerned with how things are supposed to work – the theoretical and the speculative, with others who’ve had their own experiences acting as though the were the only gay in the village because their situation is deeply personal and often overwhelming.
I’ve not yet met a worker in mental health who isn’t dedicated and committed, (maybe I’ve led a sheltered life -[not]), but I have experienced the emotional drain on people working in the area and seen/experienced the extent to which it can affect their own families.
You’re correct @incognito: “……..the most important problems of our society, which is mental health.”
And this: “the complexity of public problems usually gets lost in dramatic micro-facts and disconnected commentaries resulting in the public’s impression that there are in fact simple solutions to complex problems in modern society, and that politicians are ‘failing’ to implement these.”
The problem individuals onsite here are driven by a redundant philosophy that was prevalent in science until the seventies: reductionism. Holism is the only way to make sense of complex systems and situations. Their congenital denial of crucial factors in the situations they comment on reduces their contribution to nonsense.
It’s actually the downside of using Occam’s razor as the only tool in your mental kit. Reality nowadays is usually so complicated that over-simplification causes users to lose the plot.
I am 72. In my experience people waddle (or wade?) into complexity according to their emotional involvement and ability. Reductionism and holism are largely irrelevant. The talented are good at it. Occam’s razor works on few occasions, a bit of a diversion on others.
But I am interested to know more about ‘congenital denial’.
I would hate to think that I have been in congenital denial without being aware of what it is..
Cheating. In sport, business, and politics has become acceptable in New Zealand.
A mind set where lying, stealing and destroying others, is fine, so long as you win.
Ross is both a perpetrator and a victim.
Why these people even get votes is a puzzle. Too many who don’t care that our politics has descended into lies, bribery and personal attacks.
The most pernicious part is that dirty politics tars all politicians with the same brush. Turning people off politics.
The Greens have been an exampler of how politics should be.
Open, Democratic and honest.
Maybe we have been a bit naive in believing the essential goodness of people will win out. The sheer bad faith, hypocrisy and misogyny over Metiria, was an eye opener for us.
However we do not intend to win by becoming, the enemy!
There would be no point in winning on their terms.
@ KJT
The important thing for Greens to think on, as they try to improve NZ action on issues in NZ, is to have concern and kindly respect for people as well as the environment. There is a possibility that some within the movement will abandon transparency and community respect if they put their own culture, concerns and issues as paramount. This can happen when certain cults start or established ones try to integrate into the progressive movement to gain some advantage for themselves. Like a parallel with the French insinuating themselves into Greenpeace to get information and intelligence for their purposes, on the anti-earth, anti-destruction movement.
unless you vote a third party that has no chance of winning anything but is a single issue party like Legalize Aotearoa i suggest that next time you might read up on your Party candidate and the other party candidates and then vote for the one that is best for the little bit of NZ where you live. Who knows, maybe then we have better politicians.
but at least your attitude explains why Nick Smith, Paula Bennett and Judith Collins, John Key, Simon Bridges and the rest of hte posse got to play monopoly with the country.
I will also add. The second, the Greens become just another party run by self appointing careerists, like Labour and National, will be the time I resign my membership.
I personally love having the Greens in government to keep the others honest. And to push environment. The economy will disappear without it the business class are fools to think they can continue to defer costs…
I will critique you folk harshly because I know you can do better.
There’s so many reasons we want Green representation. There are not so many we want you in charge. I don’t want any party in charge. Yay MMP.
The #1; the biggest contributor to the environment suffering so much: Engineers and chemists run our biological systems (agriculture). And they’re rubbish at it.
Concentrating there might produce results for the planet, but removing these charlatans will not be easy. They are besties with big oil.
and that is why you end up with a party full of people whom you don’t know doing what they want without ever giving a thought about those that put them into office.
Thats just lazy BM, you should show interest into whom your local MP is, lest you end up with someone who does not care…..oh i forgot you don’t care.
The most pernicious part is that those who have encouraged lying and cheating by political leaders are parents.
I can remember several events over a couple of years, leaders in our living rooms via tv bullshitting beyond belief. The cheerleaders for them surely could not, would not, expect their offspring to ‘tell the truth.’ You say and do what is best for you at the time.
Our list of values, discussed recently, would not reflect reality if it did not reflect that. Mores change and the easy story telling of, say Judith Collins, and the way it was accepted had me seeing the tide go out and realising that the speed of evolution can be quick. But then that tide was just part of the GCSB John moon.
It was good to read the Transport Minister’s Herald piece this morning arguing the benefits of the Southwestern LRT and rebutting some of the rubbish that’s been shopped around by lobby groups like PTUA and Transport 2050. It was about time either local or central government or the Transport Agencies involved fronted up on the project. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12147767
On the other hand it wasn’t so good having to listen to the same minister on Morning Report trying to rationalise the PM’s off-the-cuff decision to rule out any more regional fuel taxes yesterday. Clearly the government has been caught out by the backlash to Auckland’s fuel tax.
Not surprised about the fuel tax. It remains a rather ham fisted,and regressive way of funding Auckland’s public transport needs. It was never going to be popular with the poorer households, who have the longest commutes.
And still avoids charging the, housing developers, employers of cheap immigrants and the trucking industry, for their share of the extra roading costs.
The oil companies raising prices at the same time was unfortunate. May have been a calculated political move on their part. Don’t think Labour has many friends in the oil industry, after accelerating their inevitable, and necessary, demise.
I agree. The Regional Fuel Tax in Auckland is directly penalising the same people that Labour said they were elected to office to help. That’s the people who live in the outer ring of post war suburbs that were expressly designed around the private motor vehicle.
Of course if the incoming government hadn’t saddled themselves with their fiscal responsibility rules they might not have had to impose any additional fuel taxes. Or at least they could have borrowed first to invest in the public transport network across the Isthmus and then applied any extra taxes to pay for that investment once there was real transport choice available.
The fiscal responsibility rules, were, to my mind, a capitulation to a demographic, that were not going to vote Labour/Greens anyway.
Given that successful economies all have a State share of the economy over 40%. Including ours in the past. Limiting the size of the State to 30% is fiscally “irresponsible”!
We have all paid the price in decaying infrastructure, housing and health. Along with steep bills, to pay for private sector inefficiencies in power supplies, ports and other areas.
We have all paid the price in decaying infrastructure, housing and health. Along with steep bills, to pay for private sector inefficiencies in power supplies, ports and other areas.
QFT
Private sector provision of natural monopolies is highly inefficient providing less for more and has only one thing going for it – it increases the bludging of the rich.
Well at least the foul murder of Jamal Khashoggi has proved one thing beyond reasonable doubt, that the outrage and reaction, leading to sanctions over the skripal poisoning by western leaders was purely and utterly political and had absolutely nothing to do with the supposed moral outrage.
This case is proving right out in the open ( it is of course already apparent to anyone with eyes and ears) to all, that trade, profit, growth are the only words that have any real meaning with our leaders, morality and ethics are only used when convenient and do not obstruct in any way whatsoever the previous three golden commandments of liberal ideology.
Yes you can be sure that we will all continue trading with Saudi Arabia as normal going forward, but then why wouldn’t we, I have yet to hear anyone propose limiting trade with the brutal totalitarian regime in China.
A brutal and repressive regime that we have all been fully aware of since our Helen opened those flood gates….so why not trade with the Saudi’s?, what’s the difference morally?
Looks like you me an cinny adrian are about the only ones who give a fuck in this place its jamie lee ross jlr jlr jlr jlr a hundred years after the fucking proverbial cows have come home .And just saying over and over what about iraq what about all the other injustices etc etc etc is meaningless unless youve never heard of them .This is a particular case and it demands a particular response which isnt wallowing in cynisism like you invented it but rather showing some solidarity and at the very least condemning the killers of jamal khashoggi which is THE HOUSE OF SAUD and not merely the hit team they are just pawns .
What is St. Crispin’s Day, you ask? Technically speaking, the Feast Day of St. Crispin, October 25, venerates the martyrdom of Christian saints Crispinus and Crispianus, who were twins (rude, Mom). But let’s be real, no one cares about that. Instead, today we honor the most prolific playwright of all time, William Shakespeare, and the greatest speech from one of his greatest plays, Henry V. If you haven’t read Henry V, well, you’ve been done wrong. For some reason public schools rarely teach the histories, but the Henriad and the War of the Roses cycle should be required reading. Fuck Romeo and Juliet. You heard me. [Ed. note: This is an official editorial position.]
Greatly outnumbered by the French on St. Crispin’s Eve, King Henry V rallies his demoralized army with a rousing soliloquy promising brotherhood, greatness and legacy:
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
SNIFFFFFFF. Anyway, his soldiers, aroused with visions of glory, win a staggering victory at the Battle of Agincourt on St. Crispin’s Day. In summary, this kick-ass soliloquy will make you feel like you can do ANYTHING! Conquer that biochemistry exam! Vanquish that evil pigeon that pooped on your head! Win over your prospective mother-in-law who hates your guts because you’re a freelance writer with no steady income! Okay, maybe not that last bit.
Watch these three classic interpretations and cry God for Harry, England, and St. George:
Now that you feel the burning fire of patriotism in your veins, we suggest invading France. Or at the very least, plant a miniature American flag in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Nice one clean. If you have not already read them I can highly recommend Conn Iggulden’s series of historical novels (4) on the War of the Roses, I don’t normally recommend books as we all have our different tastes, But I thought these were excellent and on par with his series on Genghis Khan’s Dynasty
A bit of useless pointless info and I love snippets of useless pointless info, Genghis Khan’s grandson Kublai Khan started the Yuan Dynasty. The name of Yaun is used today as a unit of Chinese currency.
Ha. Bit like Waterloo day, every year I forget St Crispin’s Day. To put it theatrically, several years ago my Pistol was well received (giggle).
It’s a fascinating play and can be done to support polar opposite attitudes, a bit like the Merchant of Venice. Olivier did a rah rah noble heritage of victory version during WW2. Others have dwelt more on the cost of war for ordinary people (especially if you consider the fact that Henry V kills off the comic characters from the Henry IVs, which would have been like killing Dobby for the original audiences).
Just read you comment now cleangreen. I agree, King Hal’s speech is a spine tingler. But is it any better than –
‘The quality of mercy is not strained . . .’ or
‘To be or not to be . . .’ or
‘Is this a dagger which I see before me . . .’
Just goes to show the absolutely glorious talent of William Shakespeare.
Hydrogen is emerging as a serious contender to fuel the heavy transport fleet of the future – especially trucks and shipping and perhaps, some day, even aviation.
Among the blizzard of press statement that emanate from any government covering every little thing, it would be easy to overlook Energy Minister Megan Woods’ announcement this week of a memorandum of cooperation with Japan on hydrogen fuel development.
So as well converting our cars and trucks to electric, we’re also going to produce Hydrogen from electricity?
Where’s all this extra electrical generation going to come from? the distribution network? or the fact there’s not even a market for Hydrogen? utterly ridiculous but unfortunately typical of this stupid government.
Shipping companies, in particular, have been very aware of hydrogens potential
Or have a clue about New Zealands sustainable power generation capacity.
The problem with electric power for transport has always been the practical limitations of batteries. Even if they become hugely more efficient they will not approach the energy density of a tank of petrol. A tankful of hydrogen, when we learn how to store it, however!
Not too sure about that – the containment issue may require heavy tanks – and weight is a major transport efficiency issue.
But the point BM is partly trying to make in his negative way, is that the greater part of our energy budget is presently provided by petrochemicals. Hydrogen is not a solution to that and hydrogen + solar requires two sets of infrastructure we don’t have and aren’t yet adopting at anything like credible speed.
I wouldn’t bet the farm on hydrogen tech having a meaningful impact on either our petroleum demand or our carbon footprint in my lifetime. Not to say the research shouldn’t be done, just that we need to be doing rather more than that.
Pesky little atoms wriggling their way out of storage? I once got landed with scoping out making composite tanks for hydrogen. Containing the hydrogen is a problem quite different to other material storage problems.
I’m going a bit outside my expertise here, but I’ll speculate that it’s due to the way that a hydrogen atom becomes a naked proton when it’s electron wanders off for a while. That naked proton is extremely small, and very reactive. Whereas any other atom will always haven at least two electrons orbiting the nucleus in the extremely tightly bound filled K shell. This makes the atom physically much larger and less able to move between other atoms in a solid.
Then there’s the hydrogen embrittlement caused when those pesky little atoms choose to fuck with the chemistry and microstructure of the material they’re passing through.
With a potential hydrogen economy, there’s also the problem of the round-trip efficiency of the energy going in to separate out the hydrogen, compared to how much you get back out when you use the hydrogen. The best numbers I’ve seen are still well below 50%, compared to over 90% for some batteries. So unless and until someone comes up with a viable photocatalytic process, where the energy to split off the hydrogen comes directly from sunlight, it looks to me like generating the hydrogen will be just too wasteful of the input electrical energy.
“America, that old problem of yours? Racism? I have a cure for it: Get cancer. Come into these waiting rooms and clinics, the cold radiology units and the ICU cubicles. Take a walk down Leukemia Lane with a strange pain in your lower back and an uneasy sense of foreboding. Make an appointment for your CAT scan. Wonder what you are doing here among all these sick people: the retired telephone lineman, the grandmother, the junior-high-school soccer coach, the mother of three.”
… “In the country of cancer everyone is simultaneously a have and a have-not. In this land no citizens are protected by property, job description, prestige, and pretensions; they are not even protected by their prejudices. Neither money nor education, greed nor ambition, can alter the facts. You are all simply cancer citizens, bargaining for more life.”
“Pipe bombs have been sent to prominent critics of Donald Trump, authorities said on Wednesday, spreading terror in the US less than two weeks before the midterm elections.”
Oh, don’t worry, by 8.35 this morning Leighton Smith had announced that it was actually a lefty liberal false flag plot to discredit El Presidente and his loyal base.
Obama, Clinton, Harris, Wasserman-Schultz, Waters, Soros and CNN.
maybe they are a bit more then just prominent ciritcs of Donald Trump. But then is not everyone who does not kiss the fat orange arse a prominent critic?
In the meantime the Dow Jones dropped like a stone, shaved off another 600 points and is now the lowest it has been since January 2nd 2018. But they the economy is doing great, 500.000 jobs created with that 110 billion dollar sales of weapons to Saudi Arabia and now watch this drive.
1 the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted: The lone-wolf attack was apparently influenced by the rhetoric of stochastic terrorism.
“Acts or threats of political violence have no place in the United States,” Trump said. “This egregious conduct is abhorrent. “That’s a very bipartisan statement,” he said.”
The architect of Oz superanuation, Paul Keating, is making a case that post 80 should be covered by a federal insurance scheme as super was designed to only last till 80.
PK’s an icon IMO always up front and fearless. Him and Hawke were quite the duo.
THE WTO being played around by the USA usurping other countries’ powe and rights, and wanting to skew the world body like its skewed its own Supreme Court.
Who cares about agreements? The USA were prepared to deal with Hitler until they realised his agreement and commitments couldn’t be relied on. So is this fascism in play with the leading nation’s graffiti being ‘Atavistic Commercial Fetish Rules Okay!’
David Parker warns over US, World Trade Organisation dispute
From Morning Report, 8:11 am today
Listen duration 5′ :24″
The World Trade Organisation is in danger of falling apart, leaving New Zealand with no remedy in the event of a major trade dispute. That is the stark warning from Trade Minister David Parker who has just finished top level trade meetings in the US, which is the country making direct challenges to the world trade referee. He speaks to Guyon Espiner about his meetings with US govt officials.
Thanks joe90 at 16.1 – read the quote there. True? I think hesitantly, yes.
I hadn’t heard of this USA’r but good to remember there are 325 million there and many are outside the Trump maelstrom!
“Tony Hoagland gave us a fierce, sometimes ugly, but ultimately redeemable portrait of America in his poetry and essays,” Shotts reflected. “I believe he wanted to give us many voices as a way into social and political critique, and he pointed his acerbic wit most directly at himself as a blunt instrument of self-scrutiny and satire.
Too often the good die relatively young – he was 64.
No wonder Jared and ‘the Don’ love him. So full of hubris, arrogance and narcissism he wouldn’t give a flying fuck if the 15 or 18 become expendable in order to save his ugly mug
“Colin Craig was a workplace bully of a woman, who stuck up for herself.”
?
I know Slater (and others, not looking at you Jordan) seeks out anyone he thinks he can make ‘his bitch’ but when did Colin have the op? I must have missed something.
Ambiguity aside, then yes.
Btw @ Ad, I’m with a bunch of people at the mo who have English as their second language (at the time I made the post).
They were worrying about having to up themselves from IELTS 5 or 6 to 6.5 or 7.
Worse still, they’re not as valuable as their Chinese counterparts
For awhile I thought the reason Labour had been so quiet on the National implosion was cos Jacindas a class act, and while she may be let’s be honest the real reason Labour can’t comment on National selling list seats to foreign powers is because the Labour party is also under the influence of China as well and to criticize China means both parties would lose election campaign money.
I used to say that national and labour would join up into a purple party due to their shared neoliberalism but now I think they will combine to create the National Communist Labour party of China in New Zealand.
I have no problem with Chinese people but their govts influence on NZ politics needs to end immediately. Both Labour and National are selling our democracy to the highest bidder.
Our allies are questioning our loyalty and in future will be hesitant to share information with us because we are becoming a puppet state of a genocidal,workers rights abusing authoritarian.
I’m in a cynical mood at the mo’ @ CJ. So it’s just as well we don’t yet have a one-child policy or Neve would be left to her own devices on the Great Wall of Auckland somewhere around the Bombay Hills.
[What the hell has the out of office Harper government got to do with studies on insect numbers greywarshark? Did you even read the damned post, or did you think you’d just jump straight in with a spin on “knowledge and power”? Bumping this off down the bottom of the thread because its connection to the post is, at best, incredibly tenuous. Actually. Second thoughts. There’s bugger all connection to the substance of the post. Open mike. And in future, read posts and don’t just go off on long irrelevant rants] – B
How good they have records in Puerto Rico. And probably accessible easily because they are likely to be on paper. And that is important so you know which ones to grab and hide when some populist buffoon gets elected by unthinking, careless, irresponsible voters, making some point or other about not getting, too much of, something.
The trick is to help people get their something and hold onto what is valuable to the nation, despite poverty and bad weather.
Example I’m talking about is Canada :
2013 News
What’s Driving Chaotic Dismantling of Canada’s Science Libraries?
Scientists reject Harper gov’t claims vital material is being saved digitally. https://thetyee.ca/News/2013/12/23/Canadian-Science-Libraries/ Scientists say the closure of some of the world’s finest fishery, ocean and environmental libraries by the Harper government has been so chaotic that irreplaceable collections of intellectual capital built by Canadian taxpayers for future generations has been lost forever.
The Harper Government Has Trashed and Destroyed Environmental … https://www.vice.com/…/the-harper-government-has-trashed-and-burned-environment…
Jan 15, 2014 – … polar research, with some documents reportedly dumped in landfills or burned, … The government denies political objectives have anything to do with the … “The government of Canada—led by Stephen Harper—has made it harder … minutes and other records to hide politically unpalatable science and …
Michael Deane “Mike” Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian politician who served as ….. Provincial water testing had been privatized in October 1996 by Harris’s first government. …. politicians suggested that the attack may have been ordered by the Premier’s office, and called for an independent judicial inquiry.
Power and Knowledge. What is the difference between a mad King or Queen and a mad Premier or leader who has extreme authority of rendition of the nationh’s precious statistics and information. It’s just a modern version of the sacking of the library of Alexandria. Destruction of the Library of Alexandria
The ancient accounts by Plutarch, Aulus Gellius, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Orosius indicate that troops of Julius Caesar accidentally burned the library during or after the Siege of Alexandria in 48 BC. … A part of the library was burned under Aurelian, in 272, and the destruction seems to have been completed in 391.”
We need to have better informed citizens who are paid to go and study stuff, and have constant talks and debates to keep citizens informed. Much of this should be on television which is still widely followed. So let’s get public television back again and run it so that there is learning and lots of quiz games about important stuff with good prizes, and regions competing for accolades as well as good infrastructure. So it is fun, informative and gets advantages for the local area, with a celebratory dinner for the contestants and organisers. Give it some cred so that people aspire to be involved. Perhaps some overseas visits, maybe to our friends in the Pacific.
Let’s be innovative and keep the barbarian populist pollies with their destructive ways and hordes, at bay.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Okay Bill
I thought it added something important to what you were writing about and also something about Puerto Rico but you have your rant in your own post. Be happy.
There are no politicians or administrations suppressing the research or the research findings linked to in the post.
The basic problem is that both scientists and those writing on population crashes seem to be unaware of the work done by Ziska and his colleagues. You read most articles and there is a lot of wild guessing going on about why populations are crashing (“It’s insecticides!” “It’s habitat loss!”).
Meanwhile, the solid research is sitting there, and as far as I’m aware, no-one has found fault with the methodology or the conclusions.
Insecticides and habitat loss absolutely contribute to decline, but they aren’t the principle reason and ‘rectifying’ those things will not halt species collapse.
You also did the same huge link filled distraction the other day by the way. In a post that pointed out that the scale of necessary CO2 removal was way beyond all production or harvesting processes we engage in, you just kept banging up irrelevant stuff about tree planting.
At least those screeds of smash weren’t sitting at the very top of a comment thread – thanks for small mercies.
I am actually interested in talking to people who are interested in seeing what we can do to alleviate our problems Bill. I like the good information I see here and then think about what can be done, or even started. I don’t want to be eternally at a wailing wall, just finding fault with what is being done or presenting horrific scenarios. I am looking for ways that we can do small things to try and help save our world and alleviate suffering.
I don’t like the mechanical attitudes that a good number of you are displaying. You don’t seem to care about people, it is almost a military efficiency response. This isn’t a place I want to be any longer and I don’t like that furious response from you. I think you are OTT and losing your humanity.
Forget it at present unfortunately – and it is an old perennial that pops up from time to time. Not saying forget it altogether, but perhaps next year – or an election bribe?
But, but, but – how did the interview go? Can I uncross my fingers, arms, hands, legs, ankles, toes yet? Its getting damn hard to do anything including eat …
It’ll be either:
Passed the interview stage and continue with the process (police checks, drug tests, medical checks etc),
Not at this time but apply again in the future and this is what you need to work on
or (my translation) hell no you freak and don’t even think of applying in this or any other timeline
You don’t mess with the mana. Not good by the winery or council
“A segment of the stalled Te Mata Peak track could kill someone using it, a report has found.
Hastings District Council said an independent report had prompted it to take “urgent action” to remove the dangerous section of the track, located on the top 500 metres.
The report said that in its current state, the track, which Craggy Range Winery carved last year, could result in serious injury, or loss of life as a result of retaining wall collapse, falling rocks and slips…
… The winery built the track after resource consent was granted by the council last year, without informing local iwi…
… The Environmental Defence Society has since announced it would take the council and the winery to the High Court over the decision-making process which led to the track being cut.”
I am just about to renew my prescription for hypertension control. And she probably has had very little medical care. She would like that saying about dying young – while you are a good-looking corpse. Also that living long when you’re wealthy, at least you can be miserable in comfort. I sure as hell don’t want to live long as she has. She is marvellous and I wonder how many children she had, she is one of the salt-of-the-earth people who plod along hard working and dutiful. It would be good if she could have a few of her favourite things before she goes.
The Nepalese woman who has lived to her 90’s and had five sons, her dream is the last one I heard of like this one.
Five Sons and a 100 Muri of Rice: The story of a five year old bride in … https://www.amazon.com.au/Five-Sons-100-Muri-Rice-ebook/dp/B00MKIOU0G
Rating: 4.7 – 81 reviews
A five year old bride in rural Nepal struggles with poverty, male domination and illiteracy to become a successful landowner, micro lender and great grandmother. Based on the true story of Kharika Devkota, this book provides a rare insight into the inspiring and determining life …
Whaleoil comment: “The leaker asked the police to call off the investigation because they DID have mental health issues but assuming the person is not JLR, others can have mental health issues.”
Response from Slater: “That isn’t correct, there was no police investigation to call off. It was the inquiry. And it wasn’t JLR who sent that text because it arrived when he was in a meeting with PB and SB so it wasn’t him.”
Kia ora The Am Show the pipe is a stunt.The no more tax on fuel takes away something
that simon uses to attack the government.
Thats correct judy you starved the state department’s and had private eye clark and there m8 harassing them from shonky orders most people are scared sheep .
The French have some better system for there children than we do one is teaching mokopunans how to eat healthy at school I say we need to copy them.
I look for positive things in every situation and Eco know’s the big picture that’s a better future for the grandchildren that keep my fire burning.
Chelsea opening there doors A are there sales declining sugar in all prosessed food should be legislated to %15 percent of what we currently have in the food now .
Mark you will already know my view on your poll today we have more police than other country’s have in there Army’s so why do we still have PEE and other man made drugs problem.
I agree with Michell the French man and his child needed help now the child will be in state care while the dad is in jail the child could be better off but not if one looks at the children in our state child care system.
Amanda I seen half a dozen hinds on the side of the road at 2pm in Matawai a couple of times.
Ka kite ano
We have to Preserve Papatuanuku and all her beautiful creations for the benefit of all human kind . Work with Mother Earth not against her quite a logical way of thinking Eco says.
This moss like plant has the same properties as weed there has been huge amounts of knowledge from ancient times we have lost on many subjects the health benefits of plants is one big phenomenon that has been suppressed big big Pharma company’s
It may already have been relevant to the people who live where these species of Radula occur naturally, which are as far afield as Japan, New Zealand and Costa Rica. There are hints that the Maori people of New Zealand use it as an herbal medicine, although not necessarily for its THC-like properties. Gertsch adds, however, that no serious ethnobotanical or ethnopharmacological research confirms such uses.
Ka kite ano link is below
This is one reason I back our farmers they work harder then most and have a lot of challenges on the farming communitys they are the back bone of Aotearoa .
The other is I can smell a lie a mile away to and I don’t like these lies affecting people in negative ways .link is below ka kite ano.
Here you go 10 reasons why sugar is bad for your health this is the one food one needs to be excluded from your diet .
The big company’s don’t want you to know the truth about sugar . Sugar is in just about every processed food bread yogurt alcohol fizzy drinks .They put to much sugar in food to get you hooked on there food & Drinks to boost there profits who cares who get there lives drastically shortened and all the bad health side effects that sugar does to peoples bodys. Ka kite ano link is below
Kia ora Newshub I stick to my words earlier on the strikes Alex .
If someone was serious about blowing something up they would not send it in the post. Sending a it in the post is just a publicity stunt.
Thats the way Google make a stand against sexual harassment support Equality .
Skin cancer need to be advertised more and the sunblock products need to be verified to see if they do block the sun cancer effects.
Voda Phone Kiri is a cool way to use AI that is the future ka pai
Jackes a cool bloke 50 years working in that factory for the disabled Ka pai. P.S Niki Eco say the Japan Rugby World Cup will be a great event
Ka kite ano
Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild Wairangi & Storm
Wai I will have a my finger’s crossed for the Kiwis in there next test.
E game is a cool new sport storm is Panasonic one of the main sponsor’s I have a distraction .
Shawn Long looks like a awesome import player for the Breakers Anna.
Kia Kaha to Steven Adams and the Oakland City Thunder Basket ball team.
Ka kite ano
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
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The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanita Yadav, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Brett Boardman/Belvoir The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation ...
Disruption to patient care from a nationwide junior doctors strike is bordering on unsafe, a senior doctor claims, despite what health officials say. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Ground Picture/Shutterstock The anti-cancer drug abemaciclib (also known as Vernezio) has this month been added to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to treat certain ...
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Double votes, missing ballot boxes, tired tech and stressed staff: how tick-tallying went astray at last year’s election. Cast your mind back to November 2023, that bleary-eyed post-election period duringwhichwewaited, andwaited, for a coalition deal to be hammered out. A distraction from the hotel-hopping of our ...
International audiences are starting to discover what New Zealand already knew about After the Party.When After the Party aired in New Zealand last year, the response was fast and furious. In his preview for Rec Room, Duncan Greive said it was a “gritty, wrenching and highly confronting” series. By ...
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Claire Mabey reviews the haunting and sexy debut novel from Sinéad Gleeson, who is about to touch down in Aotearoa for a string of live events.When Irish writer Sinéad Gleeson was in Aotearoa in 2018 with her spectacular collection of essays, Constellations, she told me she was working on ...
PNG Post-Courier Bougainville Affairs Minister Manasseh Makiba has described the Post-Courier’s front page story yesterday regarding a meeting between Bougainville and national government leaders as “sensationalised” and without substance. The Autonomous Bougainville Government (AGB) had warned it might use “other avenues to gain its independence” should the PNG government “continue ...
Where some saw the worst press conference given by the government to date, Anna Rawhiti-Connell recognised girl maths game.Nicola Willis, recently exasperated by comparisons to Ruth Richardson, said she was “a bit sick of being compared with every female finance minister that’s ever been out there.”Some think that’s ...
The March results are reported against forecasts based on the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update 2023 (HYEFU 2023), published on 20 December 2023 and the results for the same period for the previous year. ...
Jamie Arbuckle, the district councillor who became an MP but decided to keep getting paid for both roles, will instead donate one salary to charity. ...
Adding gender to the Human Rights Act would simply make the implicit explicit. So why is it so controversial? Paul Thistoll explain. At present, Aotearoa’s 1993 Human Rights Act (HRA) includes sex, marital status, religious belief, ethical belief (meaning a lack of religious belief), colour, race, ethnicity or national origin, ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Kelsey, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Resources Minister Shane Jones has reportedly asked officials for advice on whether oil and gas companies could be offered “bonds” as compensation if drilling rights offered by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Gleeson, Associate Professor of Law, Macquarie University Shutterstock The Albanese government is weighing up the costs of delivering an election promise to protect religious people from discrimination in Commonwealth law. Such protections were relatively uncontroversial when included in state anti-discrimination ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yen Ying Lim, Associate Professor, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University Pexels/Andrea Piacquadio Dementia is often described as “the long goodbye”. Although the person is still alive, dementia slowly and irreversibly chips away at their memories and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Judy Bush, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, The University of Melbourne Adam Calaitzis/Shutterstock I met with a friend for a walk beside Merri Creek, in inner Melbourne. She had lived in the area for a few years, and as we walked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Throsby, Distinguished Professor of Economics, Macquarie University Arts companies and individual artists in Australia are supported by government arts agencies, philanthropists, industry bodies, private donors and patrons. However, it is frequently overlooked that a major source of support for the arts ...
Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa, a new incorporated society dedicated to ending harmful drug policies, officially launched today, seeks a new fit-for-purpose drug law for Aotearoa New Zealand, rooted in science, experience and evidence. ...
The Corrections Minister admits he "muddied the water" after he and the Prime Minister repeatedly provided incorrect information about a $1.9 billion prison spend-up. ...
It took a post-post-cabinet statement to confirm that 810 new beds will be built at Waikeria, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Lili Tokaduadua was only 15 when she left her family in Fiji to pursue her netball dream in New Zealand. She’d been playing the sport for 10 years and was offered a netball scholarship at Auckland’s Howick College. Now, in her first year out of high school, the 19-year-old defender ...
The beloved local grocers lost a legal challenge to stop a new cycleway outside their store. Joel MacManus reports. In the annals of New Zealand legal history, there are a few brave people who have dared to stand up to the powers that be, no matter how bleak the odds ...
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As usual, the media fail to mention climate change.
“Dry spring weather sparks water warnings
Dry spring weather has prompted warnings to conserve water in some parts of the country.
Many farmers fear they are heading for a second dry year in a row.
Most of New Zealand has had less rainfall than usual over the past three months, causing soil moisture levels to dry up, said the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).
In Wairarapa, Masterton residents are not allowed to use hand held hoses, because the water supply from the Waingawa River is running low.
The river’s flow rate has fallen below 1300 litres per second, well below the council’s conservation threshold of 1900 litres.
Masterton District Council assets and operations manager David Hopman said only 31mm of rain had fallen in the region over the past month, well below the average.”
All here.
But no mention of climate change.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/369374/dry-spring-weather-sparks-water-warnings
Media and climate change: Why we need a total overhaul
https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2018/10/media-climate-change-total-overhaul-181020072147408.html
Two drought years stacked together is pretty bad for anyone on the land. Note how few of these farms store rain when it comes.
News reporters wont make Farmers smarter. Hardship might.
You gotta feel for them, but then, nah.
So how much water do they need to store?
What is the best way for a farm to store water in your opinion Bleeple?
one thing would be good, don’t rip out every shrub, every tree, every single thing with roots n all to grow ‘pasture’ for cows.
roots are needed to store water in the dirt. The drying out of the soil is the biggest issue we have currently. If we cant’ store moisture we are gonna loose the land to erosion.
second, water tanks. lots of them. literally.
maybe less cows, so you would not need all that ‘pasture’. so you don’t need to drain every source of water to water your ‘pasture’.
maybe maybe there are things to do, but hey, surely the government will help?
Ponds.
Drainage systems converted to storage and drainage.
Swales.
Sub surface ripping and deep rooted perennials.
Increasing soil carbon (thus soil water holding capacity).
The trick is to recharge the aquifers from rain. Hardpan from tilling causes rain to run off to the ocean instead of being slowed by the land. It takes expensive ferts via the rivers with it, causes all manner of PR problems.
Subsurface ripping and perennials deal with hardpan over a few years. Ponds are holes in the ground. Swales feed ponds but also slow water down to infiltrate land and replenish aquifers. Trees provide shade and shelter from wind to slow down evaporation. Shelter will also increase animal production.
No rocket science required.
You would think their ‘representatives’ or even government would have some basic check lists for farmers to avoid droughts, aka put in extra tanks, Swales etc… but no, in spite of all the money in that industry they don’t do the basics, that cost little… consumers on the other hand are constantly being advised on what they should be doing to save water/power what have you…
my point is, they don’t even seem to try to give basic help to farmers and some of them are so old school, they would never think of changing their ways…
I do.
However when they know tax payers will cover their business risk, whenever there is flooding or droughts, there is no incentive to farm sustainably or store water for the future.
Farmers are very keen on socialism, when they benefit.
Not so keen when it comes to paying the taxes for it.
@KJT – yep that thought occurred to me too… why bother with small stuff, when you can dish out million dollars cheques… Fonterra make the farmers pay into a fund for innovation though, but one disgruntled ex employee said it has just become a fat cat fund and they are unwilling to use the money for real projects that will deliver real change and future proof..
I’ve seen concern, from the family type farmers, about the future of farming.
Unfortunately, with the price of farms, corporate farmers, who have no feeling for the land or the future, predominate.
Yes. And/or have a past Govt with a $480 million dollar irrigation fund.
I’ve just farmed through the to best seasons the central north island has seen I years . Regular rain right through the last two summers and mild winters . If it wasn’t for that pesky cc thing I’d be loving every bit
Yeah and if it goes wrong you just get a big fat cheque from the tax payers eh Wags.
Best job ever!
True, bwaghorn. But.. the lack of droughts may not be a good sign. The big El Nino in 1998 gave us what it should: Westerly winds and dry.. Now we don’t get that: the last big El Nino gave us Easterly as much as West, and rain from tropics from either direction. (I am a sailor, and have come to study weather patterns..)
We have been lucky in not having droughts in our region over the last 2 years, but I fear that big changes are happening, and it will not be long before we will be less lucky and get some nasty stuff we never expected.
Deadline for Welfare Working group submissions coming up soon – Nov 9
Weag.govt.nz
Teen loses sight waiting for help. She’s been left with itching red eyes every day…I can’t begin to imagine how bad that would be, one eye totally blind, the other requiring a strong contact.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12147783
Total negligence by the DHB.
child, her eye loss started at 11.
this should be criminal.
What a shocking story. DHB’s need to stop building conferences or what ever the fuck they were doing with money there, and instead spend the money on seeing and fixing patients.
That is so sad for that poor woman. Yep they knew from 11, something was wrong and they do nothing for 6 years! Disgusting.
This is what happens when funding is cut and cut and cut so as to give rich people tax cuts.
The British now know it
“New Zealanders fear rising influence of Chinese wealth
For a country whose tourism board sells it to the world as “100 per cent pure”, New Zealand is in danger of looking compromised.
Chinese money, courted by the government in Wellington, has certainly turbo-charged the New Zealand economy, but it comes at a price and is raising questions about the country’s reliability as a western intelligence-sharing ally…..”
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/42116012-d6ce-11e8-926d-96790161a92a
Hey, we just share it a bit more widely eddy.
Excellent work from Toby Manhire: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/24-10-2018/senior-national-mp-sets-ultimatum-for-simon-bridges/
A senior National MP issued an ultimatum yesterday, and repeated it across three media – clearly they have a pre-determined agenda. Guess who!
Hosking: “here’s the good news, one year in and this current arrangement surely has the right to a glass of something celebratory. It is, as they’ve reminded us many times, our first truly MMP government, and with it came the inherent risks of carnage, none of which has happened. The three-headed monster the previous government warned us of, has been nowhere to be seen.” https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12147863
” This has been a coalition that has set the standard. The gaps in philosophy especially among Labour and New Zealand First are wide in places, but they have not allowed it to be an issue.”
“It might have helped that the Greens are a minor, almost outside sort of group within the deal, but if you were looking to mark this lot on their performance in terms of cohesiveness and professionalism, and staying on message, and out of coalition-type trouble, you’d be being churlish to mark them any less than an eight or maybe even a nine out of 10.”
Hosking?! Wow.
There must be a tear in the fabric of space and the hoskings from an alternate universe has slipped in . Although it could be the hosk has realised it’s time to change troughs to sup from .
Nah he left heaps of ‘qualifiers’ first in the article. how the inexperienced hapless lot who are hapless and inexperienced surprised him by not imploding yet.
Truly an awe inspiring admission.
A broken clock is correct twice in a day. It’s a good time for ‘balance’ when the focus is on national, better that than critique his mates in blue.
Normal shill service will resume shortly from the hosk.
tc
Lol
Isn’t there a proverb “A wise man feels the wind and sets his sails accordingly ‘”, although the one about rats and sinking ships is probably more appropriate.
But Hoskings, bugger me !.
You know National is in big trouble when one of National’s biggest fanboy’s in the MSM starts to heap praise on a coalition he has previously tried to say was bad news for New Zealand. He tried to find something bad to write about them but failed.
Meanwhile, Simon has tripped and stumbled and pulled down part of the curtain of illusion that National is one united party. We got a peek through the gap at some of the disharmony and willingness to try and go around the law when it suits them.
A man who National hid deep behind that curtain and tried to claim they had no more contact with has again stepped into the limelight through that hole in the curtain of illusion as a power player in the Bridges vs JLR saga in the media. He will fight tooth and nail not to be shoved back behind that curtain again.
So Simon has come through the FIRESTORM stronger than ever. Wasnt it him/ he that lit the match? Could have avoided everything if he had just stfu.
A Captain’s call you mean? Nah, if Simon hadn’t gone like a bull through a China Shop [pun intentional] with his witch hunt to find the Narking Nat this wouldn’t have happened.
The sole reason, IMO, was that the myth of party discipline and unity was threatened, in a very minor way, and Simon’s leadership was questioned. Simon felt so sure about the support of his Caucus and so cock-sure of his own abilities to steer National to a brighter future that he felt compelled to run this investigation. The rest is History as they say …
I posted a comment on “Daily Review 04/09/2018” https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-04-09-2018/#comment-1520872 but it is worth repeating again verbatim:
And does the following remind you of a recent debacle in NZ politics?
An excellent and though-provoking article, which is a must-read for Standardistas IMO.
https://sciblogs.co.nz/psychology-report/2018/09/03/mental-health-in-public-life-is-the-experience-of-politicians-and-how-we-make-policy-intertwined/
Written by Dr Sarb Johal who was a General Election List Candidate (ranked @ no. 49) for the NZ Labour Party in 2017.
Yes, in feedback to that mental health essay of Matthew’s, I earlier posted a link to Stuff’s piece on this: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/108053245/how-parliament-can-put-pressure-on-mps-mental-health
Here’s the section from yours that identifies why it is flawed thinking to treat JLR’s incarceration as similar to that of a private citizen (a handful of respondents on this site have been staunchly denying that their thinking is flawed):
“Recently, an 18-month project exploring the politics of mental health through a focus on the mental health of politicians in four countries (New Zealand, the UK, Canada and Australia) has revealed how the nature of modern politics – where the dominant mode is competitive representative politics with an increasingly aggressive 24/7 media environment, augmented by a social media backdrop with covert actors seeking to influence agendas – ensures not only that the psychological stressors and strains on politicians are intense, but that the stigma associated with such mental health concerns prevent politicians from acknowledging the existence of these stressors and asking for support. Occupational psychology research suggests that working within aggressive, low-trust, high-blame, secretive and highly partisan political cultures is unlikely to be good for anyone’s mental health.”
The only flaw I could see was that a bunch of commenters here were arguing from a PoV and another lot from theirs and somehow they were completely missing each other’s point and largely talking past each other. That, and a whole lot of irksome ignorance, wild speculation, paranoia, and just simply not giving an inch made for a sorry ‘discussion’ of one of the most important problems of our society, which is mental health.
Here’s a link to the Act – Section 11 is pertinent to some of the questions you posed here on TS: http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1992/0046/43.0/DLM262176.html
Well put!
It’s a touchy subject especially for those who’ve had to avail themselves of various services. Some have had good experiences, others bad. It’s an area (like so many others after the past ten years of the junta) that’s been under-resourced and full of workers who are burnt out and with case loads that are unrealistic.
Not surprising then that you get some concerned with how things are supposed to work – the theoretical and the speculative, with others who’ve had their own experiences acting as though the were the only gay in the village because their situation is deeply personal and often overwhelming.
I’ve not yet met a worker in mental health who isn’t dedicated and committed, (maybe I’ve led a sheltered life -[not]), but I have experienced the emotional drain on people working in the area and seen/experienced the extent to which it can affect their own families.
You’re correct @incognito: “……..the most important problems of our society, which is mental health.”
And this: “the complexity of public problems usually gets lost in dramatic micro-facts and disconnected commentaries resulting in the public’s impression that there are in fact simple solutions to complex problems in modern society, and that politicians are ‘failing’ to implement these.”
The problem individuals onsite here are driven by a redundant philosophy that was prevalent in science until the seventies: reductionism. Holism is the only way to make sense of complex systems and situations. Their congenital denial of crucial factors in the situations they comment on reduces their contribution to nonsense.
It’s actually the downside of using Occam’s razor as the only tool in your mental kit. Reality nowadays is usually so complicated that over-simplification causes users to lose the plot.
I am 72. In my experience people waddle (or wade?) into complexity according to their emotional involvement and ability. Reductionism and holism are largely irrelevant. The talented are good at it. Occam’s razor works on few occasions, a bit of a diversion on others.
But I am interested to know more about ‘congenital denial’.
I would hate to think that I have been in congenital denial without being aware of what it is..
Dirty Politics 2018 – Nicky Hager assesses the Jami Lee Ross saga https://thespinoff.co.nz/unsponsored/25-10-2018/dirty-politics-2018-nicky-hager-assesses-the-jami-lee-ross-saga/
Thanks for the link Amirite, have been wondering what Nickys thoughts are on the whole situation.
Cheating. In sport, business, and politics has become acceptable in New Zealand.
A mind set where lying, stealing and destroying others, is fine, so long as you win.
Ross is both a perpetrator and a victim.
Why these people even get votes is a puzzle. Too many who don’t care that our politics has descended into lies, bribery and personal attacks.
The most pernicious part is that dirty politics tars all politicians with the same brush. Turning people off politics.
Allowing the cheaters free rein.
Why these people even get votes is a puzzle
Because you’re voting for the party, not the person.
I have little interest in who my local MP is.
The problem with that attitude BM is that you ignore the fact that all our local MPs are the party
What about the Greens?
The Greens have been an exampler of how politics should be.
Open, Democratic and honest.
Maybe we have been a bit naive in believing the essential goodness of people will win out. The sheer bad faith, hypocrisy and misogyny over Metiria, was an eye opener for us.
However we do not intend to win by becoming, the enemy!
There would be no point in winning on their terms.
The Greens have been an example of how politics should be
In what way?, Greens have gagged on so many rats it’s not funny.
They’re no better than anyone else.
Btw Ardern will throw the Greens under the bus in a heartbeat if it looks like any of their policy ideas might cost Labour the next election.
I take the disapproval as a compliment.
You have already made it obvious what standards you accept.
That is actually a lie.
The Greens have done solid, small work, biding their time for James’ carbon bill which is where they cash all their chips.
They’ve figured their coalition role well and easily set up a Labour-Green coalition 2020 as not scary.
Greens are to the NZ electorate what black people are to US electorate:
Stay calmer than Obama
And you make it.
There’s so much misunderstanding in that sentence that I don’t know how to unpack it.
@ KJT
The important thing for Greens to think on, as they try to improve NZ action on issues in NZ, is to have concern and kindly respect for people as well as the environment. There is a possibility that some within the movement will abandon transparency and community respect if they put their own culture, concerns and issues as paramount. This can happen when certain cults start or established ones try to integrate into the progressive movement to gain some advantage for themselves. Like a parallel with the French insinuating themselves into Greenpeace to get information and intelligence for their purposes, on the anti-earth, anti-destruction movement.
ditto.
unless you vote a third party that has no chance of winning anything but is a single issue party like Legalize Aotearoa i suggest that next time you might read up on your Party candidate and the other party candidates and then vote for the one that is best for the little bit of NZ where you live. Who knows, maybe then we have better politicians.
but at least your attitude explains why Nick Smith, Paula Bennett and Judith Collins, John Key, Simon Bridges and the rest of hte posse got to play monopoly with the country.
I will also add. The second, the Greens become just another party run by self appointing careerists, like Labour and National, will be the time I resign my membership.
The party is the people in it.
You have already shown that the honesty and verity, of the people in your party, do not matter to you.
I personally love having the Greens in government to keep the others honest. And to push environment. The economy will disappear without it the business class are fools to think they can continue to defer costs…
I will critique you folk harshly because I know you can do better.
There’s so many reasons we want Green representation. There are not so many we want you in charge. I don’t want any party in charge. Yay MMP.
The #1; the biggest contributor to the environment suffering so much: Engineers and chemists run our biological systems (agriculture). And they’re rubbish at it.
Concentrating there might produce results for the planet, but removing these charlatans will not be easy. They are besties with big oil.
and that is why you end up with a party full of people whom you don’t know doing what they want without ever giving a thought about those that put them into office.
Thats just lazy BM, you should show interest into whom your local MP is, lest you end up with someone who does not care…..oh i forgot you don’t care.
For real BM; you don’t have much interest in who your local MP is?
Out of interest who is your local MP?
Out of curiosity, do you place one or two ticks on your ballot form when you vote?
The most pernicious part is that those who have encouraged lying and cheating by political leaders are parents.
I can remember several events over a couple of years, leaders in our living rooms via tv bullshitting beyond belief. The cheerleaders for them surely could not, would not, expect their offspring to ‘tell the truth.’ You say and do what is best for you at the time.
Our list of values, discussed recently, would not reflect reality if it did not reflect that. Mores change and the easy story telling of, say Judith Collins, and the way it was accepted had me seeing the tide go out and realising that the speed of evolution can be quick. But then that tide was just part of the GCSB John moon.
It was good to read the Transport Minister’s Herald piece this morning arguing the benefits of the Southwestern LRT and rebutting some of the rubbish that’s been shopped around by lobby groups like PTUA and Transport 2050. It was about time either local or central government or the Transport Agencies involved fronted up on the project.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12147767
On the other hand it wasn’t so good having to listen to the same minister on Morning Report trying to rationalise the PM’s off-the-cuff decision to rule out any more regional fuel taxes yesterday. Clearly the government has been caught out by the backlash to Auckland’s fuel tax.
Not surprised about the fuel tax. It remains a rather ham fisted,and regressive way of funding Auckland’s public transport needs. It was never going to be popular with the poorer households, who have the longest commutes.
And still avoids charging the, housing developers, employers of cheap immigrants and the trucking industry, for their share of the extra roading costs.
The oil companies raising prices at the same time was unfortunate. May have been a calculated political move on their part. Don’t think Labour has many friends in the oil industry, after accelerating their inevitable, and necessary, demise.
I agree. The Regional Fuel Tax in Auckland is directly penalising the same people that Labour said they were elected to office to help. That’s the people who live in the outer ring of post war suburbs that were expressly designed around the private motor vehicle.
Of course if the incoming government hadn’t saddled themselves with their fiscal responsibility rules they might not have had to impose any additional fuel taxes. Or at least they could have borrowed first to invest in the public transport network across the Isthmus and then applied any extra taxes to pay for that investment once there was real transport choice available.
The fiscal responsibility rules, were, to my mind, a capitulation to a demographic, that were not going to vote Labour/Greens anyway.
Given that successful economies all have a State share of the economy over 40%. Including ours in the past. Limiting the size of the State to 30% is fiscally “irresponsible”!
We have all paid the price in decaying infrastructure, housing and health. Along with steep bills, to pay for private sector inefficiencies in power supplies, ports and other areas.
QFT
Private sector provision of natural monopolies is highly inefficient providing less for more and has only one thing going for it – it increases the bludging of the rich.
Well at least the foul murder of Jamal Khashoggi has proved one thing beyond reasonable doubt, that the outrage and reaction, leading to sanctions over the skripal poisoning by western leaders was purely and utterly political and had absolutely nothing to do with the supposed moral outrage.
This case is proving right out in the open ( it is of course already apparent to anyone with eyes and ears) to all, that trade, profit, growth are the only words that have any real meaning with our leaders, morality and ethics are only used when convenient and do not obstruct in any way whatsoever the previous three golden commandments of liberal ideology.
Yes you can be sure that we will all continue trading with Saudi Arabia as normal going forward, but then why wouldn’t we, I have yet to hear anyone propose limiting trade with the brutal totalitarian regime in China.
A brutal and repressive regime that we have all been fully aware of since our Helen opened those flood gates….so why not trade with the Saudi’s?, what’s the difference morally?
No one gave a bugger about thousands of Yemeni’s. Why start now?
All the posturing and meanwhile the states and I think the UK, continue to sell weapons to the saudi’s so they can carry on the genocide in Yemen.
It’s freakin vile.
Would like to see our government do zero trade with the saudis, add israel to that list.
I remember a feeling of pride when we choose not to trade with SA due to apartheid.
Why can’t we be like that again, when it comes to these sorts of regimes.
Morals over money please, some things aren’t for sale.
/agreed
Our governments are more about ensuring rich people get richer than anything else.
Looks like you me an cinny adrian are about the only ones who give a fuck in this place its jamie lee ross jlr jlr jlr jlr a hundred years after the fucking proverbial cows have come home .And just saying over and over what about iraq what about all the other injustices etc etc etc is meaningless unless youve never heard of them .This is a particular case and it demands a particular response which isnt wallowing in cynisism like you invented it but rather showing some solidarity and at the very least condemning the killers of jamal khashoggi which is THE HOUSE OF SAUD and not merely the hit team they are just pawns .
How, and Why, You Should Celebrate St. Crispin’s Day Today
Get pumped up to invade France!
https://electricliterature.com/how-and-why-you-should-celebrate-st-crispins-day-today-77d1d7ffe984
What is St. Crispin’s Day, you ask? Technically speaking, the Feast Day of St. Crispin, October 25, venerates the martyrdom of Christian saints Crispinus and Crispianus, who were twins (rude, Mom). But let’s be real, no one cares about that. Instead, today we honor the most prolific playwright of all time, William Shakespeare, and the greatest speech from one of his greatest plays, Henry V. If you haven’t read Henry V, well, you’ve been done wrong. For some reason public schools rarely teach the histories, but the Henriad and the War of the Roses cycle should be required reading. Fuck Romeo and Juliet. You heard me. [Ed. note: This is an official editorial position.]
Greatly outnumbered by the French on St. Crispin’s Eve, King Henry V rallies his demoralized army with a rousing soliloquy promising brotherhood, greatness and legacy:
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
SNIFFFFFFF. Anyway, his soldiers, aroused with visions of glory, win a staggering victory at the Battle of Agincourt on St. Crispin’s Day. In summary, this kick-ass soliloquy will make you feel like you can do ANYTHING! Conquer that biochemistry exam! Vanquish that evil pigeon that pooped on your head! Win over your prospective mother-in-law who hates your guts because you’re a freelance writer with no steady income! Okay, maybe not that last bit.
Watch these three classic interpretations and cry God for Harry, England, and St. George:
Now that you feel the burning fire of patriotism in your veins, we suggest invading France. Or at the very least, plant a miniature American flag in front of the Eiffel Tower.
https://youtu.be/A-yZNMWFqvM
Nice one clean. If you have not already read them I can highly recommend Conn Iggulden’s series of historical novels (4) on the War of the Roses, I don’t normally recommend books as we all have our different tastes, But I thought these were excellent and on par with his series on Genghis Khan’s Dynasty
A bit of useless pointless info and I love snippets of useless pointless info, Genghis Khan’s grandson Kublai Khan started the Yuan Dynasty. The name of Yaun is used today as a unit of Chinese currency.
Ha. Bit like Waterloo day, every year I forget St Crispin’s Day. To put it theatrically, several years ago my Pistol was well received (giggle).
It’s a fascinating play and can be done to support polar opposite attitudes, a bit like the Merchant of Venice. Olivier did a rah rah noble heritage of victory version during WW2. Others have dwelt more on the cost of war for ordinary people (especially if you consider the fact that Henry V kills off the comic characters from the Henry IVs, which would have been like killing Dobby for the original audiences).
Just read you comment now cleangreen. I agree, King Hal’s speech is a spine tingler. But is it any better than –
‘The quality of mercy is not strained . . .’ or
‘To be or not to be . . .’ or
‘Is this a dagger which I see before me . . .’
Just goes to show the absolutely glorious talent of William Shakespeare.
Interesting item sorta hidden away, ironic considering the 2nd para
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/108075481/giving-oxygen-to-hydrogen
What a load of bollocks.
So as well converting our cars and trucks to electric, we’re also going to produce Hydrogen from electricity?
Where’s all this extra electrical generation going to come from? the distribution network? or the fact there’s not even a market for Hydrogen? utterly ridiculous but unfortunately typical of this stupid government.
Heard of sunlight?
Yep had same problem when cars were introduced.
Some what is your solution to the fuel issues.
AND did you note that they are cooperating with Japan?
Obviously you havn’t been following the science.
Shipping companies, in particular, have been very aware of hydrogens potential
Or have a clue about New Zealands sustainable power generation capacity.
The problem with electric power for transport has always been the practical limitations of batteries. Even if they become hugely more efficient they will not approach the energy density of a tank of petrol. A tankful of hydrogen, when we learn how to store it, however!
Best potential transport fuel of them all.
Just have to solve the problem of pesky little atoms wriggling their way out of storage.
And the highly dangerous by product. dihydrogen monoxide.
Not too sure about that – the containment issue may require heavy tanks – and weight is a major transport efficiency issue.
But the point BM is partly trying to make in his negative way, is that the greater part of our energy budget is presently provided by petrochemicals. Hydrogen is not a solution to that and hydrogen + solar requires two sets of infrastructure we don’t have and aren’t yet adopting at anything like credible speed.
I wouldn’t bet the farm on hydrogen tech having a meaningful impact on either our petroleum demand or our carbon footprint in my lifetime. Not to say the research shouldn’t be done, just that we need to be doing rather more than that.
Pesky little atoms wriggling their way out of storage? I once got landed with scoping out making composite tanks for hydrogen. Containing the hydrogen is a problem quite different to other material storage problems.
I’m going a bit outside my expertise here, but I’ll speculate that it’s due to the way that a hydrogen atom becomes a naked proton when it’s electron wanders off for a while. That naked proton is extremely small, and very reactive. Whereas any other atom will always haven at least two electrons orbiting the nucleus in the extremely tightly bound filled K shell. This makes the atom physically much larger and less able to move between other atoms in a solid.
Then there’s the hydrogen embrittlement caused when those pesky little atoms choose to fuck with the chemistry and microstructure of the material they’re passing through.
With a potential hydrogen economy, there’s also the problem of the round-trip efficiency of the energy going in to separate out the hydrogen, compared to how much you get back out when you use the hydrogen. The best numbers I’ve seen are still well below 50%, compared to over 90% for some batteries. So unless and until someone comes up with a viable photocatalytic process, where the energy to split off the hydrogen comes directly from sunlight, it looks to me like generating the hydrogen will be just too wasteful of the input electrical energy.
Good article
“America, that old problem of yours? Racism? I have a cure for it: Get cancer. Come into these waiting rooms and clinics, the cold radiology units and the ICU cubicles. Take a walk down Leukemia Lane with a strange pain in your lower back and an uneasy sense of foreboding. Make an appointment for your CAT scan. Wonder what you are doing here among all these sick people: the retired telephone lineman, the grandmother, the junior-high-school soccer coach, the mother of three.”
… “In the country of cancer everyone is simultaneously a have and a have-not. In this land no citizens are protected by property, job description, prestige, and pretensions; they are not even protected by their prejudices. Neither money nor education, greed nor ambition, can alter the facts. You are all simply cancer citizens, bargaining for more life.”
https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/513/the-cure-for-racism-is-cancer
This –
Tragically, the author passed away yesterday.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/10/24/tony-hoagland-poet-dies
Trumping terror!
“Pipe bombs have been sent to prominent critics of Donald Trump, authorities said on Wednesday, spreading terror in the US less than two weeks before the midterm elections.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/24/clinton-bomb-reports-delivery-home-new-york-hillary-bill-latest
Oh, don’t worry, by 8.35 this morning Leighton Smith had announced that it was actually a lefty liberal false flag plot to discredit El Presidente and his loyal base.
Come on mate better add something about child poverty in there lol
joe90 is doing better, thank you very much.
I’m impressed you picked it up mate. Nice.
pipe bombs being send to
Obama, Clinton, Harris, Wasserman-Schultz, Waters, Soros and CNN.
maybe they are a bit more then just prominent ciritcs of Donald Trump. But then is not everyone who does not kiss the fat orange arse a prominent critic?
In the meantime the Dow Jones dropped like a stone, shaved off another 600 points and is now the lowest it has been since January 2nd 2018. But they the economy is doing great, 500.000 jobs created with that 110 billion dollar sales of weapons to Saudi Arabia and now watch this drive.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/us-markets-bond-yields-and-data-in-focus.html
The boot fits.
stochastic terrorism
[stuh-kas-tik ter-uh-riz-uh m]
noun
1 the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted: The lone-wolf attack was apparently influenced by the rhetoric of stochastic terrorism.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/stochastic-terrorism
https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/intimidating-and-terrorizing-and-bombing-is-what-they-d-1829968917
what this guy says, bombing its what they do.
T.trump toiletroll
“Acts or threats of political violence have no place in the United States,” Trump said. “This egregious conduct is abhorrent. “That’s a very bipartisan statement,” he said.”
https://i.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/108092437/pipe-bombs-sent-to-barack-obama-hillary-clinton-cnn
The architect of Oz superanuation, Paul Keating, is making a case that post 80 should be covered by a federal insurance scheme as super was designed to only last till 80.
PK’s an icon IMO always up front and fearless. Him and Hawke were quite the duo.
And master of the parliamentary put-down.
THE WTO being played around by the USA usurping other countries’ powe and rights, and wanting to skew the world body like its skewed its own Supreme Court.
Who cares about agreements? The USA were prepared to deal with Hitler until they realised his agreement and commitments couldn’t be relied on. So is this fascism in play with the leading nation’s graffiti being ‘Atavistic Commercial Fetish Rules Okay!’
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018668255/david-parker-warns-over-us-world-trade-organisation-dispute
David Parker warns over US, World Trade Organisation dispute
From Morning Report, 8:11 am today
Listen duration 5′ :24″
The World Trade Organisation is in danger of falling apart, leaving New Zealand with no remedy in the event of a major trade dispute. That is the stark warning from Trade Minister David Parker who has just finished top level trade meetings in the US, which is the country making direct challenges to the world trade referee. He speaks to Guyon Espiner about his meetings with US govt officials.
Thanks joe90 at 16.1 – read the quote there. True? I think hesitantly, yes.
I hadn’t heard of this USA’r but good to remember there are 325 million there and many are outside the Trump maelstrom!
“Tony Hoagland gave us a fierce, sometimes ugly, but ultimately redeemable portrait of America in his poetry and essays,” Shotts reflected. “I believe he wanted to give us many voices as a way into social and political critique, and he pointed his acerbic wit most directly at himself as a blunt instrument of self-scrutiny and satire.
Too often the good die relatively young – he was 64.
“The Saudi crown prince has vowed to punish all the “culprits” responsible for the murder of writer Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-45968185
Lol punish yourself? Such a lying bastard.
No wonder Jared and ‘the Don’ love him. So full of hubris, arrogance and narcissism he wouldn’t give a flying fuck if the 15 or 18 become expendable in order to save his ugly mug
Cyclone Yutu, the strongest in living memory. Winds 290 kms 185 kms in the eye!!
Rachel McGregor was sexually harassed by Colin Craig.
And although Cameron Slater did defame Colin Craig with untrue statements, no damages were awarded.
That’s the judgement of the High Court just now.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12148439
Colin Craig was a workplace bully of a woman, who stuck up for herself. And Craig had the gall to represent himself to her face.
Really good news and a gutsy follow-through from Rachel.
I hope this is as big a lesson to political workplaces as all the other workplace sexual harassment cases we have seen recently.
Craig has been shown for what he is. I hope McGregor can get on with her life now.
“Colin Craig was a workplace bully of a woman, who stuck up for herself.”
?
I know Slater (and others, not looking at you Jordan) seeks out anyone he thinks he can make ‘his bitch’ but when did Colin have the op? I must have missed something.
No the grammar is fine.
Ambiguity aside, then yes.
Btw @ Ad, I’m with a bunch of people at the mo who have English as their second language (at the time I made the post).
They were worrying about having to up themselves from IELTS 5 or 6 to 6.5 or 7.
Worse still, they’re not as valuable as their Chinese counterparts
For awhile I thought the reason Labour had been so quiet on the National implosion was cos Jacindas a class act, and while she may be let’s be honest the real reason Labour can’t comment on National selling list seats to foreign powers is because the Labour party is also under the influence of China as well and to criticize China means both parties would lose election campaign money.
I used to say that national and labour would join up into a purple party due to their shared neoliberalism but now I think they will combine to create the National Communist Labour party of China in New Zealand.
I have no problem with Chinese people but their govts influence on NZ politics needs to end immediately. Both Labour and National are selling our democracy to the highest bidder.
Our allies are questioning our loyalty and in future will be hesitant to share information with us because we are becoming a puppet state of a genocidal,workers rights abusing authoritarian.
Go NZ! Human rights are so 20th century
I’m in a cynical mood at the mo’ @ CJ. So it’s just as well we don’t yet have a one-child policy or Neve would be left to her own devices on the Great Wall of Auckland somewhere around the Bombay Hills.
They gather more votes separately cynny.
[What the hell has the out of office Harper government got to do with studies on insect numbers greywarshark? Did you even read the damned post, or did you think you’d just jump straight in with a spin on “knowledge and power”? Bumping this off down the bottom of the thread because its connection to the post is, at best, incredibly tenuous. Actually. Second thoughts. There’s bugger all connection to the substance of the post. Open mike. And in future, read posts and don’t just go off on long irrelevant rants] – B
How good they have records in Puerto Rico. And probably accessible easily because they are likely to be on paper. And that is important so you know which ones to grab and hide when some populist buffoon gets elected by unthinking, careless, irresponsible voters, making some point or other about not getting, too much of, something.
The trick is to help people get their something and hold onto what is valuable to the nation, despite poverty and bad weather.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e2igZexpMs
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnD3ZEw9sos
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qENyT6y0WmA
Example I’m talking about is Canada :
2013 News
What’s Driving Chaotic Dismantling of Canada’s Science Libraries?
Scientists reject Harper gov’t claims vital material is being saved digitally.
https://thetyee.ca/News/2013/12/23/Canadian-Science-Libraries/
Scientists say the closure of some of the world’s finest fishery, ocean and environmental libraries by the Harper government has been so chaotic that irreplaceable collections of intellectual capital built by Canadian taxpayers for future generations has been lost forever.
The Harper Government Has Trashed and Destroyed Environmental …
https://www.vice.com/…/the-harper-government-has-trashed-and-burned-environment…
Jan 15, 2014 – … polar research, with some documents reportedly dumped in landfills or burned, … The government denies political objectives have anything to do with the … “The government of Canada—led by Stephen Harper—has made it harder … minutes and other records to hide politically unpalatable science and …
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/opinion/when-canadian-scientists-were-muzzled-by-their-government.html
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/canadian-scientists-open-about-how-their-government-silenced-science-180961942/
Mike Harris – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Harris
Michael Deane “Mike” Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian politician who served as ….. Provincial water testing had been privatized in October 1996 by Harris’s first government. …. politicians suggested that the attack may have been ordered by the Premier’s office, and called for an independent judicial inquiry.
Power and Knowledge. What is the difference between a mad King or Queen and a mad Premier or leader who has extreme authority of rendition of the nationh’s precious statistics and information. It’s just a modern version of the sacking of the library of Alexandria.
Destruction of the Library of Alexandria
The ancient accounts by Plutarch, Aulus Gellius, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Orosius indicate that troops of Julius Caesar accidentally burned the library during or after the Siege of Alexandria in 48 BC. … A part of the library was burned under Aurelian, in 272, and the destruction seems to have been completed in 391.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria
We need to have better informed citizens who are paid to go and study stuff, and have constant talks and debates to keep citizens informed. Much of this should be on television which is still widely followed. So let’s get public television back again and run it so that there is learning and lots of quiz games about important stuff with good prizes, and regions competing for accolades as well as good infrastructure. So it is fun, informative and gets advantages for the local area, with a celebratory dinner for the contestants and organisers. Give it some cred so that people aspire to be involved. Perhaps some overseas visits, maybe to our friends in the Pacific.
Let’s be innovative and keep the barbarian populist pollies with their destructive ways and hordes, at bay.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Okay Bill
I thought it added something important to what you were writing about and also something about Puerto Rico but you have your rant in your own post. Be happy.
There are no politicians or administrations suppressing the research or the research findings linked to in the post.
The basic problem is that both scientists and those writing on population crashes seem to be unaware of the work done by Ziska and his colleagues. You read most articles and there is a lot of wild guessing going on about why populations are crashing (“It’s insecticides!” “It’s habitat loss!”).
Meanwhile, the solid research is sitting there, and as far as I’m aware, no-one has found fault with the methodology or the conclusions.
Insecticides and habitat loss absolutely contribute to decline, but they aren’t the principle reason and ‘rectifying’ those things will not halt species collapse.
You also did the same huge link filled distraction the other day by the way. In a post that pointed out that the scale of necessary CO2 removal was way beyond all production or harvesting processes we engage in, you just kept banging up irrelevant stuff about tree planting.
At least those screeds of smash weren’t sitting at the very top of a comment thread – thanks for small mercies.
I am actually interested in talking to people who are interested in seeing what we can do to alleviate our problems Bill. I like the good information I see here and then think about what can be done, or even started. I don’t want to be eternally at a wailing wall, just finding fault with what is being done or presenting horrific scenarios. I am looking for ways that we can do small things to try and help save our world and alleviate suffering.
I don’t like the mechanical attitudes that a good number of you are displaying. You don’t seem to care about people, it is almost a military efficiency response. This isn’t a place I want to be any longer and I don’t like that furious response from you. I think you are OTT and losing your humanity.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/108098946/former-mps-partners-travel-cost-11m-in-past-year
Well heres an idea that any party could pick up and champion for no downside
Forget it at present unfortunately – and it is an old perennial that pops up from time to time. Not saying forget it altogether, but perhaps next year – or an election bribe?
But, but, but – how did the interview go? Can I uncross my fingers, arms, hands, legs, ankles, toes yet? Its getting damn hard to do anything including eat …
It’ll be either:
Passed the interview stage and continue with the process (police checks, drug tests, medical checks etc),
Not at this time but apply again in the future and this is what you need to work on
or (my translation) hell no you freak and don’t even think of applying in this or any other timeline
I’ll find out tomorrow or Monday 🙂
I will keep some things still crossed then! Good Luck!
You don’t mess with the mana. Not good by the winery or council
“A segment of the stalled Te Mata Peak track could kill someone using it, a report has found.
Hastings District Council said an independent report had prompted it to take “urgent action” to remove the dangerous section of the track, located on the top 500 metres.
The report said that in its current state, the track, which Craggy Range Winery carved last year, could result in serious injury, or loss of life as a result of retaining wall collapse, falling rocks and slips…
… The winery built the track after resource consent was granted by the council last year, without informing local iwi…
… The Environmental Defence Society has since announced it would take the council and the winery to the High Court over the decision-making process which led to the track being cut.”
https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/108095040/part-of-controversial-te-mata-peak-track-to-be-removed-urgently-as-trespassers-at-risk-of-death
The Queen at 92 still speaks firmly and said diplomatic things to the Dutch royals when they recently visited expressing concern over disruption of relationships because of Brexit which this report says could result in a hard crash without agreements next March.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz//lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12148297&ref=clavis
It amazes me how well she does at 92. I saw a woman who was 128 and they asked her about her long life – she said it was a punishment from God.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/my-long-life-a-punishment-from-god-says-128-year-old-woman/amp/
0/part-of-controversial-te-mata-peak-track-to-be-removed-urgently-as-trespassers-at-risk-of-death
Reply
greywarshark 27
25 October 2018 at 1:49 pm
The Queen at 92 still speaks firmly and said diplomatic things to the Dutch royals when they recently visited expressing concern over disruption of relationships because of Brexit which this report says could result in a hard crash without agreements next March.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz//lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12148297&ref=clavis
Reply
marty mars 27.1
25 October 2018 at 2:25 pm
It amazes me how well she does at 92. I saw a woman who was 128 and they asked her about her long life – she said it was a punishment from God.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/my-long-life-a-punishment-from-god-says-128-year-old-woman/amp/
Reply
greywarshark 28
25 October 2018 at 3:33 pm
I am just about to renew my prescription for hypertension control. And she probably has had very little medical care. She would like that saying about dying young – while you are a good-looking corpse. Also that living long when you’re wealthy, at least you can be miserable in comfort. I sure as hell don’t want to live long as she has. She is marvellous and I wonder how many children she had, she is one of the salt-of-the-earth people who plod along hard working and dutiful. It would be good if she could have a few of her favourite things before she goes.
The Nepalese woman who has lived to her 90’s and had five sons, her dream is the last one I heard of like this one.
Five Sons and a 100 Muri of Rice: The story of a five year old bride in …
https://www.amazon.com.au/Five-Sons-100-Muri-Rice-ebook/dp/B00MKIOU0G
Rating: 4.7 – 81 reviews
A five year old bride in rural Nepal struggles with poverty, male domination and illiteracy to become a successful landowner, micro lender and great grandmother. Based on the true story of Kharika Devkota, this book provides a rare insight into the inspiring and determining life …
But her emails!
Apparently Dolt45 is still using an unsecured iPhone for calls. With China and Russia probably listening in.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/24/politics/trump-phone-china-russia/index.html
Whaleoil comment: “The leaker asked the police to call off the investigation because they DID have mental health issues but assuming the person is not JLR, others can have mental health issues.”
Response from Slater: “That isn’t correct, there was no police investigation to call off. It was the inquiry. And it wasn’t JLR who sent that text because it arrived when he was in a meeting with PB and SB so it wasn’t him.”
I see people texting at meetings all the time 😉
Kia ora The Am Show the pipe is a stunt.The no more tax on fuel takes away something
that simon uses to attack the government.
Thats correct judy you starved the state department’s and had private eye clark and there m8 harassing them from shonky orders most people are scared sheep .
The French have some better system for there children than we do one is teaching mokopunans how to eat healthy at school I say we need to copy them.
I look for positive things in every situation and Eco know’s the big picture that’s a better future for the grandchildren that keep my fire burning.
Chelsea opening there doors A are there sales declining sugar in all prosessed food should be legislated to %15 percent of what we currently have in the food now .
Mark you will already know my view on your poll today we have more police than other country’s have in there Army’s so why do we still have PEE and other man made drugs problem.
I agree with Michell the French man and his child needed help now the child will be in state care while the dad is in jail the child could be better off but not if one looks at the children in our state child care system.
Amanda I seen half a dozen hinds on the side of the road at 2pm in Matawai a couple of times.
Ka kite ano
We have to Preserve Papatuanuku and all her beautiful creations for the benefit of all human kind . Work with Mother Earth not against her quite a logical way of thinking Eco says.
This moss like plant has the same properties as weed there has been huge amounts of knowledge from ancient times we have lost on many subjects the health benefits of plants is one big phenomenon that has been suppressed big big Pharma company’s
It may already have been relevant to the people who live where these species of Radula occur naturally, which are as far afield as Japan, New Zealand and Costa Rica. There are hints that the Maori people of New Zealand use it as an herbal medicine, although not necessarily for its THC-like properties. Gertsch adds, however, that no serious ethnobotanical or ethnopharmacological research confirms such uses.
Ka kite ano link is below
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lowly-moss-like-plant-seems-to-copy-cannabis/
Some Eco Maori music
This is one reason I back our farmers they work harder then most and have a lot of challenges on the farming communitys they are the back bone of Aotearoa .
The other is I can smell a lie a mile away to and I don’t like these lies affecting people in negative ways .link is below ka kite ano.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/108111654/hawkes-bay-farmer-worked-18hour-days-in-leadup-to-suicide-coroner-finds
Here you go 10 reasons why sugar is bad for your health this is the one food one needs to be excluded from your diet .
The big company’s don’t want you to know the truth about sugar . Sugar is in just about every processed food bread yogurt alcohol fizzy drinks .They put to much sugar in food to get you hooked on there food & Drinks to boost there profits who cares who get there lives drastically shortened and all the bad health side effects that sugar does to peoples bodys. Ka kite ano link is below
https://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/library/articles/10-ways-sugar-harms-your-health
Kia ora Newshub I stick to my words earlier on the strikes Alex .
If someone was serious about blowing something up they would not send it in the post. Sending a it in the post is just a publicity stunt.
Thats the way Google make a stand against sexual harassment support Equality .
Skin cancer need to be advertised more and the sunblock products need to be verified to see if they do block the sun cancer effects.
Voda Phone Kiri is a cool way to use AI that is the future ka pai
Jackes a cool bloke 50 years working in that factory for the disabled Ka pai. P.S Niki Eco say the Japan Rugby World Cup will be a great event
Ka kite ano
Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild Wairangi & Storm
Wai I will have a my finger’s crossed for the Kiwis in there next test.
E game is a cool new sport storm is Panasonic one of the main sponsor’s I have a distraction .
Shawn Long looks like a awesome import player for the Breakers Anna.
Kia Kaha to Steven Adams and the Oakland City Thunder Basket ball team.
Ka kite ano