Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Selfish, greedy.
Max Key.
David Slack: ‘Greed, and hair gel, is good’
New Zealand. It might not be a great place to bring up children any more but it’s still a really good one to bring up Max. If he and his friends like the idea of a Wall Street career and aren’t too troubled by the deepening gulf between the vastly wealthy and the poor, we could hardly be shocked and ask: “where did that come from?”
He might say I’m judging him without really knowing him. Perhaps the next video will make things more clear. But there does seem to be a pattern and I’m not picking up much of a Buddhist monk vibe.
What the Max character seems to be saying is: “Greed, and hair gel, is good.” There’s no overt political statement in that, but in a funny kind of way, as his Dad likes to say, it’s political all the way through.’
Though Max does push himself into the front line with his father’s pride and his blessing. Otherwise who would mind what he did. Didn’t Thatcher have an errant son?
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Greedy.
New Zealand property investors.
‘Housing ‘mess’ has spread from Auckland to Tauranga
New Zealand First leader and MP Winston Peters last night told a crowd of 150 people that Auckland’s “housing mess” had spread to Tauranga.
Speaking at Matua Hall, Mr Peters said Auckland’s problems had become Tauranga’s, with the influx of Aucklanders fleeing the housing shortage and creating one in Tauranga.
Property prices and rent prices were going through the roof and he acknowledged those in desperate situations, living in cars, tents and caravans.
Mr Peters said in the last quarter of 2015 figures showed 29 per cent of houses sold in Tauranga were to Aucklanders.’
The Reserve Bank have been tracking the same risks.
And yet, all the factors that are holding up Auckland’s real estate are still tracking there for quite a while.
1. Net immigration has tracked up, is still tracking up, and looks like it will continue for at least a couple more years.
2. There are not enough houses, either to rent or to buy. This has been building for years, and will take years of building to even out, just a little.
3. Inflation rates are at rock bottom, and tracking to stay this way for several more years.
4. Our tax regime is still highly favorable to real estate. This appears to be the case whoever is in power in 2017, so it’s stable for at least 4 years.
You all know these factors, they are not going away.
There’s a risk of an Auckland real estate crisis. Of course. But let’s not overplay it.
If Winston Peters has his way he’d drastically reduce the number of ‘immigrants’ coming from Auckland to the Hinterland and ‘interview’ every new-comer at the ‘borders’.
New Zealand is for all New Zealanders and Peters is preying on people’s fears again; same tune, same hymn sheet, same old same old.
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Greedy.
New Zealand property investors.
‘Market tough for renters
A Whangarei mother has “given up hope” searching for a rental because of high demand and a spike which has seen the average rent increase by about $30 per week over the past six months.
Kristie Lowe has been trying to find a rental closer to her family in Ruakaka so she is able to work full time. But an increase in rent prices has made the hunt difficult.
“It’s a pretty crap situation. If you apply for a house you can’t get one simply because you’re like me and have a bad credit rating, or you’re a single mum on the benefit,” she said.
“I’ve given up hope.”
Renee Wilkinson, new business consultant at Harcourts Just Rentals Whangarei, has been tracking the rent increase since January this year by going on Trade Me, adding rental prices of properties listed in Whangarei together and dividing that number by the number of houses listed. In January the average rent was $338.33 and up to the end of this week it was $368.20.
“In six months, that’s quite a large increase,” she said.
Ms Wilkinson said there were a number of things contributing to the price increase – including homeowners who had become “accidental” landlords after the market crashed in 2007 and have decided to sell and take advantage of the today’s housing market.
“Basically houses are being sold but there aren’t enough to go around. Based on what I’ve noticed, I can’t see it [the rent increase] is going to stop any time soon.”
……………
Ms Lowe said she had been to Housing New Zealand and was currently on a waiting list.’
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Greedy, selfish, uncaring.
New Zealand’s private landlords
One of the worst years for housing problems, says union.
More people require emergency accommodation in Palmerston North but community members say housing options are too sparse.
About 20 people attended the Manawatu Tenants Union AGM on Friday, where various community members spoke of growing concerns about the city’s housing.
Social worker Debs Radley told Stuff she had seen an increase in people needing emergency accommodation in the city.
She was currently working with four families living in motels because of the city’s shortage of housing and emergency accommodation.
But big weekend events for the city, which increased tourism numbers, also booked out motel rooms that could be needed to accommodate homeless people.
These were people on the brink of homelessness with nowhere to go, she said.
In the meeting Massey University advocacy co-ordinator Kerry Howe said the price of increasing rent was still a growing concern for many students.
She said despite the increasing prices in rent there was little, if any, change to accommodation supplements for students and community members.
TradeMe property statistics show nationally, the median weekly rent has increased by 4.8 per cent over the year.
While rental prices in the Manawatu and Whanganui areas have increased by 8 per cent over the year.
In the meeting Manawatu Tenants Union co-ordinator Kevin Reilly said this year had been one of the worst years he had seen in terms of housing problems in the city.
He said issues ranged from people having problems with landlords and high rents to others in desperate need of social or emergency housing.’
Firstly: I do not condone child abuse (to preempt any facile splutterings), & trigger warnings aplenty for those who chose to follow the links (the quotes should be low impact).
Is anyone else uncomfortable by the way the Moko Rangitoheriri killing is being exploted? This was in this morning’s ODT:
Dunedin members of the Sensible Sentencing Trust will lead a peaceful march to the Dunedin courthouse on Monday… Co-ordinators of the Dunedin SST march, Amy Telfer Chiles and Robert Washick… A recent arrival from the United States, Mr Washick said New Zealand was “a paradise” and he wanted to ensure the country avoided going down a “bad road”.
Googling Washick shows that he is involved in Rotary, and works; “Yacht Buying, Selling and Chartering”. I wish I could be more certain that he had no involvement with Cerco &/or isn’t riding a cause for publicity. Monday the 27th of June is the day set for sentencing:
The man and woman accused of killing a Taupo 3-year-old have pleaded guilty to manslaughter and ill-treating a child.
The main contention of the SST seems to be that they should have been sentenced for murder. The problem is that murder implies intention and that doesn’t seem to have been provable in this case. This is supported by the police adding the lesser charges in February of this year, after the killers had plead not guilty to murder in September 2015. It reads more like a desperate covering up of abuse leading to death.
All kinds of trigger warnings if you follow this link:
Moko and his sister were left in the care of the couple on June 12 for what was expected to be a short period of time.
During the two months Moko was living with Haerewa and Shailer, their animosity towards the toddler grew.
Haerewa told police he “didn’t like [Moko’s] ways” and that he was “angry at him for taking us for granted”.
The couple began assaulting the toddler, with the severity of the assaults escalating…
On August 10 Shailer phoned 111 saying Moko had fallen from a wood pile the day before, sustaining severe bruising. She told the operator that he had been fine earlier in the day but was now “really cold, unconscious, not breathing properly and that his stomach was really hard”…
[The Mother] said Shailer was in regular contact until two weeks before Moko’s death.
“Her phone was off and I couldn’t call to talk to him. Those are signs that I should’ve picked up on.”
What makes me uncomfortable is that the Sensible Sentencing Trust were adamently opposed to the amendment of section 59. Their solution never seems to be prevention, only ever longer incarceration – I generally refer to them as “Predatory Prisoning”. Read this McVicar editorial from 2009 if you need confirmation:
This Unicef piece from 2014 seems to coincide with my understanding:
Along with the Section 59 law came increased public
awareness that violence against children shouldn’t
be tolerated. Increased awareness and reporting are
important for ensuring action is taken on behalf of children
living with violence. The law is part of creating social
norms that don’t tolerate physical punishment.
In the period 2008-2013 there was a dramatic increase
in notifications to Child, Youth and Family. There was a
60 percent increase in notifications (representing 60,000
additional notifications) and a 40 percent increase in
substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect…
However, child abuse is a complex problem requiring
complex solutions. Anyone interested in reducing child
abuse must focus on ensuring that the appropriate legal
protections are in place and we have a culture of respect
and care for children, that parents are equipped with child
management skills, that parents are well supported and
have good mental health, that alcohol and drug abuse are
reduced, and that families are not living with the constant
stress caused by poverty.
[Hmm, this is very long for OM – perhaps better suited as a post? The problem is that I’m only going to sporadically near a keyboard today to repond to comments. If someone else wants to take it up and put there own spin on it that’d be fine by me.]
Anyway, my suggestion is that anyone who agrees with me should go along to the marches with; “yay for Bradford!”, “Better funding for CYFs”, “Enforce s59” banners.
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Yet there are people who still care and who are unselfish.
Marie Retimana represents the best of New Zealand.
A government that does not ensure its citizens are not paid enough to feed themselves represents the worst of New Zealand.
Helping the needy through social media
Tokoroa’s Kelly Marie Retimana and her family of six decided to gather extra food while doing their shopping last week to help out a family in need that they came across on Facebook.
Retimana said she made the “on the spot decision” while out doing her weekly shop.
She saw the specials and just bought extra for a food parcel.
Having felt the struggle themselves in the past, Retimana and her family were often giving to people in need.
“It feels good”, Retimana said.
“We (my family) have felt the struggle and it doesn’t feel nice, so when we do have enough to share we do so happily, every time.”
The number of people each week who struggle with buying food is high, Food Bank volunteer Ruth Ramea said.
Basic supplies are given in food parcels such non-perishable foods, flour rice and
recently milk powder, which is all funded through donations and trustees.
The situation is made worse because there are a lot of people moving from out of town, she said.
The Tokoroa Food Bank helps families from areas as far apart as Lichfield, Tokoroa and Atiamuri.
Ramea said the year is constant, but Christmas and school holidays are the busiest times.
The team of about 30 staff involving volunteers, trustees and helpers, buy and collect the food to put into parcels, but Ramea said more was always needed.
“We are always looking for donations.”
If you’re going to spam OM everyday by cut&pasting entire articles, could you at least learn how to use blockquotes (or even simple quotation marks). You surely don’t want to be a plagiarist – support journalism by leaving people a reason to click on the link to the original article.
I try and use quote marks.
I try and edit reports so only excerpts are used.
If you look at some of the stories I have referenced, they are in provincial papers, so hopefully, I am increasing the readership of these articles and creating greater awareness of these journalists’ work.
Have you a problem with my highlighting the housing crisis in New Zealand?
If that was your attempt at using quote marks, then it was an abject failure. Everything from; “Helping the needy…” in the third paragraph, through to; “…looking for donations” just before the link was a direct quote. The only quote marks are those in the original article which you then cut&pasted in total (the only change I could see is that you deleted the many spaces between paragraphs, which admittedly is an improvement).
What I have a problem with, is the way you mass dump your spam onto OM every single fucking day. Today you posted at; 6:55, 7:03, 7:09, 7:21, & 7:37 am, with barely enough original material between these five to fill one post. Your slogan does at least seem original (though just as cut&pasted), and is catchy enough:
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
See how easy that was; the FAQ in the header bar will tell you how. [Edit – here I’ve even found it for you:]
The problem with your spamming OM is that it makes everyone else’s comments less salient. Say there are 15 posts in OM in a day (probably more like 10 since you’ve been doing your little routine), that means a third (if not half) of today’s posts are yours. However, despite your obsessive firsting of this forum, you will see that your posts now generally have short discussion threads (especially by the last of them). Why? Because you are not saying anything new, or adding anything much beyond unattributed quotes.
If you think that you are highlighting anything for me anymore except the imminent RSI in my scrolling finger you are sadly mistaken.
I think Paul highlights the relentless failings of a uncaring incompetent government ………… they are a disgrace from which there is no hiding.
Once people read Dirty Politics they can understand why John Keys Government supports things like tax havens while hurting poor children and vulnrable families.
Freeze them in cars over winter ……………. poison them with fecal soup river water in summer.
Check out their values and jokes in parliament …..
“David Seymour: In what century did the wine-box inquiry take place?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: One so far back I can hardly remember it.”
Also note JKs admiration for a guy who attempted to steal $2.2 billion of revenue………………. That would have been a HUGE handout to the aussie banks.
– Be succinct
– You better have a clear and original twist if you’re using someone else’s material
– Be a punchy, not preachy, author
– Have a sense of humor (at least about yourself)
– Don’t take attacks personally, you might learn something
– Try and imagine being as good a writer as your favorite columnist. Bin the drafts that aren’t as good for a while.
I betcha if you can be a better author than the current authors, the quality of your writing will get more hits and hence be rewarded with better placement.
And if you can’t be as good as a current author, just admit it, and practise until you can be.
Paul I appreciate the watch you keep on some of the deteriorating social conditions in NZ. Your scanning and synopsis is very important. However I also agree with Ad, that it could be condensed into one post.
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Yet there are people who still care and who are unselfish.
Park Up represents the best of New Zealand.
A government that does not house its citizens adequately represents the worst of New Zealand.
‘Park Up For Homes camp out on Beehive backdoor.
Around 150 people have gathered in Wellington, to sleep in their cars in a show of solidarity with those who have to.
The group Park Up For Homes has been joined by politicians, city councillors, the Child Poverty Action Group and everyday families, young and old for “Park Up Parliament.”
Spokeswoman Bex Rillstone said it’s just one part of a nation-wide campaign for better homes.
“We’re outside the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, which is just on the doorstep of the Beehive, and we are here to say to the Government that we need better housing policies.”‘
More expected at Park Up For Homes events
200 people are expected to attend each of the two Park Up For Homes events tonight.
One is being held at Wellington Cathedral, opposite The Beehive, and the other is taking place at the Otara Town Centre carpark in Auckland.
They follow one in Mangere last week that attracted around 1000 people.
Child Poverty Action Group housing spokesman Alan Johnson said it’s a chance for people to make their voices heard.
“If you’re not happy with the way in which we’re failing many tens of thousands of children with their housing, then just come up and participate in a quiet, peaceful protest.”
Mr Johnson said it’s also a chance to show support and acknowledge those who are doing it tough, living on the streets and in carparks.
He said ordinary New Zealanders are now starting to understand the problems poorer people are facing.
“And I think they’re becoming more concerned about that, and I think that’s starting to change the political response to this.”
Another Park Up For Homes event, organised by boxer David Tua, is scheduled for Onehunga on the 2nd of July.
Others are in the pipeline for Napier and Papakura.
“By comparison, the top 3 per cent of individual income earners, earning more than $150,000 a year, pay 24 per cent of all tax received.
Mark Keating, a senior lecturer in tax at the University of Auckland Business School, said the idea of “net tax” – the amount paid after credits and benefits were deducted – was hard for some people to get their heads around.
But he said people who received any benefit, or superannuation, as well as people who worked and met the criteria for Working for Families tax credits could end up with a net result that was negative or neutral.”
A tax lecturer and an accountant making misleading statements on net tax positions and conveniently ignoring half the forms of taxation and the impact of time……even the “balancing ” view fails to note this.
Slanted reporting, advertorial or sponsored piece.
“Gareth Kiernan, an economist at Infometrics, said the data showed that New Zealand did not have the same issues that had driven protests such as the Occupy Wall Street movement, which rallied against a rich “top 1 per cent”. ”
Should we dumb it down just a bit, for the reason any prospective people who visit the site, I would hope we all have a gut wish to show them National and capitalism, John Keys policies are failing and there are better options,
I wonder how many of the people who come here straight off understand the meaning of the intellectual conversations here? Antipathy?
It’s all great using big words and making out we are not stupid and know what the word economy is, but we should not lose our ability to make our points using language we commonly employ day to day
I don’t know what others think about what I said, it’s just a thought that’s been bothering me for some reason and keeps nagging at me to blurt out.
This is not a go at you either Pat , I have no issues with you at all mate, it just came out at this point of reading and seeing the word antipathy.
If antipathy is to be binned, then can we still use sympathy? Animosity is a bigger word, though roughly similar and widely understood. Not everyone uses language the same. Should we not use Māori terms because we want to; “dumb it down”? And our conflicting opinions and discussions might put “prospective people” off the site too – why don’t we all just endlessly type: “rugby is great, mate!”, at one another.
In response to your earlier comment Pat – evidently; “a sarc tab [was] necessary”. I should probably use one myself at that.
Marty means that I was spelling; “Pasupial”, as “Paupial”. Something I evidently do so often that the logo image doesn’t even change (which is a bit embarrassing).
Perhaps the fact I had not seen the word antipathy often, in my circle and had to check I knew the correct meaning was the reason I actually wrote that.
Bloody googling wastes to much time when your a commoner like me.
And some bloody spell checker here auto changes my typing. Sometimes when I re read I wonder how a certain word got there I never typed?
With wage growth being barely near inflation, if not on the lower side,
few workers will be affected by bracket creep. However, the fiction creation of the average wage in total statistics figures paints another picture.
In December 2014 John Key made a prediction that wages would rise in 2015 by 3.6%
I believe this was on the back of receiving reports about power company share sell of, and CEO’s pay rises, National have used this wonderful fictional creation statistic to crow about economic performance and workers income is wonderfully improving.
This also gives opportunity for overseas landlords to raise rents, .
Seems false equivalence to state the top 3% pay 24% of all tax as if the $$$ were what counted. Those that can, should.
As CV said, the problem lies not in the rebates paid to those who don’t earn enough to exist in our society, but that we have a society that is unable to remunerate a significant percentage of the population enough for them to exist in it without additional state benefits.
After nearly a decade of working for families rebates for the breeders, and Kiwisaver being used to offset wage increases, workers are now going backward without the compounding wage increases to counter rising living costs.
What more evidence is there that is needed why NZs productivity is low.
National are also relying on fictional economic prosperity in trade deals.
There is simply no evidence primary producers increase their employment costs on the back of higher export volumes, in fact the opposite happens.
Hence why there has been no media reports on the Dairy economy over the last decade, it will show employment costs reducing. Despite the Rock Star Economy preceding 2008, Did farmers employ more kiwi workers or immigrants.
Or do a report on apples, any increase in employment costs since the Aussie market opened up, meanwhile apples have tripled in price in the supermarket, for export rejected cases.
Meat works will all be automated with a decade, especially when the Chinese own all of them,
If non living entity corporations can be given legal status as a person, Reagan did this,
=then robots should be taxed,
overseas owned businesses are welfared off tax …
making corporations pay tax on their real profit will come to nothing.
I despair whenever I see this bullshit promulgated. It makes a mockery of our education system that so few people can immediately see through it. We all did percentages and averages at school, I expected it would be second nature for most of us.
The actual claims are false or misleading and the net tax concept they portray is worthless.
It’s patently absurd and dishonest. The overwhelming majority of beneficiaries are on low incomes so of course the low income households will show more Govt transfers than the high income households (yes their numbers include welfare beneficiaries)
@ Pat Quite frankly would not surprise me at all. The reality is that PAYE workers are one of the few groups paying tax. Those who are self employed, through trusts and businesses etc can manipulate their income legally and use copious legal loop holes to pay less tax. Obviously we seem to want to attract offshore investors who don’t pay GST… corporations that can manipulate their income so they make losses on millions in income…etc etc (sarc). Those on lower incomes are now propped up by the state for their employees with working for families, accommodation benefit etc
The problem is that the government are just not interested in looking at the 21st century globalism, and how to make tax fair again. They are certainly not interested in looking at why transnational profits are now one of our biggest exports. in front of milk powder and fishing.
one of the aspects of WFF that appears ignored is it is a temporary position….those receiving the benefit of it only receive it for a limited period and then return to a net positive tax position, often a very short period….this sort of framing (demonstrated in the linked article) pisses me off no end especially when so called experts are quoted and such outrageous bullshit is unchallenged by the journalist.
Ok I made a statement Corbyn was in the leave camp yesterday and this comes out.
I repeated this fact too mum, who explained in detail to me, Corbyn was definitely in the LEAVE camp personally, he was Pusauded by party members to vote remain, or back the remain camp.
She has just returned from ten years there and is also a UK citizen born there and lived there about half her life, she’s now 72. Basing m,y facts on mummy, but I have to go with her inside knowledge.
HE was always Pro Leave, on a personal basis, but party politics have meddled again.
Corbyn is closer to ordinary working people than most of his MPs. He should be forcing them to his beliefs not the other way around. He’ll be gone if he keeps this up.
Mum doesn’t like him, she’s saying he’s more a green than a Labour. She uses a lot of nasty words about him when I ask. throw back, cardy wearing lib, err. not nice stuff.
Unfortunately my mums a love Thatcher woman, something excited a lot of women about a woman rising to British PM. She’s from that era.
We have fun convo’s here, I have pretty much won the war with intellect and a better argument showing her outcomes of policies, she hates key now, can’t understand the policies and thinks he’s batshit crazy along with all the other National MP’s, she also uses the word arrogant a lot.
Not bad for a Tory to come here and in(3 weeks ish) hate national!!!!
The people of Britain just slapped that non elected body in Brussels a right slap in the face, and a great, grading on their performance. If Brussels was doing such a great job of running the EU perhaps the British may not have quit.
It’s also a giant slap in the face to Germany and Frau Merkel no one likes(gen) and especially how She seems to be running the purse strings. Politically correct or not, most grass roots Britain’s despise Germany having ANY power.
A giant slap over Brussels and immigration. The thing they feared came true as soon as it happened mass immigration and people coming to claim instant benefits.
Immigration policies that Key thinks are different but the grass roots feelings are the same here.
To many immigrants changes from interest in their culture, to crikey they are everywhere.
“Now they have won and what Kipling said of the demagogues of his age applies to Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage.
I could not dig; I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?
Sign up to our EU referendum morning briefing
Read more
The real division in Britain is not between London and the north, Scotland and Wales or the old and young, but between Johnson, Gove and Farage and the voters they defrauded. What tale will serve them now? On Thursday, they won by promising cuts in immigration. On Friday, Johnson and the Eurosceptic ideologue Dan Hannan said that in all probability the number of foreigners coming here won’t fall. On Thursday, they promised the economy would boom. By Friday, the pound was at a 30-year low and Daily Mail readers holidaying abroad were learning not to believe what they read in the papers. On Thursday, they promised £350m extra a week for the NHS. On Friday, it turns out there are “no guarantees”.
If we could only find a halfway competent opposition, the very populist forces they have exploited and misled so grievously would turn on them. The fear in their eyes shows that they know it.”
Poor England. So scared of the rest of the world, and still not being able to escape it.
I am assuming, your assuming the people actually heard these broadcasts, promises, and that the people who did, believed every word of it.
People are way past the point we trust a word spoken from Media and Politicians, the planet is full of sceptics right now. IMHO
Truth being people voted more on the right to self direction and control, and immigration. These two issues were totally a failure of Brussels and that’s where any blame lies.
Let’s not forget the body that controlled the EU. They don’t get to sit there holier than thou.
actually yes, i would assume that many did listen to Farrage and the likes. Just like in NZ they listen to Hoskins, the other jerk and Key and his mates.
and yes, fear is the biggest killer of them all.
lower, middle class England saw their benefits eroded, bedroom tax installed, draconic sanctions handed out to everyone who ever dared to be unemployed, being declared fit for work while dying of cancer two weeks later, schools being turned into academies, NHS being prepped to be offered for a coin to the next crony or bestie of Cameron, Ian Duncan Smith – aint he a lovely fellow, and so on and so on and so on.
So yes, i would assume that the English would have listend to the ones that offered easy ways out, Namely Make Britain Great Again….tell me when was it ever great? Under Queen Elisabeth 1? Under Queen Victoria? Under Thatcher?
Blame the Polish builder? The Hungarian fruit pickers? Or rather blame their own elected officials, which btw. like in NZ the wast majority of people elected several times in a row? No, that would not happen, that would mean the voters actually have to take responsibility for their votes and the consequences. A bit like the tory voter who realised that after the unemployed, the handicapped, the sick and unable to work, they are now coming for their tax credits and benefits….(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11935413/Ex-Tory-voter-breaks-down-on-Question-Time-over-tax-credit-cuts.html) . Pretty much what now is happening in NZ…..oh noes i did vote to have the benefits cut of the lazy bludger, of the slutty mother of many who is not married, of the pretend sick who should go work, and so on and so on, but i did not vote for my children to not find an affordable house or a decent paying job.
You know what, they listended and they voted. And with it they removed a lot of options from their young one (just like they did in NZ), namely to work in 27 countries without needing a visa, being able to start a business anywhere within the EU, being able to access health care and the likes anywhere in the EU, and so on and so on.
but yeah, lets be scared of Germany being made Great again. And worry about the Polish geezer coming to seek work in England, cause no English Fellow did the same.
they fucked over their young ones. Just like they did in NZ…..and they voted for it. Several times in a row did they vote for the fine English Man and Women that fucked them over every day of the year, just like they did in NZ.
You are still ignoring the main point about all this raging against polititians and the likes, namely that people vote for them, and that voting has consequences.
I was very young when the EEC, EU started , I cannot comment on how it started, mums saying the Brits refused to join for ages, but the French kept pressuring and finally Tory Ted Heath signed up.
What was said to promote it by Heath I have no idea, I certainly see the outcomes of the choices those voters made, and should it not now be the right for the generations who have lived this choice and seen it’s effects to now evaluate and have a choice in their future? Who says anything is binding on future generations?
They made their choice it’s done now, we can sit back and criticize in the negative or we can positively support them, using positivity and look at the good not just the bad.
1963 Britain’s first attempt to join the Common Market was vetoed by Charles de Gaulle, who was said to be worried about English taking over as Europe’s main language.
1967: A second UK attempt to join was blocked by President de Gaulle.
So what was the real story about GB joining the EU Pete, I need a wider circles perspective then, obviously mums at that age then when she’s getting a tad mixed up… walks off to label the salt and sugar jars., and the one I keep the Ajax in.
.
Thanks pete, bloody De Gaulle eh, wise man or fool?
then Heath became Prime Minister after winning the 1970 election. In 1971 he oversaw the decimalisation of British coinage and in 1972, he reformed Britain’s system of local government, reducing the number of local authorities and creating a number of new metropolitan counties. Possibly most significantly, he took Britain into the European Economic Community in 1973. Heath’s Premiership also oversaw the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, with the suspension of the Stormont Parliament and the imposition of direct British rule. Unofficial talks with Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) delegates were unsuccessful, as was the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973, which caused the Ulster Unionist Party to withdraw from the Conservative whip.
Heath also tried to curb the trade unions with the Industrial Relations Act 1971, and had hoped to deregulate the economy and make a transfer from direct to indirect taxation. However, rising unemployment in 1972 caused Heath to reflate the economy, attempting to control the resulting high inflation by a prices and incomes policy. Two miners’ strikes, in 1972 and at the start of 1974, damaged the government, the latter causing the implementation of the Three-Day Week to conserve energy. Heath eventually called an election for February 1974 to obtain a mandate to face down the miners’ wage demands, but this instead resulted in a hung parliament in which Labour, despite winning fewer votes, had four more seats than the Tories. Heath resigned as Prime Minister after trying in vain to form a coalition with the Liberal Party.
immigrants work cheaper and harder because the locals cant live on the wages.
Bill English admitted this when he said we are lazy or unable to work because of a certain lifestyle, how many unemployed have they tested and kicked of the benefit, they cant call the policy a success because the numbers are so low,
And then Max Key does a music video, saying how wonderful it is in Paradise,
only for the rich, or subliminally, i have another girlfriend,
I am just about Brexited out having read just about every tortured piece of analysis on the Guardian . . . but Nick Cohen’s j’accuse to Gove and Johnson is a must:
”The media do not damn themselves, so I am speaking out of turn when I say that if you think rule by professional politicians is bad wait until journalist politicians take over. Johnson and Gove are the worst journalist politicians you can imagine: pundits who have prospered by treating public life as a game. Here is how they play it. They grab media attention by blaring out a big, dramatic thought. An institution is failing? Close it. A public figure blunders? Sack him. They move from journalism to politics, but carry on as before. When presented with a bureaucratic EU that sends us too many immigrants, they say the answer is simple, as media answers must be. Leave. Now. Then all will be well.”
There is a petition being mounted in Britain to limit the final result of Brexit. And call for another Referendum whereby the winning numbers would have to be 60%+
2 million have signed the petition already!
(Some voted for Brexit not expecting it the exit to happen???)
PS “We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60 per cent based a turnout less than 75 per cent there should be another referendum.” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-petition-latest-eu-referendum-rules-change-force-second-vote-poll-government-a7102486.html
I think you should read the individual results, In Brittain apart from London the leave poll was so much higher the two people who wasted there vote won’t matter, nor do I think the poll will.
The percentage of Britons is far higher to leave than the overall voting including scotland.
Got a feeling Scotland will soon be independent Nation under the Eu, the split has been now forced upon them. Good luck Scotland I mean that Sincerely.
As the Chinese say, “it is fortunate to live in interesting times”
More likely this is a deeply thought out response more about stability and not about personal preference, as PM in waiting his answer would be of a governmental position. No Government I think would want an unstable Europe where we have had the conflicts of the past IE 2 world wars.
Globalization is the only way, that doesn’t mean that people should quietly accept unelected rulers like the eu and or being run by corperates and their rent boys like key , but once you sulk off the field your out of the game.
Look at the austerity and poverty that has been forced on to the people of Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal from Brussels right over the tops of their sovereign parliaments. So the answer is yes, definitely.
Yes I agree that the final effect in terms of austerity and human suffering may be the same, but the democratic aspect of it, i.e. whether the harmful decisions come from fellow citizen politicians you elected or from foreign bureaucrats whose names you don’t even know, who have never even been to your home town, its quite different.
But communities/nations did elect their representatives in the EU. That’s the democratic bit. Nor are the bureaucrats citizens of some foreign place called EU, they’re from the nations that make up the EU.
Your point that people may prefer elected neo-lib representatives and anonymous bureaucrats closer to home to destroy their lives is valid. But if they were these closer to home representatives that’s not more democratic. If the point is about geography, local issues and visibility the argue that point. I guess I just get tired of seeing framing through shorthand phrases that sound like they mean something, but don’t and are often fudging the truth. The EU is democratically elected and executive has no more power, some times less, than the national governments of the EU countries.
The left and other supporters of the people who are suffering under austerity should be up in arms about what is being done to the less well-off people and their communities. I wish they would think about what’s behind these right wing phrases instead of parroting them.
Question – what if Yanis Varoufakis put himself up for election to the EU parliament and won, and then got his parliamentary group to reject the executive who are the purveyors of austerity measures. Meanwhile George Osborne became PM in the UK and continued with his destruction of social support and the NHS. Would you still be complaining about the anti-democratic, unelected and faceless bureaucrats in the EU, or start talking about the validity of policies and which should be implemented?
You do understand that elected MEPs have zero power over the ECB, IMF and Euro Group don’t you?
That’s why it is utterly undemocratic. Schaubles attitude has always been: Greek voters and the Greek Parliament have zero say over what economic and monetary policies are to be implemented in Greece. The rights of the creditors is ultimate.
Clearly the EU structure has defects when assessed by the normal standards of Western democracy – but I would argue that the British parliament, with its unelected House of Lords and an unrepresentative House of Commons (in terms of the balance of political parties to votes cast), is even less democratic.
Eurosceptics have for a long time questioned the legitimacy of the EU – but that charge is difficult to sustain. Of course national parliaments have all agreed to pool sovereignty in the EU institutions, but they are entitled to do that and have done so with their eyes wide open. Many even asked their citizens to vote on the decision in a referendum.
What’s more, national governments, through the Council of Ministers, are still the most powerful collective influence in shaping EU decisions – not the European Parliament. They have the right to raise a yellow card about EU legislation, which can cause the Commission to change it.
And the EU is in the process of strengthening the ability of national parliaments to call a halt to EU legislation if they object to it.
So all in all, the EU is, or is at least working to be, a democratic organisation. It has its failings but national governments have just as many – if not more.
I understand the point you are making but do not believe that that is the end of it.
Tell me, did the EU intercede on behalf of one of its member states, Greece, to protect it from the undemocratic actions taken by the ECB, IMF and Euro Group against the people of Greece which included interfering in elections, undermining the elected government, overruling decisions made by the elected government, etc.?
You do know that the Euro Group of finance ministers are all finance ministers of EU nations right? They were also pivotal to fucking over fellow EU member Greece.
As you know, even working class British yobs have visited the Greece and the Greek Islands. I bet you they noticed how the poor of Greece was being treated by these EU Finance Ministers and the ECB.
In terms of Greece making its own financial decisions it would have to leave the Eurozone. This discussion has been had before and I think we pretty much agreed that it was disappointing the Greece didn’t do that.
I also know, from listening in at a meeting in Brussels, that the Social Democratic group was extremely sympathetic to the Greek position and made that clear. However, in parliament there are several other blocks and they too had their own view, as obviously happens in most democratic parliamentary organisations most of the time.
I’m not arguing with the points you’re making about Greece – this situation is an on-going neo-lib nightmare (and yes, I have seen the evidence of that first-hand) – It doesn’t relate to the question of whether the EU is a less democratic organisation than the UK Tory government that has devastated its own communities though.
The evidence is that the EU is least as democratic.
Whether that is democratic enough is a whole other issue and stands for national as well as supranational governance.
Yes, a number of MEPs (including Farage…) expressed sympathy and solidarity with the Greeks.
In general terms the global elite seem keen to weaken the effectiveness of individual sovereign governments, and hand power to supranational/transnational arrangements and institutions.
In specific terms, it appears now that a majority in both Italy and France now want EU membership referendums to be held.
If the EU want to impress ordinary citizens of Europe with positive and democratic changes, now would be a good time.
The Herald reports ‘Balmy June heading for a record’ and manages to avoid mentioning climate change. Rather than discussing this topic at a serious level, it turns a climate change issue into a ski report.
‘The unseasonably mild winter has been good news for some – but not if you are a skier.
Nearly all the snow that fell on the Coronet Peak ski field, near Queenstown, earlier in the month has melted, and the “Big Defreeze” has impacted on the the town’s annual 10-day Winter Festival, which began on Friday.
The lack of snow meant some events had to relocate.’
There were a couple of winters in late 80’s early 90’s that were as dire, one had a huge fall in May and then almost nothing, then another a couple of years alter when Coronet was only open for about a week all season, and keeping Remarkables open took a heroic effort, we were trucking snow down the mountain. It was pretty tough for the staff that year. There were other dry or warm years before that too. When they got into snow making in a big way it gave more reliability in dry years, but can’t do much in warm years. I was involved with snow making in the early years and remember weather figures that showed about 1 in 20 or 30 year return for a winter too warm for reliable snow making on Coronet. It was like 8 in 10 where it was too cold and dry for natural snow to maintain the snowpack.
The traditional start of season was early July pre snow making. The changes to school holidays from late August to early July created an imperative to try and bring things forward, with a corresponding redefinition of normal by the media.
The sign of a warming climate here will be snow making at Coronet becoming redundant or ineffective. (as the atmosphere warms it can carry more moisture, so more snow, to a point) I’ll reserve my judgement on that as it’s going to take 10 or so years to show a statistical variation, but the last couple of years have got my attention.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Selfish, greedy.
Max Key.
David Slack: ‘Greed, and hair gel, is good’
New Zealand. It might not be a great place to bring up children any more but it’s still a really good one to bring up Max. If he and his friends like the idea of a Wall Street career and aren’t too troubled by the deepening gulf between the vastly wealthy and the poor, we could hardly be shocked and ask: “where did that come from?”
He might say I’m judging him without really knowing him. Perhaps the next video will make things more clear. But there does seem to be a pattern and I’m not picking up much of a Buddhist monk vibe.
What the Max character seems to be saying is: “Greed, and hair gel, is good.” There’s no overt political statement in that, but in a funny kind of way, as his Dad likes to say, it’s political all the way through.’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/social-networking/81397094/david-slack-greed-and-hair-gel-is-good
it is creepy being so concerned about the son.
Yes he is 100% distraction so criticism just gives it oxygen when it needs to be ignored along with all the others celebrity reality BS.
Though Max does push himself into the front line with his father’s pride and his blessing. Otherwise who would mind what he did. Didn’t Thatcher have an errant son?
“it is creepy being so concerned about the son”
Yes, i have thought Pauls obsession with the Key boy is very creepy.
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Greedy.
New Zealand property investors.
‘Housing ‘mess’ has spread from Auckland to Tauranga
New Zealand First leader and MP Winston Peters last night told a crowd of 150 people that Auckland’s “housing mess” had spread to Tauranga.
Speaking at Matua Hall, Mr Peters said Auckland’s problems had become Tauranga’s, with the influx of Aucklanders fleeing the housing shortage and creating one in Tauranga.
Property prices and rent prices were going through the roof and he acknowledged those in desperate situations, living in cars, tents and caravans.
Mr Peters said in the last quarter of 2015 figures showed 29 per cent of houses sold in Tauranga were to Aucklanders.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11663358
Hamilton also
yep buying up of houses in Hamilton for investment is huge at the moment.
I saw a headline from Bryan Gould predicting house price bubble burst, but can’t find it now.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/81379799/housing-bubble-about-to-pop-bryan-gould-predicts
There you go, ianmac. 🙂
The Reserve Bank have been tracking the same risks.
And yet, all the factors that are holding up Auckland’s real estate are still tracking there for quite a while.
1. Net immigration has tracked up, is still tracking up, and looks like it will continue for at least a couple more years.
2. There are not enough houses, either to rent or to buy. This has been building for years, and will take years of building to even out, just a little.
3. Inflation rates are at rock bottom, and tracking to stay this way for several more years.
4. Our tax regime is still highly favorable to real estate. This appears to be the case whoever is in power in 2017, so it’s stable for at least 4 years.
You all know these factors, they are not going away.
There’s a risk of an Auckland real estate crisis. Of course. But let’s not overplay it.
If Winston Peters has his way he’d drastically reduce the number of ‘immigrants’ coming from Auckland to the Hinterland and ‘interview’ every new-comer at the ‘borders’.
New Zealand is for all New Zealanders and Peters is preying on people’s fears again; same tune, same hymn sheet, same old same old.
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Greedy.
New Zealand property investors.
‘Market tough for renters
A Whangarei mother has “given up hope” searching for a rental because of high demand and a spike which has seen the average rent increase by about $30 per week over the past six months.
Kristie Lowe has been trying to find a rental closer to her family in Ruakaka so she is able to work full time. But an increase in rent prices has made the hunt difficult.
“It’s a pretty crap situation. If you apply for a house you can’t get one simply because you’re like me and have a bad credit rating, or you’re a single mum on the benefit,” she said.
“I’ve given up hope.”
Renee Wilkinson, new business consultant at Harcourts Just Rentals Whangarei, has been tracking the rent increase since January this year by going on Trade Me, adding rental prices of properties listed in Whangarei together and dividing that number by the number of houses listed. In January the average rent was $338.33 and up to the end of this week it was $368.20.
“In six months, that’s quite a large increase,” she said.
Ms Wilkinson said there were a number of things contributing to the price increase – including homeowners who had become “accidental” landlords after the market crashed in 2007 and have decided to sell and take advantage of the today’s housing market.
“Basically houses are being sold but there aren’t enough to go around. Based on what I’ve noticed, I can’t see it [the rent increase] is going to stop any time soon.”
……………
Ms Lowe said she had been to Housing New Zealand and was currently on a waiting list.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11662998
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Greedy, selfish, uncaring.
New Zealand’s private landlords
One of the worst years for housing problems, says union.
More people require emergency accommodation in Palmerston North but community members say housing options are too sparse.
About 20 people attended the Manawatu Tenants Union AGM on Friday, where various community members spoke of growing concerns about the city’s housing.
Social worker Debs Radley told Stuff she had seen an increase in people needing emergency accommodation in the city.
She was currently working with four families living in motels because of the city’s shortage of housing and emergency accommodation.
But big weekend events for the city, which increased tourism numbers, also booked out motel rooms that could be needed to accommodate homeless people.
These were people on the brink of homelessness with nowhere to go, she said.
In the meeting Massey University advocacy co-ordinator Kerry Howe said the price of increasing rent was still a growing concern for many students.
She said despite the increasing prices in rent there was little, if any, change to accommodation supplements for students and community members.
TradeMe property statistics show nationally, the median weekly rent has increased by 4.8 per cent over the year.
While rental prices in the Manawatu and Whanganui areas have increased by 8 per cent over the year.
In the meeting Manawatu Tenants Union co-ordinator Kevin Reilly said this year had been one of the worst years he had seen in terms of housing problems in the city.
He said issues ranged from people having problems with landlords and high rents to others in desperate need of social or emergency housing.’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/81431262/one-of-the-worst-years-for-housing-problems-says-union
Firstly: I do not condone child abuse (to preempt any facile splutterings), & trigger warnings aplenty for those who chose to follow the links (the quotes should be low impact).
Is anyone else uncomfortable by the way the Moko Rangitoheriri killing is being exploted? This was in this morning’s ODT:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/388037/sentencing-group-march
Googling Washick shows that he is involved in Rotary, and works; “Yacht Buying, Selling and Chartering”. I wish I could be more certain that he had no involvement with Cerco &/or isn’t riding a cause for publicity. Monday the 27th of June is the day set for sentencing:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/381774/pair-admit-taupo-boys-manslaughter
The main contention of the SST seems to be that they should have been sentenced for murder. The problem is that murder implies intention and that doesn’t seem to have been provable in this case. This is supported by the police adding the lesser charges in February of this year, after the killers had plead not guilty to murder in September 2015. It reads more like a desperate covering up of abuse leading to death.
All kinds of trigger warnings if you follow this link:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/383481/mokos-mother-speaks-out-about-sons-death
What makes me uncomfortable is that the Sensible Sentencing Trust were adamently opposed to the amendment of section 59. Their solution never seems to be prevention, only ever longer incarceration – I generally refer to them as “Predatory Prisoning”. Read this McVicar editorial from 2009 if you need confirmation:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=10984999
This Unicef piece from 2014 seems to coincide with my understanding:
https://www.unicef.org.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/11281/Section59informationsheet.pdf
[Hmm, this is very long for OM – perhaps better suited as a post? The problem is that I’m only going to sporadically near a keyboard today to repond to comments. If someone else wants to take it up and put there own spin on it that’d be fine by me.]
Anyway, my suggestion is that anyone who agrees with me should go along to the marches with; “yay for Bradford!”, “Better funding for CYFs”, “Enforce s59” banners.
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Yet there are people who still care and who are unselfish.
Marie Retimana represents the best of New Zealand.
A government that does not ensure its citizens are not paid enough to feed themselves represents the worst of New Zealand.
Helping the needy through social media
Tokoroa’s Kelly Marie Retimana and her family of six decided to gather extra food while doing their shopping last week to help out a family in need that they came across on Facebook.
Retimana said she made the “on the spot decision” while out doing her weekly shop.
She saw the specials and just bought extra for a food parcel.
Having felt the struggle themselves in the past, Retimana and her family were often giving to people in need.
“It feels good”, Retimana said.
“We (my family) have felt the struggle and it doesn’t feel nice, so when we do have enough to share we do so happily, every time.”
The number of people each week who struggle with buying food is high, Food Bank volunteer Ruth Ramea said.
Basic supplies are given in food parcels such non-perishable foods, flour rice and
recently milk powder, which is all funded through donations and trustees.
The situation is made worse because there are a lot of people moving from out of town, she said.
The Tokoroa Food Bank helps families from areas as far apart as Lichfield, Tokoroa and Atiamuri.
Ramea said the year is constant, but Christmas and school holidays are the busiest times.
The team of about 30 staff involving volunteers, trustees and helpers, buy and collect the food to put into parcels, but Ramea said more was always needed.
“We are always looking for donations.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/south-waikato-news/80479414/helping-the-needy-through-social-media
Paul
If you’re going to spam OM everyday by cut&pasting entire articles, could you at least learn how to use blockquotes (or even simple quotation marks). You surely don’t want to be a plagiarist – support journalism by leaving people a reason to click on the link to the original article.
Paupial
I try and use quote marks.
I try and edit reports so only excerpts are used.
If you look at some of the stories I have referenced, they are in provincial papers, so hopefully, I am increasing the readership of these articles and creating greater awareness of these journalists’ work.
Have you a problem with my highlighting the housing crisis in New Zealand?
Paul
If that was your attempt at using quote marks, then it was an abject failure. Everything from; “Helping the needy…” in the third paragraph, through to; “…looking for donations” just before the link was a direct quote. The only quote marks are those in the original article which you then cut&pasted in total (the only change I could see is that you deleted the many spaces between paragraphs, which admittedly is an improvement).
What I have a problem with, is the way you mass dump your spam onto OM every single fucking day. Today you posted at; 6:55, 7:03, 7:09, 7:21, & 7:37 am, with barely enough original material between these five to fill one post. Your slogan does at least seem original (though just as cut&pasted), and is catchy enough:
See how easy that was; the FAQ in the header bar will tell you how. [Edit – here I’ve even found it for you:]
http://thestandard.org.nz/faq/comment-formatting/#quoting
The problem with your spamming OM is that it makes everyone else’s comments less salient. Say there are 15 posts in OM in a day (probably more like 10 since you’ve been doing your little routine), that means a third (if not half) of today’s posts are yours. However, despite your obsessive firsting of this forum, you will see that your posts now generally have short discussion threads (especially by the last of them). Why? Because you are not saying anything new, or adding anything much beyond unattributed quotes.
If you think that you are highlighting anything for me anymore except the imminent RSI in my scrolling finger you are sadly mistaken.
He’s the new Penny Bright.
I think Paul highlights the relentless failings of a uncaring incompetent government ………… they are a disgrace from which there is no hiding.
Once people read Dirty Politics they can understand why John Keys Government supports things like tax havens while hurting poor children and vulnrable families.
Freeze them in cars over winter ……………. poison them with fecal soup river water in summer.
Check out their values and jokes in parliament …..
“David Seymour: In what century did the wine-box inquiry take place?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: One so far back I can hardly remember it.”
Also note JKs admiration for a guy who attempted to steal $2.2 billion of revenue………………. That would have been a HUGE handout to the aussie banks.
Did shewan support the wine box tax scam? http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/8515361/Money-trail-leads-home-to-New-Zealand
Nah, it’s boring spamming.
Same article, video posted again and again, seriously you’ve got to wonder if Paul isn’t a bot.
whereas we do not have to wonder if BM is a miserable troll.
I keep asking you to drink a glass of Johns river water while wearing white disco pants ……….
just to show how full of shit you are……
Lots of different articles.
All showing up the wretched government you defend.
Be a better author:
– Be succinct
– You better have a clear and original twist if you’re using someone else’s material
– Be a punchy, not preachy, author
– Have a sense of humor (at least about yourself)
– Don’t take attacks personally, you might learn something
– Try and imagine being as good a writer as your favorite columnist. Bin the drafts that aren’t as good for a while.
I betcha if you can be a better author than the current authors, the quality of your writing will get more hits and hence be rewarded with better placement.
And if you can’t be as good as a current author, just admit it, and practise until you can be.
Time to step up to the plate Paul.
Good advice sensei !
Paul I appreciate the watch you keep on some of the deteriorating social conditions in NZ. Your scanning and synopsis is very important. However I also agree with Ad, that it could be condensed into one post.
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Yet there are people who still care and who are unselfish.
Park Up represents the best of New Zealand.
A government that does not house its citizens adequately represents the worst of New Zealand.
‘Park Up For Homes camp out on Beehive backdoor.
Around 150 people have gathered in Wellington, to sleep in their cars in a show of solidarity with those who have to.
The group Park Up For Homes has been joined by politicians, city councillors, the Child Poverty Action Group and everyday families, young and old for “Park Up Parliament.”
Spokeswoman Bex Rillstone said it’s just one part of a nation-wide campaign for better homes.
“We’re outside the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, which is just on the doorstep of the Beehive, and we are here to say to the Government that we need better housing policies.”‘
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/park-up-for-homes-camp-out-on-beehive-backdoor/
More expected at Park Up For Homes events
200 people are expected to attend each of the two Park Up For Homes events tonight.
One is being held at Wellington Cathedral, opposite The Beehive, and the other is taking place at the Otara Town Centre carpark in Auckland.
They follow one in Mangere last week that attracted around 1000 people.
Child Poverty Action Group housing spokesman Alan Johnson said it’s a chance for people to make their voices heard.
“If you’re not happy with the way in which we’re failing many tens of thousands of children with their housing, then just come up and participate in a quiet, peaceful protest.”
Mr Johnson said it’s also a chance to show support and acknowledge those who are doing it tough, living on the streets and in carparks.
He said ordinary New Zealanders are now starting to understand the problems poorer people are facing.
“And I think they’re becoming more concerned about that, and I think that’s starting to change the political response to this.”
Another Park Up For Homes event, organised by boxer David Tua, is scheduled for Onehunga on the 2nd of July.
Others are in the pipeline for Napier and Papakura.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/more-expected-at-park-up-for-homes-events/
Strong community support for Park Up Otara
https://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/strong-community-support-park-otara
Why they voted ‘leave’.
Meet 10 Britons who voted to leave the EU
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/25/meet-10-britons-who-voted-to-leave-the-eu
the pressure is showing….they are really working this one hard …
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/81429047/small-number-of-taxpayers-bear-the-brunt-of-new-zealand-tax-bill
“By comparison, the top 3 per cent of individual income earners, earning more than $150,000 a year, pay 24 per cent of all tax received.
Mark Keating, a senior lecturer in tax at the University of Auckland Business School, said the idea of “net tax” – the amount paid after credits and benefits were deducted – was hard for some people to get their heads around.
But he said people who received any benefit, or superannuation, as well as people who worked and met the criteria for Working for Families tax credits could end up with a net result that was negative or neutral.”
A tax lecturer and an accountant making misleading statements on net tax positions and conveniently ignoring half the forms of taxation and the impact of time……even the “balancing ” view fails to note this.
Slanted reporting, advertorial or sponsored piece.
if the courtiers to the power elite want more people to pay more income tax, then the dickheads should increase the income of ordinary people.
That would be to bloody logical for these people CV.
Everyone including the dump rat knows wages need to rise dramatically.
Sit back and listen to the stupid, weak and crazy excuses they make for not doing it.
Why is it National, seem to work for an entity called business, and not a person who actually votes.
there is no antipathy between the haves and the have nots in NZ, it is an overseas problem.
If you say so
“Gareth Kiernan, an economist at Infometrics, said the data showed that New Zealand did not have the same issues that had driven protests such as the Occupy Wall Street movement, which rallied against a rich “top 1 per cent”. ”
was a sarc tab necessary?
one word: Talleys
Should we dumb it down just a bit, for the reason any prospective people who visit the site, I would hope we all have a gut wish to show them National and capitalism, John Keys policies are failing and there are better options,
I wonder how many of the people who come here straight off understand the meaning of the intellectual conversations here? Antipathy?
It’s all great using big words and making out we are not stupid and know what the word economy is, but we should not lose our ability to make our points using language we commonly employ day to day
I don’t know what others think about what I said, it’s just a thought that’s been bothering me for some reason and keeps nagging at me to blurt out.
This is not a go at you either Pat , I have no issues with you at all mate, it just came out at this point of reading and seeing the word antipathy.
my apologies….hadnt considered antipathy an intellectual word, and computers provide instant access to explanation if any are unsure.
I was expressing my disgust at what passes for journalism now….among other things.
If antipathy is to be binned, then can we still use sympathy? Animosity is a bigger word, though roughly similar and widely understood. Not everyone uses language the same. Should we not use Māori terms because we want to; “dumb it down”? And our conflicting opinions and discussions might put “prospective people” off the site too – why don’t we all just endlessly type: “rugby is great, mate!”, at one another.
In response to your earlier comment Pat – evidently; “a sarc tab [was] necessary”. I should probably use one myself at that.
Have you lost your ‘s’?
Privatised? Bloody austerity culture, grrrr.
Shouldn’t you have put a sarc. tab after that misspelling of ‘yours’?
Marty means that I was spelling; “Pasupial”, as “Paupial”. Something I evidently do so often that the logo image doesn’t even change (which is a bit embarrassing).
Touché (D’oh!)
Ouch.. but damn good reply.. lol damn good.
Perhaps the fact I had not seen the word antipathy often, in my circle and had to check I knew the correct meaning was the reason I actually wrote that.
Bloody googling wastes to much time when your a commoner like me.
And some bloody spell checker here auto changes my typing. Sometimes when I re read I wonder how a certain word got there I never typed?
With wage growth being barely near inflation, if not on the lower side,
few workers will be affected by bracket creep. However, the fiction creation of the average wage in total statistics figures paints another picture.
https://home.kpmg.com/nz/en/home/insights/2016/05/nz-budget-2016-bracket-creep.html
In December 2014 John Key made a prediction that wages would rise in 2015 by 3.6%
I believe this was on the back of receiving reports about power company share sell of, and CEO’s pay rises, National have used this wonderful fictional creation statistic to crow about economic performance and workers income is wonderfully improving.
This also gives opportunity for overseas landlords to raise rents, .
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11466255
It would be nice to see some challenges to National in Parliament when they make these fictional economic claims, but their is none.
Because I belong to a union, we are getting a begrudged 2% pay increase next year, the first one hopefully above inflation, since 2008
Seems false equivalence to state the top 3% pay 24% of all tax as if the $$$ were what counted. Those that can, should.
As CV said, the problem lies not in the rebates paid to those who don’t earn enough to exist in our society, but that we have a society that is unable to remunerate a significant percentage of the population enough for them to exist in it without additional state benefits.
Wouldn’t personal tax be trivial compared to the tax take from businesses for the governments coffers, ?
If this is in fact so, dropping the business tax rate effected the coffers far more than any changes to people’s personal tax rates.
Secondly switching business up a percent would probably allow us to drop personal tax more.
If the above is true this could be used to curry voter favour if spun correctly.
After nearly a decade of working for families rebates for the breeders, and Kiwisaver being used to offset wage increases, workers are now going backward without the compounding wage increases to counter rising living costs.
What more evidence is there that is needed why NZs productivity is low.
National are also relying on fictional economic prosperity in trade deals.
There is simply no evidence primary producers increase their employment costs on the back of higher export volumes, in fact the opposite happens.
Hence why there has been no media reports on the Dairy economy over the last decade, it will show employment costs reducing. Despite the Rock Star Economy preceding 2008, Did farmers employ more kiwi workers or immigrants.
Or do a report on apples, any increase in employment costs since the Aussie market opened up, meanwhile apples have tripled in price in the supermarket, for export rejected cases.
Do automated milking sheds increase or decrease staff costs?
Automation is the enemy of personal employment.
Meat works will all be automated with a decade, especially when the Chinese own all of them,
If non living entity corporations can be given legal status as a person, Reagan did this,
=then robots should be taxed,
overseas owned businesses are welfared off tax …
making corporations pay tax on their real profit will come to nothing.
I despair whenever I see this bullshit promulgated. It makes a mockery of our education system that so few people can immediately see through it. We all did percentages and averages at school, I expected it would be second nature for most of us.
The actual claims are false or misleading and the net tax concept they portray is worthless.
The last chart I saw can be found here…
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/all/files/Net_Tax_Paid_by_Households,_estimated_for_the_tax_year_ending_31_March_2015.png
It’s patently absurd and dishonest. The overwhelming majority of beneficiaries are on low incomes so of course the low income households will show more Govt transfers than the high income households (yes their numbers include welfare beneficiaries)
Net tax, excluding petrol tax, user pays fees, GST etc etc is meaningless, but looks good in reinforcing the right wing narrative.
GST has been spectacularly regressive.
As is petrol tax.
And school fees.
Mr Keating would do well to show the full cumulative weight of all taxes, then work that weifht out across all income brackets.
Just a couple of intelligent bar graphs would do it.
But no, he would rather just make a political point.
@ Pat Quite frankly would not surprise me at all. The reality is that PAYE workers are one of the few groups paying tax. Those who are self employed, through trusts and businesses etc can manipulate their income legally and use copious legal loop holes to pay less tax. Obviously we seem to want to attract offshore investors who don’t pay GST… corporations that can manipulate their income so they make losses on millions in income…etc etc (sarc). Those on lower incomes are now propped up by the state for their employees with working for families, accommodation benefit etc
The problem is that the government are just not interested in looking at the 21st century globalism, and how to make tax fair again. They are certainly not interested in looking at why transnational profits are now one of our biggest exports. in front of milk powder and fishing.
one of the aspects of WFF that appears ignored is it is a temporary position….those receiving the benefit of it only receive it for a limited period and then return to a net positive tax position, often a very short period….this sort of framing (demonstrated in the linked article) pisses me off no end especially when so called experts are quoted and such outrageous bullshit is unchallenged by the journalist.
Gun,…meet foot
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/25/hilary-benn-jeremy-corbyn-labour-leadership-eu-referendum-brexit
Ok I made a statement Corbyn was in the leave camp yesterday and this comes out.
I repeated this fact too mum, who explained in detail to me, Corbyn was definitely in the LEAVE camp personally, he was Pusauded by party members to vote remain, or back the remain camp.
She has just returned from ten years there and is also a UK citizen born there and lived there about half her life, she’s now 72. Basing m,y facts on mummy, but I have to go with her inside knowledge.
HE was always Pro Leave, on a personal basis, but party politics have meddled again.
Hope that clears it up.
Corbyn is closer to ordinary working people than most of his MPs. He should be forcing them to his beliefs not the other way around. He’ll be gone if he keeps this up.
Mum doesn’t like him, she’s saying he’s more a green than a Labour. She uses a lot of nasty words about him when I ask. throw back, cardy wearing lib, err. not nice stuff.
Unfortunately my mums a love Thatcher woman, something excited a lot of women about a woman rising to British PM. She’s from that era.
We have fun convo’s here, I have pretty much won the war with intellect and a better argument showing her outcomes of policies, she hates key now, can’t understand the policies and thinks he’s batshit crazy along with all the other National MP’s, she also uses the word arrogant a lot.
Not bad for a Tory to come here and in(3 weeks ish) hate national!!!!
ha very well done!!!
I know, CV, and like me she is no slouch in the upstairs dept. But the one thing that helped and I had not seen it before or thought of it this way.
Too a British born Tory, it appeared after she got to know things, John Key is not a Tory, Nor does it appear he rolls the Tory way..if you get it.
The BIGGEST epiphany is John Key is a Tory Hoon, he acts as PM like they imagine a Labour leader would behave.
He has no dignity, He does not hold himself as a Tory would in power. He is a fact a common born YOB.
HA
Real Tories don’t run and hide. refuse interviews. At All. Thatcher did not hide.
Common born and state house raised. Neuveau riche, even worse. Clearly wasn’t taught the ‘proper’ etiquette and demeanour from youth.
An interesting observation you’ve made here.
I got as gut feeling from the way mum goes on about him, he’s toast, he’s not viable, he’s a joke.
His party is heavily divided over him, he has to go. Apprently
Perhaps today is a day to rejoice.
The people of Britain just slapped that non elected body in Brussels a right slap in the face, and a great, grading on their performance. If Brussels was doing such a great job of running the EU perhaps the British may not have quit.
It’s also a giant slap in the face to Germany and Frau Merkel no one likes(gen) and especially how She seems to be running the purse strings. Politically correct or not, most grass roots Britain’s despise Germany having ANY power.
A giant slap over Brussels and immigration. The thing they feared came true as soon as it happened mass immigration and people coming to claim instant benefits.
Immigration policies that Key thinks are different but the grass roots feelings are the same here.
To many immigrants changes from interest in their culture, to crikey they are everywhere.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/25/boris-johnson-michael-gove-eu-liars?CMP=fb_gu
“Now they have won and what Kipling said of the demagogues of his age applies to Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage.
I could not dig; I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?
Sign up to our EU referendum morning briefing
Read more
The real division in Britain is not between London and the north, Scotland and Wales or the old and young, but between Johnson, Gove and Farage and the voters they defrauded. What tale will serve them now? On Thursday, they won by promising cuts in immigration. On Friday, Johnson and the Eurosceptic ideologue Dan Hannan said that in all probability the number of foreigners coming here won’t fall. On Thursday, they promised the economy would boom. By Friday, the pound was at a 30-year low and Daily Mail readers holidaying abroad were learning not to believe what they read in the papers. On Thursday, they promised £350m extra a week for the NHS. On Friday, it turns out there are “no guarantees”.
If we could only find a halfway competent opposition, the very populist forces they have exploited and misled so grievously would turn on them. The fear in their eyes shows that they know it.”
Poor England. So scared of the rest of the world, and still not being able to escape it.
I am assuming, your assuming the people actually heard these broadcasts, promises, and that the people who did, believed every word of it.
People are way past the point we trust a word spoken from Media and Politicians, the planet is full of sceptics right now. IMHO
Truth being people voted more on the right to self direction and control, and immigration. These two issues were totally a failure of Brussels and that’s where any blame lies.
Let’s not forget the body that controlled the EU. They don’t get to sit there holier than thou.
actually yes, i would assume that many did listen to Farrage and the likes. Just like in NZ they listen to Hoskins, the other jerk and Key and his mates.
and yes, fear is the biggest killer of them all.
lower, middle class England saw their benefits eroded, bedroom tax installed, draconic sanctions handed out to everyone who ever dared to be unemployed, being declared fit for work while dying of cancer two weeks later, schools being turned into academies, NHS being prepped to be offered for a coin to the next crony or bestie of Cameron, Ian Duncan Smith – aint he a lovely fellow, and so on and so on and so on.
So yes, i would assume that the English would have listend to the ones that offered easy ways out, Namely Make Britain Great Again….tell me when was it ever great? Under Queen Elisabeth 1? Under Queen Victoria? Under Thatcher?
Blame the Polish builder? The Hungarian fruit pickers? Or rather blame their own elected officials, which btw. like in NZ the wast majority of people elected several times in a row? No, that would not happen, that would mean the voters actually have to take responsibility for their votes and the consequences. A bit like the tory voter who realised that after the unemployed, the handicapped, the sick and unable to work, they are now coming for their tax credits and benefits….(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11935413/Ex-Tory-voter-breaks-down-on-Question-Time-over-tax-credit-cuts.html) . Pretty much what now is happening in NZ…..oh noes i did vote to have the benefits cut of the lazy bludger, of the slutty mother of many who is not married, of the pretend sick who should go work, and so on and so on, but i did not vote for my children to not find an affordable house or a decent paying job.
You know what, they listended and they voted. And with it they removed a lot of options from their young one (just like they did in NZ), namely to work in 27 countries without needing a visa, being able to start a business anywhere within the EU, being able to access health care and the likes anywhere in the EU, and so on and so on.
but yeah, lets be scared of Germany being made Great again. And worry about the Polish geezer coming to seek work in England, cause no English Fellow did the same.
they fucked over their young ones. Just like they did in NZ…..and they voted for it. Several times in a row did they vote for the fine English Man and Women that fucked them over every day of the year, just like they did in NZ.
Yeah it’s silly, but that’s how the grass roots talk.
I think studies have been done on this particular social behaviour.
You are still ignoring the main point about all this raging against polititians and the likes, namely that people vote for them, and that voting has consequences.
I was very young when the EEC, EU started , I cannot comment on how it started, mums saying the Brits refused to join for ages, but the French kept pressuring and finally Tory Ted Heath signed up.
What was said to promote it by Heath I have no idea, I certainly see the outcomes of the choices those voters made, and should it not now be the right for the generations who have lived this choice and seen it’s effects to now evaluate and have a choice in their future? Who says anything is binding on future generations?
They made their choice it’s done now, we can sit back and criticize in the negative or we can positively support them, using positivity and look at the good not just the bad.
You’ve been incorrectly informed.
1963 Britain’s first attempt to join the Common Market was vetoed by Charles de Gaulle, who was said to be worried about English taking over as Europe’s main language.
1967: A second UK attempt to join was blocked by President de Gaulle.
So what was the real story about GB joining the EU Pete, I need a wider circles perspective then, obviously mums at that age then when she’s getting a tad mixed up… walks off to label the salt and sugar jars., and the one I keep the Ajax in.
.
You could start looking on google.
Here’s the first one that came up after searching for ‘britain’s attempts to join the eec’
http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/political-guides-eu-history-timeline-of-key-eu-events-politi
Thanks pete, bloody De Gaulle eh, wise man or fool?
then Heath became Prime Minister after winning the 1970 election. In 1971 he oversaw the decimalisation of British coinage and in 1972, he reformed Britain’s system of local government, reducing the number of local authorities and creating a number of new metropolitan counties. Possibly most significantly, he took Britain into the European Economic Community in 1973. Heath’s Premiership also oversaw the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, with the suspension of the Stormont Parliament and the imposition of direct British rule. Unofficial talks with Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) delegates were unsuccessful, as was the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973, which caused the Ulster Unionist Party to withdraw from the Conservative whip.
Heath also tried to curb the trade unions with the Industrial Relations Act 1971, and had hoped to deregulate the economy and make a transfer from direct to indirect taxation. However, rising unemployment in 1972 caused Heath to reflate the economy, attempting to control the resulting high inflation by a prices and incomes policy. Two miners’ strikes, in 1972 and at the start of 1974, damaged the government, the latter causing the implementation of the Three-Day Week to conserve energy. Heath eventually called an election for February 1974 to obtain a mandate to face down the miners’ wage demands, but this instead resulted in a hung parliament in which Labour, despite winning fewer votes, had four more seats than the Tories. Heath resigned as Prime Minister after trying in vain to form a coalition with the Liberal Party.
immigrants work cheaper and harder because the locals cant live on the wages.
Bill English admitted this when he said we are lazy or unable to work because of a certain lifestyle, how many unemployed have they tested and kicked of the benefit, they cant call the policy a success because the numbers are so low,
And then Max Key does a music video, saying how wonderful it is in Paradise,
only for the rich, or subliminally, i have another girlfriend,
+1 Sabine.
and all this because a few old public school boys had a bit of a power play.
I am just about Brexited out having read just about every tortured piece of analysis on the Guardian . . . but Nick Cohen’s j’accuse to Gove and Johnson is a must:
”The media do not damn themselves, so I am speaking out of turn when I say that if you think rule by professional politicians is bad wait until journalist politicians take over. Johnson and Gove are the worst journalist politicians you can imagine: pundits who have prospered by treating public life as a game. Here is how they play it. They grab media attention by blaring out a big, dramatic thought. An institution is failing? Close it. A public figure blunders? Sack him. They move from journalism to politics, but carry on as before. When presented with a bureaucratic EU that sends us too many immigrants, they say the answer is simple, as media answers must be. Leave. Now. Then all will be well.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/25/boris-johnson-michael-gove-eu-liars?CMP=share_btn_fb
There is a petition being mounted in Britain to limit the final result of Brexit. And call for another Referendum whereby the winning numbers would have to be 60%+
2 million have signed the petition already!
(Some voted for Brexit not expecting it the exit to happen???)
PS “We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60 per cent based a turnout less than 75 per cent there should be another referendum.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-petition-latest-eu-referendum-rules-change-force-second-vote-poll-government-a7102486.html
I think you should read the individual results, In Brittain apart from London the leave poll was so much higher the two people who wasted there vote won’t matter, nor do I think the poll will.
The percentage of Britons is far higher to leave than the overall voting including scotland.
Got a feeling Scotland will soon be independent Nation under the Eu, the split has been now forced upon them. Good luck Scotland I mean that Sincerely.
As the Chinese say, “it is fortunate to live in interesting times”
changing the goal posts, that sound familiar,
Little said he would have preferred Britain to stay in the EU.
Surely Little is aware how anti-democratic the EU is, thus does his position imply he is anti-democratic at heart?
Thoughts?
Thoughts? You should try having one that wasn’t stoopid.
It was a question, not a thought. Don’t attack the player.
So it was a thoughtless question? That changes everything …
Far from it.
Ponder this. Some say voters are still getting to know Little. What kind of impression do you think they’ll get from a comment such as that?
One would expect a Labour Party leader to be supportive of such a move.
More likely this is a deeply thought out response more about stability and not about personal preference, as PM in waiting his answer would be of a governmental position. No Government I think would want an unstable Europe where we have had the conflicts of the past IE 2 world wars.
More about stability opposed to sovereignty?
Surely a nation is more stable when making it’s own decisions?
Leaving the EU doesn’t impact the NATO agreement.
Winston Peters has long spoke up in favour of a Brexit, putting him at odds with Little.
Shaw, on the other hand, said he was quite sad about the decision to leave. Therefore, can we take it he’s another that is anti-democratic at heart?
Thoughts?
Shaw’s CV and professional skills fit right in with the City of London corporate scene so no surprise there.
Perhaps Little wishes the EU were worth staying with.
Globalization is the only way, that doesn’t mean that people should quietly accept unelected rulers like the eu and or being run by corperates and their rent boys like key , but once you sulk off the field your out of the game.
Is the EU more anti-democratic than a Tory FPP government in the UK?
Thoughts?
Look at the austerity and poverty that has been forced on to the people of Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal from Brussels right over the tops of their sovereign parliaments. So the answer is yes, definitely.
Fair call. But that’s not more anti-democratic. That’s undeniably vicious decision-making from a democratic institution.
The UK Tory government has done exactly the same to its people (as has the NZ government) without the EU.
Yes I agree that the final effect in terms of austerity and human suffering may be the same, but the democratic aspect of it, i.e. whether the harmful decisions come from fellow citizen politicians you elected or from foreign bureaucrats whose names you don’t even know, who have never even been to your home town, its quite different.
But communities/nations did elect their representatives in the EU. That’s the democratic bit. Nor are the bureaucrats citizens of some foreign place called EU, they’re from the nations that make up the EU.
Your point that people may prefer elected neo-lib representatives and anonymous bureaucrats closer to home to destroy their lives is valid. But if they were these closer to home representatives that’s not more democratic. If the point is about geography, local issues and visibility the argue that point. I guess I just get tired of seeing framing through shorthand phrases that sound like they mean something, but don’t and are often fudging the truth. The EU is democratically elected and executive has no more power, some times less, than the national governments of the EU countries.
The left and other supporters of the people who are suffering under austerity should be up in arms about what is being done to the less well-off people and their communities. I wish they would think about what’s behind these right wing phrases instead of parroting them.
Question – what if Yanis Varoufakis put himself up for election to the EU parliament and won, and then got his parliamentary group to reject the executive who are the purveyors of austerity measures. Meanwhile George Osborne became PM in the UK and continued with his destruction of social support and the NHS. Would you still be complaining about the anti-democratic, unelected and faceless bureaucrats in the EU, or start talking about the validity of policies and which should be implemented?
You do understand that elected MEPs have zero power over the ECB, IMF and Euro Group don’t you?
That’s why it is utterly undemocratic. Schaubles attitude has always been: Greek voters and the Greek Parliament have zero say over what economic and monetary policies are to be implemented in Greece. The rights of the creditors is ultimate.
That’s about as much power as the House of Commons has over the Bank of England, IMF and Euro Group… and cabinet.
Once again, is it more undemocratic than the Tory government, or as you suggested earlier, more culturally and geographically distant?
I’d pick rule by the NZ National Government any day of the week ahead of rule by the EU, ECB and German finance heads like Schauble.
At least David Cameron, a Tory, acknowledges the validity of the BREXIT poll result, unlike all the tap dancing lefties on this site.
“I’d pick rule by the NZ National Government any day of the week ahead of rule by the EU, ECB and German finance heads like Schauble.”
Obviously that’s your prerogative.
And I have not argued the validity of the result. Save that criticism for when you find someone who did thanks.
“Is the EU more anti-democratic than a Tory FPP government in the UK?”
It sure is. And one would assume Little is aware of this.
another link
and just in case it’s too long…
Given this, I wonder if the EU is about to increase the say of the Greek people in their own economy and their own country. No? OK.
EU and Eurozone (and IMF) are exactly the same thing. No? OK.
I understand the point you are making but do not believe that that is the end of it.
Tell me, did the EU intercede on behalf of one of its member states, Greece, to protect it from the undemocratic actions taken by the ECB, IMF and Euro Group against the people of Greece which included interfering in elections, undermining the elected government, overruling decisions made by the elected government, etc.?
You do know that the Euro Group of finance ministers are all finance ministers of EU nations right? They were also pivotal to fucking over fellow EU member Greece.
As you know, even working class British yobs have visited the Greece and the Greek Islands. I bet you they noticed how the poor of Greece was being treated by these EU Finance Ministers and the ECB.
In terms of Greece making its own financial decisions it would have to leave the Eurozone. This discussion has been had before and I think we pretty much agreed that it was disappointing the Greece didn’t do that.
Did the MEPs intercede? They certainly discussed the situation with Tsipras at least once and seemed to get Junker to concede to mistakes… as always, with a democratic institution there was a wide range of opinions
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/20150706STO74708/Greece-MEPs-debate-the-country%E2%80%99s-situation-with-Prime-Minister-Tsipras
I also know, from listening in at a meeting in Brussels, that the Social Democratic group was extremely sympathetic to the Greek position and made that clear. However, in parliament there are several other blocks and they too had their own view, as obviously happens in most democratic parliamentary organisations most of the time.
I’m not arguing with the points you’re making about Greece – this situation is an on-going neo-lib nightmare (and yes, I have seen the evidence of that first-hand) – It doesn’t relate to the question of whether the EU is a less democratic organisation than the UK Tory government that has devastated its own communities though.
The evidence is that the EU is least as democratic.
Whether that is democratic enough is a whole other issue and stands for national as well as supranational governance.
Yes, a number of MEPs (including Farage…) expressed sympathy and solidarity with the Greeks.
In general terms the global elite seem keen to weaken the effectiveness of individual sovereign governments, and hand power to supranational/transnational arrangements and institutions.
In specific terms, it appears now that a majority in both Italy and France now want EU membership referendums to be held.
If the EU want to impress ordinary citizens of Europe with positive and democratic changes, now would be a good time.
“If the EU want to impress ordinary citizens of Europe with positive and democratic changes, now would be a good time.”
Absolutely.
And if media organisations decided to take the EU parliament seriously and give it a bit more scrutiny that would be right too.
You should read this from Frank Macskasy, apart from being very depressing the easy which this national government and it’s ministers can lie.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/06/26/tdb-exclusive-investigation-cyf-the-hollowing-out-of-a-state-agency/
The mad drive to ideological purity has kicked up a notch.
And no one is safe.
Good work by Frank.
Lots of action in the British Labour cabinet over the weekend.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36632539
Who will be left standing?
Forget road tolls – Auckland needs free public transport
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/06/25/forget-road-tolls-auckland-needs-free-public-transport/
The media is a major part of the problem.
The Herald reports ‘Balmy June heading for a record’ and manages to avoid mentioning climate change. Rather than discussing this topic at a serious level, it turns a climate change issue into a ski report.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11663518
@Paul – Maybe the business roundtable gives Granny an extra bonus if they avoid the word ‘climate change’.
It would be interesting to see who its major sponsors are.
There were a couple of winters in late 80’s early 90’s that were as dire, one had a huge fall in May and then almost nothing, then another a couple of years alter when Coronet was only open for about a week all season, and keeping Remarkables open took a heroic effort, we were trucking snow down the mountain. It was pretty tough for the staff that year. There were other dry or warm years before that too. When they got into snow making in a big way it gave more reliability in dry years, but can’t do much in warm years. I was involved with snow making in the early years and remember weather figures that showed about 1 in 20 or 30 year return for a winter too warm for reliable snow making on Coronet. It was like 8 in 10 where it was too cold and dry for natural snow to maintain the snowpack.
The traditional start of season was early July pre snow making. The changes to school holidays from late August to early July created an imperative to try and bring things forward, with a corresponding redefinition of normal by the media.
The sign of a warming climate here will be snow making at Coronet becoming redundant or ineffective. (as the atmosphere warms it can carry more moisture, so more snow, to a point) I’ll reserve my judgement on that as it’s going to take 10 or so years to show a statistical variation, but the last couple of years have got my attention.
Bee’s lives matter!
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160624135849.htm
Will it be too much to ask for Unidos Podemos and the Socialists to get their shit together and take Spain together, this time around?
Hmm, another one. Have to say I’m disappointed, I had an idea that Foster-Bell is/was a religious man at least back in University days when he was my residential assistant and seemed like a nice enough guy then.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/81474280/high-turnover-of-staff-in-national-mps-office-and-claims-of-bullying
Don’t think religiosity is correlated with non bullying. Quite the contrary.
Delightful antidote to some of the shit going on right now.
https://twitter.com/i/moments/746845931434287104