Thanks to the Herald, yesterday Chris de Freitas a professor at Auckland university has revealed he has made an incredible discovery about the science of the climate that will surely earn him the Nobel Prize.
In an op-ed in the New Zealand Herald Professor de Freitas has revealed “….the incontrovertible fact that adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere has an ever-decreasing effect on global temperature.”
Yes you read it right, CO2 emissions cool the climate.
As well as winning the Nobel Prize, Professor de Freitas will have the undying gratitude of the oil and coal industry, who now have a duty to emit as much CO2 as possible to cool the current naturally caused hot phase that Professor de Freitas admits the planet is currently going through.
“Yes you read it right, CO2 emissions cool the climate.”
I read it right, but you didn’t. He is not saying CO2 reduces temperature at all, he is saying that as more and more CO2 is put into the atmosphere it has progressively less impact on temperature.
I am not saying he is right, just that you have completely misconstrued what he said.
I read it right, but you didn’t. He is not saying CO2 reduces temperature at all, he is saying that as more and more CO2 is put into the atmosphere it has progressively less impact on temperature.
That is obvious, but probably not for the reasons that whoever you’re talking about is thinking.
Obviously if you look at an atmosphere like Venus as an endpoint of that thinking, then you can see that continuing to add greenhouse gases have a reduced effect as it increases, but is still increasing.
While the percentage of CO2 (the main greenhouse gas) is damn sight higher (~97%) and the whole atmospheric pressure is lot lot higher, the average surface temperature is only ~740K. Earth is ~290K at the surface with a minimal CO2 of ~0,035%. There are other factors of course for venus, but it shows that increasing CO2 will keep increasing atmospheric temperature at a steadily reduced rate per increases in density. Of course it really doesn’t matter because there is no apparent limit to the temperature increase apart from atmospheric pressure and distance from the sun.
On earth the acidification of the water supply from absorbing CO2 is likely to be the limiting factor for the biosphere long before temperature becomes the constraint if anyone was silly enough to burn all of the fossil carbon.
Basically it is one of those silly “fact” arguments used by people who just trying to confuse and obstruct the issue. Chris de Idiot is one of them.
We seem to still be in what is now claimed to be a 17 year stall in surface temperature rise, and this is cited as evidence the global warming link to CO2 emissions is false. However, the evidence is that the surface temp is still rising, just very, very slightly. Nevertheless the ocean temps are continuing to climb unabated so the overall global temperature climb continues to happen. There is also plenty of evidence the oceans are becoming much more acidic – it seems likely much of the heat and the CO2 is being absorbed by the oceans at the moment.
Globally ice is disappearing fast. It’s diminishing rapidly in both extent and thickness, apart from one or two areas where there is some growth due to local precipitation and uniquely isolated weather features – like the Antarctic Ice Shelf which is growing (although Antarctic land-based ice is thinning), and one glacier in the Himalayas.
The relationship between rising atmospheric CO2 from human emissions (distinguishable from natural sources like volcanoes by its isotopic signature) and rising global temperatures is indicated mainly I believe by its matching the global temperature curve.
Far more CO2 and heat has been absorbed into the oceans (and heat into ice melts) than was expected back in the early 90’s, yes. That has meant that the surface temperatures have been moderated. Ummm. NOAA has a good dashboard – doesn’t look like “stall” to me…
I suspect that someone is just cherry picking data as per normal..
Anyway lower air temperatures than the more extreme models from 17 years ago (with inadequate ocean data to predict) doesn’t change the overall effect of heat absorption, it just changes the short-term effects over the next few decades. And the ice melt has been far more extreme than anyone anticipated and ocean temperatures are kind of crazy looking down the whole column.
Got to remember that back in the 80’s and 90’s we knew virtually nothing about ocean or ice heat absorption capabilities. Both are probably more dangerous than hotter air temperatures as they drive extreme weather events and that causes much faster climate shifts for the things that drive our economies than heat waves.
De Freitas said that more CO2 creates more water vapor which becomes clouds which shield the earth from light and heat. Like a “thin layer of paint on a sheet of glass”. According to de Freitas’ the more CO2, the more coats of paint, the more shading, the more cooling.
ie. Warming causes Cooling. The more warming the more cooling. De Freitas calls this a negative feed back.
Apart from the tortured logic that the climate has to be warmer for this cooling to work.
All that extra energy still has to go somewhere.
Other than that, water vapor is not clouds, it is an invisible heat trapping gas. (A difference that de Freitas does not make clear).
Does more water vapor in the atmosphere mean more clouds?
Not necessarily.
Have you ever seen speeded up film of clouds?
You can witness them waxing and waning. Seemingly appearing from nothing to grow into very large masses. Just as likely, depending on temperature and pressure, you can watch them diminishing, turning back into invisible vapor with out ever condensing into large enough drops to overcome gravity and fall as rain. The differences between vaporisation and condensation can be slight. Both processes can even look to be happening at the same time, on the leading and trailing edges of the same cloud.
As the world warms more clouds are not guaranteed. Even if more cloud was a side effect of global warming and provided extra shading of the surface of the Earth during the daytime. This effect most likely would be cancelled out at night, by the insulating effect. And it is at night that a lot of the energy that falls as visible light during the day is reradiated back into space as heat. Like white blankets, clouds as well as being reflectors are insulators. You can feel this with your body. A cloudy night is warmer than a starlit night. The heat collected from the sun during the day that radiates back out into space at night will be doubly blocked by heat trapping water vapor and insulating cloud.
De Freitas said that more CO2 creates more water vapor which becomes clouds which shield the earth from light and heat. Like a “thin layer of paint on a sheet of glass”. According to de Freitas’ the more CO2, the more coats of paint, the more shading, the more cooling.
T_T
Teh stupid, how it burns…
From my brief reads of the literature, the actual net effect of increasing water vapour on global temperature is still a major [needs more work] area, mostly due to the fact weather on a global scale is very computationally complex. Basically, the models available don’t have high enough resolution in terms of modelling our 3d atmosphere at levels that are statistically strong fits to base strong conclusions on. And different types of clouds have different effects on warming and cooling.
So for De Freitas to make this claim of negative feedback, he has to be ignoring a rather significant chunk of literature, which is pretty par the fucking course for him.
Even when he publishes stuff on climate change, he has a bad habit of leaving out inconvenient papers or making shit up, resulting in his “climate change isn’t happening” ones going straight into crank climate journals.
And note also he says “science shows…” in the Herald piece, and yet doesn’t even bother to do the courtesy of bothering to cite any key papers.
I have no idea why Auckland University keeps employing de Freitas. I remember a guy who was basically sacked for not passing enough students, yet de Freitas makes the University a laughing stock every time he opens his mouth. It sucks.
Sure you can get more reflection… You can also get more absorption.. Depends on the exact effects.
Take Venus for an extreme example. It has a complete cloud cover and still has surface temperatures that can boil lead due to atmospheric greenhouse CO2 despite the nice reflective acidic cloud cover.
“Global warming isn’t real and it’s stopped, even though it isn’t real because there hasn’t been a temperature rise for a week, it’s winter and isn’t it cold?” will be spouted by the denialists.
Beware. They’ll say that, they’ll keep repeating it.
It looks like for a while, the oceans will absorb the heat, but only for a while as part of medium-term cycles.
If you want to counter them when they say that nothing has happened for a decade (except that increasing frequency of disastrous storms), point out the fact that a decade is nothing … and that maybe we should be thinking about those storms as well?
“Or worse, if we find a post-9/11 nexus between Iraq and terrorist organizations that are looking for just such weapons — and I would submit and will provide more evidence that such connections are now emerging and we can establish that they exist…”
(With supreme irony, rendered all the more devastating because of the servile stance of this loyal government newspaper, the transcript of this horror is headed with a quote from it: “A Policy of Evasion and Deception”.)
See also….
No.13: Barack Obama: “Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27052013/#comment-638881
No. 12: U.K. Ministry of Defence: “Protecting the Afghan civilian population is one of ISAF and the UK’s top priorities.”
No. 11: Brendan O’Connor: “Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
No. 10: Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to look after us and keep us safe.”
No. 9: NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21052013/#comment-635850 No. 8: Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20052013/#comment-635343
No. 7: Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15052013/#comment-633295
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632598
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632594
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628803
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628703
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013) http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25042013/#comment-624381
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19042013/#comment-621738
Are you planning to continue your Jim Mora series?
Is the Pope Catholic? Did Craig Joubert gift the All Blacks the 2011 RWC final? Does Tim Shadbolt laugh a lot? Does America terrorize peasants in Pakistan? Is Lanthanide a filibusterer? Does Michelle Boag frown grimly when crossed by an oik?
Is the Pope Catholic? – that’s an assumption on your part
Did Craig Joubert gift the All Blacks the 2011 RWC final? – all sport comments are one-eyed & and cannot be proven.
Does Tim Shadbolt laugh a lot? – or is that nervous reaction to stress.
Does America terrorize peasants in Pakistan? – is that the american spelling of terrorise.
Is Lanthanide a filibusterer? – for you maybe or for others he offers a debating point of view that allows democracy discussion for some of us to watch (!) rather than all comments being +1 in context.
…. and the reason why I am replying
Does Michelle Boag frown grimly when crossed by an oik? – why make that comment about someone you don’t like. Regardless of what/who Michelle Boag is you always lose the argument with that type of throwaway line.. I just don’t listen to people who make sly personal remarks when it has no context to the discussion. You remember that sly remark (and assume that they will be some cutting remark about you in their next discussion) and forgot the point being made.
Morrissey is all to fond of playing the person and not the issue, as evidenced by his evasive streak of posts yesterday when he wouldn’t respond to my straightforward questions.
Does Tim Shadbolt laugh a lot? – or is that nervous reaction to stress.
Probably.
Does America terrorize peasants in Pakistan? – is that the american spelling of terrorise.
It’s also perfectly acceptable in standard English.
Is Lanthanide a filibusterer? – for you maybe or for others he offers a debating point of view that allows democracy discussion for some of us to watch (!) rather than all comments being +1 in context.
Fair point. Lanthanide is one of our best posters.
…. and the reason why I am replying
Does Michelle Boag frown grimly when crossed by an oik? – why make that comment about someone you don’t like. Regardless of what/who Michelle Boag is you always lose the argument with that type of throwaway line.. I just don’t listen to people who make sly personal remarks when it has no context to the discussion. You remember that sly remark (and assume that they will be some cutting remark about you in their next discussion) and forgot the point being made.
Hey, Moz, a ten year old article is hardly ‘of our time’ and the Washington Post can hardly be said to be loyally servile to rightwing governments. They have this Google thing now that may help you get the facts right in future.
And you may want to have a look at your equally disappointing contribution yesterday again. You have some questions to answer.
Hey, Moz, a ten year old article is hardly ‘of our time’
A very good point/ For me, and I think for you too, Te Reo, “our time” goes back even to the late nineteenth century. Actually, for me, modernity starts around 1649. This series is not entitled “Contemporary Liars”, it’s “Liars of Our Time”—which is a moveable concept. Remember what Mao Zedong said when someone asked what he thought about the French Revolution: “too early to tell.”
…and the Washington Post can hardly be said to be loyally servile to rightwing governments.
You need to do some serious reading, my friend. That was a worryingly naive, even credulous, statement. You obviously have not read a lot of the Washington Post.
And you may want to have a look at your equally disappointing contribution yesterday again. You have some questions to answer.
Check it out now, my friend. Done and dusted. Way ahead of ya….
Rubbish, Moz, You’ve been caught out slagging the Post for no good reason and your ignorance about the paper’s history is laughable. Or are you just a liar of our time?
And you still have questions to answer about yesterday’s failure, bluster doesn’t cut it round these parts.
John Key gets to announce a food in schools Programme today. It will be some sort of PPP with Fonterra and Sanitarium. The provision of a fundamental necessity will rely on corporate largesse. And there is obviously tension in Cabinet as some insist that beating up on deadbeat parents is more important than feeding kids.
But Shearer IMHO has missed out a chance to stake out a position that is humane and progressive. He has said that providing breakfast to children was ultimately a parent’s responsibility and any programme must be targeted. What he should have said is that it is vital that a six year old is fed so that they can actually learn and this is much more important than punishing so called deadbeat parents. He should forget on trying to coax over National voters and give those who did not vote last time a reason to do so.
Can you imagine Michael Joseph Savage and the first Labour Government taking the same position as Shearer?
Did Savage and co adopt National’s framing of issues TRP?
And why do you think that National has just announced increased penalties for child porn? It is because they know they are weak on the child compassion front and need to bolster support. Mimicking their language just gives them a free ride on the issue.
Labour should come out and say they will support Hone’s feed the kids bill, at least to select committee.
Yeah Hone (Mana) has done all the hard work on this and labour and shearer can still get on board and help the kids but sure they have to check the polling and have a couple of focus groups after all they don’t want to upset the middle do they.
Trying to equate Shearer’s comment with something Savage may have said is ludicrous. For starters, a hundred thousand Labour Party members cheered Savage on when he spoke. Who cheered Shearer on? Hooten?
to MickeySavage at 3.1.1. From Hone’s Feed the Kids Facebook page …
” … The Bill is expected to come before Parliament for its first reading on Wednesday 5 June. So far Labour, Greens, Maori Party, NZ First, and Independent MP Brendan Horan have agreed to support it. We need one more vote to get it passed and to a select committee for further consideration. … ”
Labour is supporting the bill through to select committee. It’s a start.
There is another angle here that may have been overlooked. Someone correct me if I’ve got it wrong, but I remember Labour in 2008 coming up with a policy that would ensure only healthy foods be provided in school food programmes. They wanted all types of ‘fast foods’ in schools banned or at least strongly discouraged. I remember National (John Key included) ridiculing them up and down the country for this policy. The basis of their argument was that the food children were eating had nothing to do with the govt. – ie. it was “nanny state” again.
Labour should dig out a few of those MSM news clips/videos and use them to remind the memory-challenged voters… how John Key – who is currently talking about how important children are properly fed – actually campaigned against good quality food in schools a few years ago. It gives the lie to his latest claim that he’s been “keen on the food in schools idea since 2007″.
Hi freedom,
Coming from the same generation as Helen Clark, I’m technically computer non-savvy (not saying she is but I am) when it comes to searching for MSM historic links. I actually did try but was unsuccessful. However DTB remembers it (see below) so it wasn’t a figment of my imagination. I knew that of course, but maybe someone can come up with the details. It was nasty stuff and it sorely angered me at the time. Now Key is laying on the empathy as though he has always cared about the poor kids. BS I say.
She sort of was. I donated her a home computer in about 1992/3 and “politely” suggested that she should become a bit more literate.
However she got a whole lot better over the years. I think that the key to the web turned out to be booking overseas travel for those crazy vacations she took every few years dragging Peter away from his projects to go up mountains…
The sale of unhealthy foods was virtually banned at schools – briefly – by the last Labour-led Government in a move widely supported by public health experts. National repealed the rule in 2009 on grounds that schools should not have to be “food police”, but it retained another requiring schools “to promote healthy food and drink”.
And, yes, that is an article about how National’s policies failed.
freedom. Thanks for bookmarking that one. Blip’s list gets lost except for vigilant people like you. I have suggested that the Standard might like to Front Page that list each day, and that people can add to it (today’s lie a case in point), and newbie visitors to this site could be made aware of it and the likes of burt and Hooton reminded of it.
Labour aren’t going to win the next election, Labour and the Greens are. Shearer will have to settle for being PM in a coalition government, but I imagine he’s OK with that.
He should have said “we recognise that low levels of income are the biggest determinant of whether or not children get fed. The reality is, is that many people have lost their jobs in the last 5 years, people often have high rents and mortgages to pay and benefit rates have not kept pace with inflation.
Nationals vision of a brighter future has not occurred for most people, the 170′,000 jobs they keep promising simply haven’t eventuates. The country continues to get deeper in debt.
What we are seeing under National is a return to the days that Dickens wrote about. Days where people became dependant on charity rather than we as a country ensuring that our people have good housing and decent incomes.
Labour will reverse the tax cuts that National gave upon coming into power and will increase benefits immediately upon coming into government by $25-00 per week. This reverses the cuts that were made in the Ruth Richardson budget and allows for an inflationary adjustment. Last time we went into government we gave superannuitants the $20-00 back and it is only fair that this time we are just as fair to other beneficiaries. The additional $5-00 will also be paid to NZS recipients.
We also will help low paid workers by immediately increasing the minimum wage by increasing this by $1-00 per hour per year for the next three years and my legislating for a mandatory pay increase of 2% per year for all workers earning below $50,000 per annum each year for the next three years.
Many workers have nothing in their contracts that make provision for annual pay increases and do not have any real ability to negotiate these.
These three things will put more money in people’s pockets which will help them have sufficient means to feed their children.
This approach is twofold. It both provides additional state support and moves some of the profit from companies back to workers rather than to shareholders and owners. In this way both employers and the wider community make a contribution to ensuring our most vulnerable and lowest paid are fed.”
I just can’t imagine the current Labour government coming close to anything like this.
The chances of proactive, progressive policies and fighting talk from Shearer are negligible.
It makes no sense that a Labour leader would not fight for their constituents.
Therefore it gives lead to the thesis that Shearer was placed there by the right and the corporations to ensure that whatever happened, the neo-liberal project was not upset.
Because if the argument is that he was put there to recover the middle ground, then he should be replaced because that just isn’t happening.
Yep – or he could have said, “Feeding the kids is our responsibility as a nation – to look after those that need help. I absolutely refuse to accept any child going to school hungry and if we want to blame someone for that I blame the policies of this Government who care more about their rich mates than hungry kids. That is why I am saying we will support the great initiative put up by Hone and Mana and why we are proud to stand beside them and the fight against poverty. I cannot wait to work with Mana and the Green members of parliament as we tackle poverty. We are building a coalition to help the needy not like this lot who only help the greedy.”
It’s not difficult to write that narrative, is it? So why doesn’t Shearer do it?
Because he is a man placed by the corporates to ensure that NZ inc keeps sending its profits to its offshore owners.
Tenei matou te hunga moko e tu nei i roto i tenei ao
Hurihuri ao tangata
Chorus:
I wear my pride upon my skin
My pride has always been within
I wear my strength upon my face
Comes from another time and place
Bet you didn’t know that every line has a message for me
Did you know that
The word tattoo describes the marking of patterns by
Inserting coloured dyes under a smooth skin
The word moko represents a traditional custom in which
Spirals unique to Maori are carved deeply below the skins
Surface to produce a groove scar – did you know that
Because the head the most sacred part of the body was touched
blood spilt the whole ceremony was tapu
The tip of a birdbone chisel dipped into sooty black pigment
Tapped by a beater to the sound of songs created to soothe
The painful process of creating moko so don’t use that word tattoo
Every spiral has a name ever line on the face don’t use that word tattoo
Chorus
The classic Maori moko has the male bearing complex spirals on
Both cheeks both sides of the nose
Lines spread between the eyes to the temple the nose to the chin
Over nineteen names have been identified for different parts of the pattern
Women received kauae or chin moko
some copied their Mothers or grandmothers
others allowed the artist to express their creativity
The moko indicated genealogy, rank ,accomplishment
It represented masculinity, beauty, warriorhood, identity
So don’t use that word tattoo
Chorus
The moko reflected the carvings and rafter patterns inside the Whare tipuna
but some were made so distinctive they were like an autograph
a beautiful signature written all over the face
In 1815 Te Pehi Kupe drew his own moko without the aid of a Mirror
every line firmly in his mind and then he drew the moko
Of his brother and his son
Did you know that
The moko reflected the Maori way of life
everything was connected, religion, war, lovemaking and death
For this generation, the kauae and moko were only seen in paintings
but now those images have come to life
Netana Whakaari said in 1921
You can lose your most valuable property through misfortune in various ways
you may be robbed of all your prized possessions
but of your moko you cannot be deprived
It will be your ornament and your companion until your last day
so don’t use that word tattoo
Chorus
Korero ki nga tamariki tenei kaupapa ta moko he taonga
Tuku iho ki nga tipuna
Good ol’ Air NZ. You’ll have a koru on your tail, and All Blacks with tattoos on your advertising, but some chick who wears a ta moko? Sorry Miss, your chances are fucked!
I use a simple technique of cutting and pasting into a word doc so a lot of macroned words are there and then doing the same into a comment but others will explain some more sophisticated ways of doing it
If you are using Word 2003 for Windows XP, then these numeric codes will work. You may wish to experiment in other programs to see if these work.
Note: These only work with a numeric keypad.
Word 2003 (Win XP) ALT Codes
Capital Vowels
Ā ALT+0256 Cap long A
Ē ALT+0274 Cap long E
Ī ALT+0298 Cap long I
Ō ALT+0332 Cap long O
Ū ALT+0362 Cap long U
Ȳ ALT+0562 Cap long Y
Æ ALT+0198 Cap short ash
Ǣ ALT+0482 Cap long ash
Lower Vowels
ā ALT+0257 Lower long A
ē ALT+0275 Lower long E
ī ALT+0299 Lower long I
ō ALT+0333 Lower long O
ū ALT+0363 Lower long U
ȳ ALT+0563 Lower long Y
æ ALT+0230 Lower short ash
ǣ ALT+0483 Lower long ash
Māori. Yep that worked! A bit of fumbling around of the type that amuses my daughters so much when they see me on the computer but got there in the end. Thanks Draco.
To be honest, I’m not surprised but the advice coming from employment ‘experts’ is that having a tattoo will be a mark against you in getting a job. IMO, it’s just that some bosses look upon people wit tattoos with derision and scorn rather than accepting them as the unique person they are.
I remember a few years ago that a young woman working in a cafe bar. She had worked there for some time, the regulars liked her and she engaged well with the tourists that came through. She got moko and hot fired. The owner of the business was frightened that she would suddenly scare away the tourists. Biggest load of bollocks I’d ever heard of.
Employees and job applicants should work hard to stand out from the pool of other cattle, but at the same time only do so in unchallenging ways. And wear only approved items of “flair”.
Depends on the job, usually customer servicing in high end retail and hospitality tend to biased against visible tattoos in general, and having visible neo-nazi tattoos pretty much will cause issues for a lot of employers.
A New York-based real estate firm Rapid Realty has offered its 800 employees a 15% pay raise if they tattoo the company’s logo onto their bodies, and the offer is snowballing, according to CBS New York. So far, nearly 40 employees accepted the challenge, AOL Jobs reported.
Generally speaking, I’m in agreement with the comments. It’s a show of how bad things have become.
Call me a cynic, but floating Meridian in “chunks” will look like this:
First, we bundle the “chunks” into the “better performing” assets and those that have to be “brought in line with investor expectations in a dynamic market”. Then we sell the “better performing assets”, i.e. all the profitable and well maintained hydro schemes, to Key’s cronies. The second chunk will never reach investors’ expectations and the National party, ever with a hand on the populace’s pulse, will decide that it would be “not economically viable at this stage” to lumber investors with assets that will actually need investment in. So we get to keep the assets, our 51%, until such time as they are brought up to standard at our expense., before that part gets floated next time they are in power.
Chris Trotter has an interesting piece in the Press this morning regarding Winston Peters’ speech last week about Chinese immigration and its effect on parts of New Zealand.
He says that concern about changing demographics and the threats to ones culture and place that arise from that are entirely legitimate concerns. It is not straight up racist or xenophobic to raise these issues, he says.
Yet it is interesting isn’t it how on here Peters gets instantly labelled racist and xenophobic for raising these issues of concern to some people. It is also interesting that there is some precedent for this in New Zealand and that is Maori and the treaty of course. Maori were concerned about a massive wave of immigration that threatened their culture and their place here. They did something about it. Is it ok for these people to also do something about it? Or are the people of North Shore to be afforded something different? And if so, why and what?
It’s pretty simply vto. Peters is racist because of how he raises the issues (and because he does so in this way to get votes), not because he raises them. Do you see the difference?
Yes I have heard this raised countless times but the head struggles to get around it at times… How has Peters done it here which makes it racist? How do the people of Auckland who raise this issue make them racist? Not a leading question – a genuine one…
We have some immigration issues in NZ, let’s talk about them. Let’s look at all the different ways people from various countries come to NZ and how/why they are allowed to live here. When we look at some of the trickier issues, let’s look at how OUR immigration policy, set by OUR govt created problems, rather than blaming the people who took fair and legal advantage of those policies.
compared to:
Chinese immigrants are responsible for increasing house prices, crime and prostitution in Auckland and are turning it into a city of sin
Can you really not see the different, vto?
There are definitely people who think that all immigration is ok and that any talk about immigration problems is racist. Unfortunately people like Peters, who actually racist, just polarise the situation, making more care needed to be able to discuss the issues.
“How do the people of Auckland who raise this issue make them racist?”
Never said they did, and please don’t bring in something else in that way, it just confuses the issue. We are talking about Peters. Not all people of Auckland think the same, so your statement about them really doesn’t make sense.
hmmmm, I’m not so sure that your comparison in approaches there makes one racist and the other not. Merely pointing out various foibles in one group does not make it racist (provided what is being pointed out is correct, which it appears not to be here).
If I might offer an example…. some years ago there was a movie called “White Men Can’t Jump”. Is that racist?
I guess if one is intended to be hurtful, create disharmony, is factually wrong, etc then that is racist. But if one does not have that intention and the facts are correct, is that still racist, evn though the circumstances are unfavourable to the subject people?
Probably what happens most often is an overlap of the two modus operandi.. Just curious as of course such labels get thrown my direction for raising issues at times.
The title “White men can’t jump” is ironic because
“They play a final game against two hoops legends of the L.A. scene, “The King” and “Duck.” In a very tight game, Sidney and Billy prevail, the winning points coming when Sidney lobs an “alley-oop” pass to Billy, who dunks it.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Men_Can%27t_Jump
irony – “Descriptions or depictions of situational irony, whether in fiction or in non-fiction, serve the communicative function of sharpening or highlighting certain discordant features of reality.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony
“Merely pointing out various foibles in one group does not make it racist (provided what is being pointed out is correct, which it appears not to be here).”
which it appears not to be here
Yeah vto, that’s the point. Peters is ascribing the problems of a few people (brothel keepers etc) to a whole race of people. That’s a pretty classic definition of racism.
I guess if one is intended to be hurtful, create disharmony, is factually wrong, etc then that is racist. But if one does not have that intention and the facts are correct, is that still racist, evn though the circumstances are unfavourable to the subject people?
Can you give an example? One that uses ethnicities rather than very broad categories like ‘white’.
Racism exists well beyond intention. Institutional racism is often unintended, or outside the awareness of the people who create it, but exists nevertheless.
Labour and the Greens needs to consider taking out full page declarations of policy and strategy intent once a month, in every Sunday paper between now and the election. Clear statements, clear policy, every month. (Of course another full page detailing every lie and corruption of democracy that National have been guilty of wouldn’t hurt either.)
If Labour and The Green Party want to show the country they can work together as a Government, then finding a way to split a page each month is a pretty good way to start.
There are a lot of very wealthy people within both memberships, and the MPs themselves do not exactly earn a pittance. Conventional letterbox drops and various other promotional print runs are a waste of resources. Not just the financial resources, the sheer volume of paper involved is itself reason enough to reconsider how they communicate their policies. There are many details out there about how many hands a newspaper goes through and how often letterbox materials get trashed before a second pair of eyes even see them.
Call it a naive statement if you want, but at the most base level:
In the next twelve months alone, the 48 MPs of Labour and The Green party will receive total remuneration of $ 6,239,200 NZD They have enormous expense accounts, most own their homes, have sizeable investments and basically are not struggling to get by.
Think of the response to 48 MPs pledging to live on the MODE average salary of roughly 35K for the next year and spending the remaining $4,559,200 of their hard earned dollars on saving Aotearoa. As I said, call it naive, but some battles need sacrifice for the war to be won.
Guess it depends how badly these people want to save New Zealand ?
Winston,
that throwaway line beautifully illustrates the difference between what I do and what you do.
I come to The Standard to actually try and engage others in finding constructive progressive ideas that will help New Zealand. Many here take their visit as an opportunity to simply belittle the wish for change as senseless harpings of the deluded whilst they themselves do little more than regurgitate acrimonious pathologies of social oppression and democratic criminality.
We all have our moments of mirth, they are essential for sanity. Some comments, my own included, are often overly critical but it is where they originate from that is the point of difference here.
I see Aotearoa as a country that without revolution or bloodletting or even dramatic loss of the coveted wealth so few have so much of, could actually be more equal, more functional and above all more inclusive than the quagmire of self interest it has become these past thirty years.
If circumstances in my own life had been different and I had not had a few stumbles on the goat track of circumstance, I can assure you that, just as i do today, all of my resources would be going into making as much noise as possible about how destructive our current structures are. If things improve a little and some of the irons currently in the forge produce tools I can use, you can bet I will be putting my money where my mouth is. Every person who visits The Standard has one thing in common. We are all human, we all matter and we all have the same rights to live the best and most socially productive lives that we can. At present that is patently not possible for the majority of New Zealanders.
I have to go sign on to unemployment next week. I tried for six weeks not to and I won’t bore you with the difficulties of my current circumstances, but enough to say that living on the generosity of friends and ignoring the protestations of my body to do a couple of hours grunt labour here and there because MSD thinks my skills, my experience and my abilities are “irrelevant to the current job market” only emphasizes the ludicrous environment we are living in. So forgive me when I say that attitudes like yours can not contribute to change. They can only further demoralize expectations and reconfirm the state sanctioned ignorance of what a people should expect from their representatives. New Zealand is in trouble and it needs people to lead by example. Who better than those elected to represent us?
Well said Freedom… and there’s nothing ‘naive’ about your suggestions. Great idea. Pamphlets and target mailing may have it’s place sometimes but it is largely a waste of time these days. Letter boxes are slowly becoming near redundant.
URGENT! The Auckland Unitary Plan is based upon UNLAWFUL? ‘high’ population growth projections from the Auckland (Spatial) Plan:
28 May 2013
‘Open Letter’ to ALL New Zealand MPs.
Which New Zealand MP from which Party will ‘step up to the plate’ and present the following petition to the House, preferably tomorrow, Wednesday 29 May 2013? (Attached)
That Parliament declines to proceed with the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill until the lawfulness of the reliance of Auckland Council on the New Zealand Department of Statistics ‘high’ population growth projections, instead of their ‘medium’ population growth projections for the Auckland Spatial Plan, has been properly and independently investigated – taking into consideration that both Auckland Transport and Watercare Services Ltd, have relied upon ‘medium’ population growth projections for their infrastructural asset management plans.
29 Four main options (and two variants of one option) were considered to achieve the objective.
30 Each option is predicated on the assumptions that: the proposed new Auckland Unitary Plan (which is expected to be finalised in three years) will provide a sufficient basis to address Auckland’s expected land demands and will reduce pressure on land supply and house prices in Auckland; and that other initiatives to reform the resource management system, to improve operation of the resource consent system, and better plan for and fund infrastructure will result in
improvements for the rest of New Zealand over the medium to long term.
Regulatory Impact Statement: Creating Special Housing Areas, 15 April 2013 [244 KB PDF]
4 Four main options were identified and assessed to address this problem:
a. Rely solely on the Government’s proposals to reform the resource management system; and
b. Allow Auckland’s new Unitary Plan (in either part or whole) to take effect from its notification date (September 2013) rather than its intended finalisation date (September 2016); or
c. Establish, through specific legislation, an Urban Development Agency (UDA) to take a permissive approach to the issuing of resource consents and building consents for larger housing developments and redevelopments in areas suffering severe housing affordability problems and constrained land supply; or
d. Create special housing areas, through agreement with local councils, in which local councils would exercise more permissive resource consenting powers.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
BUT- THE PURPOSE OF THE AUCKLAND UNITARY PLAN – IS TO IMPLEMENT THE AUCKLAND (SPATIAL) PLAN – WHICH HAS BEEN USING THE ‘HIGH’ POPULATION GROWTH PROJECTIONS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS – WHEN THEY RECOMMENDED ‘MEDIUM’ POPULATION GROWTH PROJECTIONS!
HOW CAN THIS BE LAWFUL UNDER s.79 (4) (c) of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009?
‘OPEN LETTER’ to Mayor Len Brown and all Auckland Councillors
Emailed 27 May 2013:
(Supporting documentation attached includes:
1) Letter from NZ Department of Statistics dated 28 March 2011.
2) Email from Auckland Council Chief Planning Officer, Dr Roger Blakeley received 23 May 2013..
URGENT TEXT I SENT TO AUCKLAND COUNCILLORS, Monday 28 May 2013 9.40am:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
URGENT! Auckland Councillors plse confirm YES or NO whether YOU support the OPENING of ALL Ak Council Ak Future Vision/ Auckland Plan Ctte CONFIDENTIAL MINUTES prior to + after the launch of the Ak Spatial Plan – so voting public can see HOW decision was made to rely on Dept of Stats HIGH population growth projection when they advised MEDIUM population growth projection to be used for Ak Plan?
Plse confirm that advice frm Ak Council Chief Planning Officer Dr Roger Blakeley to rely on Dept of Sats HIGH population growth projection was subjected to competent professional legal advice for lawful compliance with LOCAL GOVT (AUCKLAND COUNCIL) ACT 2009 s.79 (4) (c).
Also whether decision(s) by Ak Council to rely on Dept of Stats HIGH population growth projection was subjected to competent professional advice for lawful compliance with LOCAL GOVT (AUCKLAND COUNCIL) ACT 2009 s.79 (4) (c)?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
(I have already received text messages back from ……………… and Christine Fletcher, both supporting my request for the CONFIDENTIAL minutes relating to the Auckland Spatial Plan to be made publicly available).
Part 6
Spatial planning for Auckland
Part 6: added, on 1 November 2010, by section 31 of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 36).
79Spatial plan for Auckland
(1)The Auckland Council must prepare and adopt a spatial plan for Auckland.
(2)The purpose of the spatial plan is to contribute to Auckland’s social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being through a comprehensive and effective long-term (20- to 30-year) strategy for Auckland’s growth and development.
(3)For the purposes of subsection (2), the spatial plan will—
(a)set a strategic direction for Auckland and its communities that integrates social, economic, environmental, and cultural objectives; and
(b)outline a high-level development strategy that will achieve that direction and those objectives; and
(c)enable coherent and co-ordinated decision making by the Auckland Council (as the spatial planning agency) and other parties to determine the future location and timing of critical infrastructure, services, and investment within Auckland in accordance with the strategy; and
(d) provide a basis for aligning the implementation plans, regulatory plans, and funding programmes of the Auckland Council.
(4)The spatial plan must—
(a)recognise and describe Auckland’s role in New Zealand; and
(b)visually illustrate how Auckland may develop in the future, including how growth may be sequenced and how infrastructure may be provided; and
(c)provide an evidential base to support decision making for Auckland, including evidence of trends, opportunities, and constraints within Auckland; and
(d)identify the existing and future location and mix of—
(i)residential, business, rural production, and industrial activities within specific geographic areas within Auckland; and
(ii)critical infrastructure, services, and investment within Auckland (including, for example, services relating to cultural and social infrastructure, transport, open space, water supply, wastewater, and stormwater, and services managed by network utility operators); and
(e)identify nationally and regionally significant—
(i)recreational areas and open-space areas within Auckland; and
(ii)ecological areas within Auckland that should be protected from development; and
(iii)environmental constraints on development within Auckland (for example, flood-prone or unstable land); and
(iv)landscapes, areas of historic heritage value, and natural features within Auckland; and
(f)identify policies, priorities, land allocations, and programmes and investments to implement the strategic direction and specify how resources will be provided to implement the strategic direction.
Section 79: added, on 1 November 2010, by section 31 of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 36).
Please be advised that it my intention to urgently petition Parliament to request the House NOT to proceed with the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill,
until the lawfulness of Auckland Council’s reliance upon the Department of Statistics HIGH population growth projection, instead of their recommended MEDIUM population growth projection, (as outlined in the attached ‘Auckland Growth Projections for Spatial Plan’ letter dated 28 March 2011), has been properly and thoroughly investigated.
Please confirm that as a responsible and law-abiding Local Government elected representative, that YOU will not act precipitously, and sign off on the above-mentioned (Auckland) Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill, until the lawfulness of Auckland Council’s reliance upon the Department of Statistics HIGH population growth projection, instead of their recommended MEDIUM population growth projection, (as outlined in the attached ‘Auckland Growth Projections for Spatial Plan’ letter dated 28 March 2011, has been properly and thoroughly investigated.
You know, people would take Martyn Bradbury over at the dailyblog a lot more seriously if he didn’t make up obvious, easily disproved conspiracy theories trying to big up his own little pet obsession with the Mana party. honestly, why does he insist on drinking the conspiracy Kool aid so uncritically?
I made a comment that Gerry Brownlee would surely not be re-elected again. But the feeling from the Chch faction was that his electorate is so blue that they would support him again despite his virtually spiteful attitude to many of the city’s people and services.
What if all left-wing people in his electorate took in left-wing voters for long enough for them to register as voters? Tilt the see-saw somehow. Wish something could be done.
The blue seats in Chch will swing harder blue and the red seats in Chch will swing harder red.
Brownlee has ensured that houses in the blue seats were repaired first, despite having diddly squat damage, while those homes in the red seats out east with the most hardcore damage have been left to last.
You say that blue seat houses got faster results though they had less damage. This is correct for the people I know. But perhaps the EQC have done the smallest and easiest jobs first. And perhaps they are in the ‘better’ and more stable areas while cheap workers housing has been clustered and more badly damaged.in the unstable ‘red’ left-voting zones nearer the sandy coast.
I’d say that is more likely as structural damage beyond the EQC limit would require much more assessment and planning; however if facts got out that richer suburbs were prioritised first for political reasons, there would be, ahem, social unrest.
That doesn’t wash CV. There have been many more homes in the east with “easy” repairs than in the west, yet still they have been left to wait.
You may recall that Akaroa holiday homes were done some time ago now too.
The city of many tales is also becoming more divided imo. “Tis a strange place these days. Lots of stories and things going on. It is volatile, it is uncertain, some are up some are down. As I suggested some time ago, how the city ends up developing is a big wide open question. The blueprint is of lmited use in this. The job is massive. The job is just about too big. Too much.
My guess is that it will end up developing organically over another set of decades and generations. And that be a long time to wait ……. meantime it is all diggers and dust and tradesmen and utes and builders and cones and stop go men and now its freakin’ started snowing! Lovely…
Having listen to some of those supporters, they don’t really pay full attention to the bad shit Brownlee does, plus he tends to deal with issues in his electorate and suck up to the various churches.
Can someone please tell me how to revert back to google.co.nz from google.com? I changed to google.com the other day for some reason and I can’t remember how to change back. I’m using firefox (mac).
1. Go to Google.com in a new window.
2. In the very bottom right hand corner should be a link to Google.co.nz, click it.
3. Open a new window and type in Google.com, it should now automatically redirect to google.co.nz
Another think. Why don’t they use hovercraft in Dunedin? They know that they get serious snow often, and people are trapped in homes, can’t get to the airport etc. I think that Dunedin needed this type of vehicle available to emergency needs more than their expensive all weather stadium. There needs to be a few and they could be used as a tourist feature between emergency needs.
But really it’s not too bad – most of the main roads are gritted/clear by mid-morning. But by the all the school have shut, so half the town has to stay home to take care of the sprogs. And a few of the hill suburbs are stuffed no matter what – main roads might get clear, but there’s 50 metres of side street needed to travel down to get to one.
But it doesn’t usually last more than a day or so, so no worries. It’s hardly “serious snow”. Anyone from Q’town would laugh at the thought.
By the way, in addition to having serious “likes to do down hills like a truck on black ice” issues, hovercraft are also very noisy.
Well, this is really helpful from that white piece of sh*t Van der Heyden, soon to be on the Board of Auckland International Airport http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10886643
re the Chinese, “don’t ever trust them…never.”
Ha, wotta dick! (despite the love of God, it is a challenge to bear some idiots).
I think you’re taking it a bit out of context. As someone who has done a lot of business sourcing components from China, you’d be foolish to leave anything to chance. This is echoed by our (Chinese) purchasing rep in China, and our attorney in Auckland who is also Chinese.
A couple years ago I was reading everything I could find about doing business there, and a universal recurring theme was that the guy you are working with will attempt to sell or trade on every piece of proprietary information you let them in on, will underdeliver whenever given an opportunity, and will act as a double agent with whatever company they are dealing with on your behalf. And contracts are utterly unenforceable. It was always characterized as “they’re not being dishonest, it’s just how things are done”, and it is.
very kind; brought tears to my eyes; still, we are a collective looking forwards.(maybe a video, and some tasty cheese to go as we settle in the camp).
Kind Regards.
I was reading everything I could find about doing business there, and a universal recurring theme…
….and like your good self, dear wee tentacles Keyster, Van durr hey, thin Guy and all other solid upright colonial snipers will keep repeating the arrogant supercilious bombast and still never, ever, understand why the mutton still sits on the wharf….
Matt
Can’t find it on google but I remember hearing about a NZ book publisher and I think its Hong Kong agent used its legal position to onsell the books to China. The agent continued to handle the books as legally agreed in Hong Kong I think but used its entrepreneurial contacts in China on its own behalf but had the right to sign documents which it did then for its own profit.
China being a big market it meant a big loss of potential profits for the publisher who had to view it as making a brand entry which they could follow up with similar product sold by themselves.
from the media,
-New Zealanders not very smart with their smart-phones (16% of all smart-phone users ripped off last year- NetSafe) yet many “can’t cope without them”.
RNZ on National Science Challenges
-Gluckman agrees “we don’t ‘weigh’ basic sciences funding high enough in New Zealand.
-Kate McGrath (hope that’s correct) concerns about reduction of funding, away from basic science towards the scope of the National Science Challenges.
-Jeff Tallon, Professor of Physics, Vic. – ‘poor association with the neccessary growth in technologies, physical sciences poorly represented; ‘Energy’ research missing.
More missed opportunity navel-gazing. http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon
but then, “Roger and Val Have Just Got In”.
‘Strangeways’ -“you can take the boy out of the hood, but you can’t take the hood out of the boy”.
Must-see tonight’s documentary on Maori TV at 8:30 pm:
Festival Documentary: The Shock Doctrine
Adapted from Naomi Klein’s 2007 Book, the Shock Doctrine is a Gripping Deconstruction of How Free-market Policies Have Come to Dominate the World Through the Exploitation of Disaster-shocked People and Countries. (premiere)
When will they learn ,green = political suicide.
The topic west coast mining , the Bathurst project and it’s obvious merits.
It was revealed that Damion Oconner had written to the Govt pleading for action on this project and encouraging the govt to do all it can to get this project up and running.
Good on ya Damion.
Damion is probably in the crap with his spineless leaders but it exposes a rift and any body who is interested in prosperity for our country will be dismayed at labours stance on this proposal.
What’s so bizare about labours stance is the fact that this land has been mined before has no special status or protection.
It offers more than $1 billion to our economy .
Unless they change their attitude to this , it will haunt them all the way to the next election.
I’ve served out a one-week ban, a one-month ban, then a two-month ban.
In addition, I was banned from Whaleoil’s site for two days, and it looks like I’m permanently banned from Brian Edward’s dire cheerleading site for self-serving scum.
Hi everyone, I used to comment on here a bit a few years ago but I’ve forgotten how it works – is there an easy way to see if someone replies to you or do you have to trawl through the posts again?
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The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
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Thanks to the Herald, yesterday Chris de Freitas a professor at Auckland university has revealed he has made an incredible discovery about the science of the climate that will surely earn him the Nobel Prize.
In an op-ed in the New Zealand Herald Professor de Freitas has revealed “….the incontrovertible fact that adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere has an ever-decreasing effect on global temperature.”
Yes you read it right, CO2 emissions cool the climate.
As well as winning the Nobel Prize, Professor de Freitas will have the undying gratitude of the oil and coal industry, who now have a duty to emit as much CO2 as possible to cool the current naturally caused hot phase that Professor de Freitas admits the planet is currently going through.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10886282
He does seem to get a regular spot in the Herald to write about the climate, despite having very little qualification to comment on it.
Funny that.
“Yes you read it right, CO2 emissions cool the climate.”
I read it right, but you didn’t. He is not saying CO2 reduces temperature at all, he is saying that as more and more CO2 is put into the atmosphere it has progressively less impact on temperature.
I am not saying he is right, just that you have completely misconstrued what he said.
That is obvious, but probably not for the reasons that whoever you’re talking about is thinking.
Obviously if you look at an atmosphere like Venus as an endpoint of that thinking, then you can see that continuing to add greenhouse gases have a reduced effect as it increases, but is still increasing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Venus
While the percentage of CO2 (the main greenhouse gas) is damn sight higher (~97%) and the whole atmospheric pressure is lot lot higher, the average surface temperature is only ~740K. Earth is ~290K at the surface with a minimal CO2 of ~0,035%. There are other factors of course for venus, but it shows that increasing CO2 will keep increasing atmospheric temperature at a steadily reduced rate per increases in density. Of course it really doesn’t matter because there is no apparent limit to the temperature increase apart from atmospheric pressure and distance from the sun.
On earth the acidification of the water supply from absorbing CO2 is likely to be the limiting factor for the biosphere long before temperature becomes the constraint if anyone was silly enough to burn all of the fossil carbon.
Basically it is one of those silly “fact” arguments used by people who just trying to confuse and obstruct the issue. Chris de Idiot is one of them.
We seem to still be in what is now claimed to be a 17 year stall in surface temperature rise, and this is cited as evidence the global warming link to CO2 emissions is false. However, the evidence is that the surface temp is still rising, just very, very slightly. Nevertheless the ocean temps are continuing to climb unabated so the overall global temperature climb continues to happen. There is also plenty of evidence the oceans are becoming much more acidic – it seems likely much of the heat and the CO2 is being absorbed by the oceans at the moment.
Globally ice is disappearing fast. It’s diminishing rapidly in both extent and thickness, apart from one or two areas where there is some growth due to local precipitation and uniquely isolated weather features – like the Antarctic Ice Shelf which is growing (although Antarctic land-based ice is thinning), and one glacier in the Himalayas.
The relationship between rising atmospheric CO2 from human emissions (distinguishable from natural sources like volcanoes by its isotopic signature) and rising global temperatures is indicated mainly I believe by its matching the global temperature curve.
http://www.skepticalscience.com/docs/Guide_to_Skepticism.pdf
Far more CO2 and heat has been absorbed into the oceans (and heat into ice melts) than was expected back in the early 90’s, yes. That has meant that the surface temperatures have been moderated. Ummm. NOAA has a good dashboard – doesn’t look like “stall” to me…
http://www.climate.gov/
I suspect that someone is just cherry picking data as per normal..
Anyway lower air temperatures than the more extreme models from 17 years ago (with inadequate ocean data to predict) doesn’t change the overall effect of heat absorption, it just changes the short-term effects over the next few decades. And the ice melt has been far more extreme than anyone anticipated and ocean temperatures are kind of crazy looking down the whole column.
Got to remember that back in the 80’s and 90’s we knew virtually nothing about ocean or ice heat absorption capabilities. Both are probably more dangerous than hotter air temperatures as they drive extreme weather events and that causes much faster climate shifts for the things that drive our economies than heat waves.
De Freitas said that more CO2 creates more water vapor which becomes clouds which shield the earth from light and heat. Like a “thin layer of paint on a sheet of glass”. According to de Freitas’ the more CO2, the more coats of paint, the more shading, the more cooling.
ie. Warming causes Cooling. The more warming the more cooling. De Freitas calls this a negative feed back.
Apart from the tortured logic that the climate has to be warmer for this cooling to work.
All that extra energy still has to go somewhere.
Other than that, water vapor is not clouds, it is an invisible heat trapping gas. (A difference that de Freitas does not make clear).
Does more water vapor in the atmosphere mean more clouds?
Not necessarily.
Have you ever seen speeded up film of clouds?
You can witness them waxing and waning. Seemingly appearing from nothing to grow into very large masses. Just as likely, depending on temperature and pressure, you can watch them diminishing, turning back into invisible vapor with out ever condensing into large enough drops to overcome gravity and fall as rain. The differences between vaporisation and condensation can be slight. Both processes can even look to be happening at the same time, on the leading and trailing edges of the same cloud.
As the world warms more clouds are not guaranteed. Even if more cloud was a side effect of global warming and provided extra shading of the surface of the Earth during the daytime. This effect most likely would be cancelled out at night, by the insulating effect. And it is at night that a lot of the energy that falls as visible light during the day is reradiated back into space as heat. Like white blankets, clouds as well as being reflectors are insulators. You can feel this with your body. A cloudy night is warmer than a starlit night. The heat collected from the sun during the day that radiates back out into space at night will be doubly blocked by heat trapping water vapor and insulating cloud.
T_T
Teh stupid, how it burns…
From my brief reads of the literature, the actual net effect of increasing water vapour on global temperature is still a major [needs more work] area, mostly due to the fact weather on a global scale is very computationally complex. Basically, the models available don’t have high enough resolution in terms of modelling our 3d atmosphere at levels that are statistically strong fits to base strong conclusions on. And different types of clouds have different effects on warming and cooling.
So for De Freitas to make this claim of negative feedback, he has to be ignoring a rather significant chunk of literature, which is pretty par the fucking course for him.
Even when he publishes stuff on climate change, he has a bad habit of leaving out inconvenient papers or making shit up, resulting in his “climate change isn’t happening” ones going straight into crank climate journals.
And note also he says “science shows…” in the Herald piece, and yet doesn’t even bother to do the courtesy of bothering to cite any key papers.
I have no idea why Auckland University keeps employing de Freitas. I remember a guy who was basically sacked for not passing enough students, yet de Freitas makes the University a laughing stock every time he opens his mouth. It sucks.
Sure you can get more reflection… You can also get more absorption.. Depends on the exact effects.
Take Venus for an extreme example. It has a complete cloud cover and still has surface temperatures that can boil lead due to atmospheric greenhouse CO2 despite the nice reflective acidic cloud cover.
“Global warming isn’t real and it’s stopped, even though it isn’t real because there hasn’t been a temperature rise for a week, it’s winter and isn’t it cold?” will be spouted by the denialists.
Beware. They’ll say that, they’ll keep repeating it.
Have a look at this:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23060-has-global-warming-ground-to-a-halt.html?full=true&print=true
It looks like for a while, the oceans will absorb the heat, but only for a while as part of medium-term cycles.
If you want to counter them when they say that nothing has happened for a decade (except that increasing frequency of disastrous storms), point out the fact that a decade is nothing … and that maybe we should be thinking about those storms as well?
How can something that isn’t real…stop? They can’t have their cake and eat it too.
LIARS OF OUR TIME
No. 14: Colin Powell
“Or worse, if we find a post-9/11 nexus between Iraq and terrorist organizations that are looking for just such weapons — and I would submit and will provide more evidence that such connections are now emerging and we can establish that they exist…”
—-Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary State, at the United Nations, Wednesday, February 5, 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/transcripts/powelltext_020503.html
(With supreme irony, rendered all the more devastating because of the servile stance of this loyal government newspaper, the transcript of this horror is headed with a quote from it: “A Policy of Evasion and Deception”.)
See also….
No.13: Barack Obama: “Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27052013/#comment-638881
No. 12: U.K. Ministry of Defence: “Protecting the Afghan civilian population is one of ISAF and the UK’s top priorities.”
No. 11: Brendan O’Connor: “Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
No. 10: Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to look after us and keep us safe.”
No. 9: NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21052013/#comment-635850 No. 8: Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20052013/#comment-635343
No. 7: Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15052013/#comment-633295
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632598
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632594
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628803
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628703
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013) http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25042013/#comment-624381
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19042013/#comment-621738
Are you planning to continue your Jim Mora series?
I imagine it might be too painful. I tried again yesterday but the nicest man on Earth was just too agreeable to stomach.
Are you planning to continue your Jim Mora series?
Is the Pope Catholic? Did Craig Joubert gift the All Blacks the 2011 RWC final? Does Tim Shadbolt laugh a lot? Does America terrorize peasants in Pakistan? Is Lanthanide a filibusterer? Does Michelle Boag frown grimly when crossed by an oik?
Is the Pope Catholic? – that’s an assumption on your part
Did Craig Joubert gift the All Blacks the 2011 RWC final? – all sport comments are one-eyed & and cannot be proven.
Does Tim Shadbolt laugh a lot? – or is that nervous reaction to stress.
Does America terrorize peasants in Pakistan? – is that the american spelling of terrorise.
Is Lanthanide a filibusterer? – for you maybe or for others he offers a debating point of view that allows democracy discussion for some of us to watch (!) rather than all comments being +1 in context.
…. and the reason why I am replying
Does Michelle Boag frown grimly when crossed by an oik? – why make that comment about someone you don’t like. Regardless of what/who Michelle Boag is you always lose the argument with that type of throwaway line.. I just don’t listen to people who make sly personal remarks when it has no context to the discussion. You remember that sly remark (and assume that they will be some cutting remark about you in their next discussion) and forgot the point being made.
Morrissey is all to fond of playing the person and not the issue, as evidenced by his evasive streak of posts yesterday when he wouldn’t respond to my straightforward questions.
Is the Pope Catholic? – that’s an assumption on your part
But a fairly reasonable assumption, surely?
Did Craig Joubert gift the All Blacks the 2011 RWC final? – all sport comments are one-eyed & and cannot be proven.
A fair point if you were talking about normal sport. The 2011 RWC final outrage was anything but….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XBqetaCfgo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p1YkXbWZg0
Does Tim Shadbolt laugh a lot? – or is that nervous reaction to stress.
Probably.
Does America terrorize peasants in Pakistan? – is that the american spelling of terrorise.
It’s also perfectly acceptable in standard English.
Is Lanthanide a filibusterer? – for you maybe or for others he offers a debating point of view that allows democracy discussion for some of us to watch (!) rather than all comments being +1 in context.
Fair point. Lanthanide is one of our best posters.
…. and the reason why I am replying
Does Michelle Boag frown grimly when crossed by an oik? – why make that comment about someone you don’t like. Regardless of what/who Michelle Boag is you always lose the argument with that type of throwaway line.. I just don’t listen to people who make sly personal remarks when it has no context to the discussion. You remember that sly remark (and assume that they will be some cutting remark about you in their next discussion) and forgot the point being made.
Understood. Kid gloves for Boag from now on.
Hey, Moz, a ten year old article is hardly ‘of our time’ and the Washington Post can hardly be said to be loyally servile to rightwing governments. They have this Google thing now that may help you get the facts right in future.
And you may want to have a look at your equally disappointing contribution yesterday again. You have some questions to answer.
Hey, Moz, a ten year old article is hardly ‘of our time’
A very good point/ For me, and I think for you too, Te Reo, “our time” goes back even to the late nineteenth century. Actually, for me, modernity starts around 1649. This series is not entitled “Contemporary Liars”, it’s “Liars of Our Time”—which is a moveable concept. Remember what Mao Zedong said when someone asked what he thought about the French Revolution: “too early to tell.”
…and the Washington Post can hardly be said to be loyally servile to rightwing governments.
You need to do some serious reading, my friend. That was a worryingly naive, even credulous, statement. You obviously have not read a lot of the Washington Post.
And you may want to have a look at your equally disappointing contribution yesterday again. You have some questions to answer.
Check it out now, my friend. Done and dusted. Way ahead of ya….
Rubbish, Moz, You’ve been caught out slagging the Post for no good reason and your ignorance about the paper’s history is laughable. Or are you just a liar of our time?
And you still have questions to answer about yesterday’s failure, bluster doesn’t cut it round these parts.
Are you the blog police.?
No, but people in the comments are allowed to have a discussion with other people in the comments. That’s what Te Reo is doing.
I notice you removed Obama’s middle name from yesterday’s “lie”. Now whyever did you do that, Morrissey?
Btw Morrissey, deliberately referring to me as a female only makes you look childish and sad.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27052013/#comment-639334
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27052013/#comment-639576
John Key gets to announce a food in schools Programme today. It will be some sort of PPP with Fonterra and Sanitarium. The provision of a fundamental necessity will rely on corporate largesse. And there is obviously tension in Cabinet as some insist that beating up on deadbeat parents is more important than feeding kids.
But Shearer IMHO has missed out a chance to stake out a position that is humane and progressive. He has said that providing breakfast to children was ultimately a parent’s responsibility and any programme must be targeted. What he should have said is that it is vital that a six year old is fed so that they can actually learn and this is much more important than punishing so called deadbeat parents. He should forget on trying to coax over National voters and give those who did not vote last time a reason to do so.
Can you imagine Michael Joseph Savage and the first Labour Government taking the same position as Shearer?
“Can you imagine Michael Joseph Savage and the first Labour Government taking the same position as Shearer?”
Yes, yes I can. The first Labour Government took a targeted approach to welfare and housing, MS.
Did Savage and co adopt National’s framing of issues TRP?
And why do you think that National has just announced increased penalties for child porn? It is because they know they are weak on the child compassion front and need to bolster support. Mimicking their language just gives them a free ride on the issue.
Labour should come out and say they will support Hone’s feed the kids bill, at least to select committee.
I thought it was Hone that framed this issue, actually. And pretty successfully.
Yeah Hone (Mana) has done all the hard work on this and labour and shearer can still get on board and help the kids but sure they have to check the polling and have a couple of focus groups after all they don’t want to upset the middle do they.
Trying to equate Shearer’s comment with something Savage may have said is ludicrous. For starters, a hundred thousand Labour Party members cheered Savage on when he spoke. Who cheered Shearer on? Hooten?
to MickeySavage at 3.1.1. From Hone’s Feed the Kids Facebook page …
” … The Bill is expected to come before Parliament for its first reading on Wednesday 5 June. So far Labour, Greens, Maori Party, NZ First, and Independent MP Brendan Horan have agreed to support it. We need one more vote to get it passed and to a select committee for further consideration. … ”
Labour is supporting the bill through to select committee. It’s a start.
There is another angle here that may have been overlooked. Someone correct me if I’ve got it wrong, but I remember Labour in 2008 coming up with a policy that would ensure only healthy foods be provided in school food programmes. They wanted all types of ‘fast foods’ in schools banned or at least strongly discouraged. I remember National (John Key included) ridiculing them up and down the country for this policy. The basis of their argument was that the food children were eating had nothing to do with the govt. – ie. it was “nanny state” again.
Labour should dig out a few of those MSM news clips/videos and use them to remind the memory-challenged voters… how John Key – who is currently talking about how important children are properly fed – actually campaigned against good quality food in schools a few years ago. It gives the lie to his latest claim that he’s been “keen on the food in schools idea since 2007″.
Another lie for Morrisey to add to his list?
“Another lie for Morrisey to add to his list?”
I think you mean Blip’s list
http://thestandard.org.nz/an-honest-man/
Actually, both of them.
must have missed it, do you have a link please Anne? Thank you.
Hi freedom,
Coming from the same generation as Helen Clark, I’m technically computer non-savvy (not saying she is but I am) when it comes to searching for MSM historic links. I actually did try but was unsuccessful. However DTB remembers it (see below) so it wasn’t a figment of my imagination. I knew that of course, but maybe someone can come up with the details. It was nasty stuff and it sorely angered me at the time. Now Key is laying on the empathy as though he has always cared about the poor kids. BS I say.
She sort of was. I donated her a home computer in about 1992/3 and “politely” suggested that she should become a bit more literate.
However she got a whole lot better over the years. I think that the key to the web turned out to be booking overseas travel for those crazy vacations she took every few years dragging Peter away from his projects to go up mountains…
just has a radical thought . . .
maybe Morrissey knows where it is ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10837613
And, yes, that is an article about how National’s policies failed.
freedom. Thanks for bookmarking that one. Blip’s list gets lost except for vigilant people like you. I have suggested that the Standard might like to Front Page that list each day, and that people can add to it (today’s lie a case in point), and newbie visitors to this site could be made aware of it and the likes of burt and Hooton reminded of it.
it really is becoming a massive list – great work Blip for doing it!
Now that you mention it, I remember that attack on the then government by the RWNJs well.
Try this Anne
http://journal.nzma.org.nz/journal/122-1290/3477/
I can’t imagine Savage taking any such position. Imagine Shearer’s approach to milk in schools, for example.
If Labour want to win the 2014 election they must get rid of Shearer. Urgently.
Labour aren’t going to win the next election, Labour and the Greens are. Shearer will have to settle for being PM in a coalition government, but I imagine he’s OK with that.
I imagine his handlers, are ok with that!
FIFY!
He should have said “we recognise that low levels of income are the biggest determinant of whether or not children get fed. The reality is, is that many people have lost their jobs in the last 5 years, people often have high rents and mortgages to pay and benefit rates have not kept pace with inflation.
Nationals vision of a brighter future has not occurred for most people, the 170′,000 jobs they keep promising simply haven’t eventuates. The country continues to get deeper in debt.
What we are seeing under National is a return to the days that Dickens wrote about. Days where people became dependant on charity rather than we as a country ensuring that our people have good housing and decent incomes.
Labour will reverse the tax cuts that National gave upon coming into power and will increase benefits immediately upon coming into government by $25-00 per week. This reverses the cuts that were made in the Ruth Richardson budget and allows for an inflationary adjustment. Last time we went into government we gave superannuitants the $20-00 back and it is only fair that this time we are just as fair to other beneficiaries. The additional $5-00 will also be paid to NZS recipients.
We also will help low paid workers by immediately increasing the minimum wage by increasing this by $1-00 per hour per year for the next three years and my legislating for a mandatory pay increase of 2% per year for all workers earning below $50,000 per annum each year for the next three years.
Many workers have nothing in their contracts that make provision for annual pay increases and do not have any real ability to negotiate these.
These three things will put more money in people’s pockets which will help them have sufficient means to feed their children.
This approach is twofold. It both provides additional state support and moves some of the profit from companies back to workers rather than to shareholders and owners. In this way both employers and the wider community make a contribution to ensuring our most vulnerable and lowest paid are fed.”
I just can’t imagine the current Labour government coming close to anything like this.
Give that man a job in the leader’s office!
Every man has his price, micky! I have you down on the shortlist for assistant to the AG in the next gummint. Salary and perks negotiable.
My expected salary package is very reasonable TRP!
The chances of proactive, progressive policies and fighting talk from Shearer are negligible.
It makes no sense that a Labour leader would not fight for their constituents.
Therefore it gives lead to the thesis that Shearer was placed there by the right and the corporations to ensure that whatever happened, the neo-liberal project was not upset.
Because if the argument is that he was put there to recover the middle ground, then he should be replaced because that just isn’t happening.
you basically covered this off…every politician has constituents. They simply may not be who you expect or hope they are representing.
Yep – or he could have said, “Feeding the kids is our responsibility as a nation – to look after those that need help. I absolutely refuse to accept any child going to school hungry and if we want to blame someone for that I blame the policies of this Government who care more about their rich mates than hungry kids. That is why I am saying we will support the great initiative put up by Hone and Mana and why we are proud to stand beside them and the fight against poverty. I cannot wait to work with Mana and the Green members of parliament as we tackle poverty. We are building a coalition to help the needy not like this lot who only help the greedy.”
It’s not difficult to write that narrative, is it? So why doesn’t Shearer do it?
Because he is a man placed by the corporates to ensure that NZ inc keeps sending its profits to its offshore owners.
“I just can’t imagine the current Labour government coming close to anything like this.”
I can’t imagine the current Labour opposition coming close to anything like this either.
That picture of Key and the bottle of Moet.
Is that an example of the Minister of Tourism and PM’s approach to promoting New Zealand wine?
http://thestandard.org.nz/caption-contest-51/
Get ready for a shitstorm as Susan Devoy comes out swinging on this issue
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10886641
Air NZ?
No – Air NZ (but no Māori please) don’t want to ‘intimidate’ people with ta moko proudly depicting cultural heritage and whakapapa.
Air NZ – hypocrites and cultural liars – come on devoy rip into these wankers!!!
So how long you reckon we should wait?
Until the 12th of never probably
Johnny Mathis – what a voice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwHuD_1VJOw
Don’t use that word tattoo, AirNZ.
MOKO
Tenei matou te hunga moko e tu nei i roto i tenei ao
Hurihuri ao tangata
Chorus:
I wear my pride upon my skin
My pride has always been within
I wear my strength upon my face
Comes from another time and place
Bet you didn’t know that every line has a message for me
Did you know that
The word tattoo describes the marking of patterns by
Inserting coloured dyes under a smooth skin
The word moko represents a traditional custom in which
Spirals unique to Maori are carved deeply below the skins
Surface to produce a groove scar – did you know that
Because the head the most sacred part of the body was touched
blood spilt the whole ceremony was tapu
The tip of a birdbone chisel dipped into sooty black pigment
Tapped by a beater to the sound of songs created to soothe
The painful process of creating moko so don’t use that word tattoo
Every spiral has a name ever line on the face don’t use that word tattoo
Chorus
The classic Maori moko has the male bearing complex spirals on
Both cheeks both sides of the nose
Lines spread between the eyes to the temple the nose to the chin
Over nineteen names have been identified for different parts of the pattern
Women received kauae or chin moko
some copied their Mothers or grandmothers
others allowed the artist to express their creativity
The moko indicated genealogy, rank ,accomplishment
It represented masculinity, beauty, warriorhood, identity
So don’t use that word tattoo
Chorus
The moko reflected the carvings and rafter patterns inside the Whare tipuna
but some were made so distinctive they were like an autograph
a beautiful signature written all over the face
In 1815 Te Pehi Kupe drew his own moko without the aid of a Mirror
every line firmly in his mind and then he drew the moko
Of his brother and his son
Did you know that
The moko reflected the Maori way of life
everything was connected, religion, war, lovemaking and death
For this generation, the kauae and moko were only seen in paintings
but now those images have come to life
Netana Whakaari said in 1921
You can lose your most valuable property through misfortune in various ways
you may be robbed of all your prized possessions
but of your moko you cannot be deprived
It will be your ornament and your companion until your last day
so don’t use that word tattoo
Chorus
Korero ki nga tamariki tenei kaupapa ta moko he taonga
Tuku iho ki nga tipuna
http://www.moananz.com/popups/lyrics/moko.html
Good ol’ Air NZ. You’ll have a koru on your tail, and All Blacks with tattoos on your advertising, but some chick who wears a ta moko? Sorry Miss, your chances are fucked!
Or for some classic George Carlin explaining what all the double talk means in a speech to the National Press Club.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc0ZHsoHAlE
Enjoy
I know I’m stupid, but how do you make the macron over a long vowel?
I use a simple technique of cutting and pasting into a word doc so a lot of macroned words are there and then doing the same into a comment but others will explain some more sophisticated ways of doing it
Thanks. I thought maybe there was a keyboard thing but I’m not the most computer savvy ..
The advantage of my system is you build a dictionary of words that have macrons thus increasing learning.
Heh, I just google them, macron version usually comes up in the first few results.
If you are using Word 2003 for Windows XP, then these numeric codes will work. You may wish to experiment in other programs to see if these work.
Note: These only work with a numeric keypad.
Word 2003 (Win XP) ALT Codes
Capital Vowels
Ā ALT+0256 Cap long A
Ē ALT+0274 Cap long E
Ī ALT+0298 Cap long I
Ō ALT+0332 Cap long O
Ū ALT+0362 Cap long U
Ȳ ALT+0562 Cap long Y
Æ ALT+0198 Cap short ash
Ǣ ALT+0482 Cap long ash
Lower Vowels
ā ALT+0257 Lower long A
ē ALT+0275 Lower long E
ī ALT+0299 Lower long I
ō ALT+0333 Lower long O
ū ALT+0363 Lower long U
ȳ ALT+0563 Lower long Y
æ ALT+0230 Lower short ash
ǣ ALT+0483 Lower long ash
Gotta Love Google
http://www.personal.psu.edu/ejp10/psu/gotunicode/macron.html
If you’re using Windows just search for character map and the world is your oyster.
Here.
Māori. Yep that worked! A bit of fumbling around of the type that amuses my daughters so much when they see me on the computer but got there in the end. Thanks Draco.
Thanks to all who replied.
It’s like that across the business world and for all tattoos. Apparently, some people are frightened by them.
“It’s like that across the business world and for all tattoos. Apparently, some people are frightened by them.”
I have a tattoo that is visible and I am in the business world. Never had any issues whatsoever.
To be honest, I’m not surprised but the advice coming from employment ‘experts’ is that having a tattoo will be a mark against you in getting a job. IMO, it’s just that some bosses look upon people wit tattoos with derision and scorn rather than accepting them as the unique person they are.
I remember a few years ago that a young woman working in a cafe bar. She had worked there for some time, the regulars liked her and she engaged well with the tourists that came through. She got moko and hot fired. The owner of the business was frightened that she would suddenly scare away the tourists. Biggest load of bollocks I’d ever heard of.
yep.
Employees and job applicants should work hard to stand out from the pool of other cattle, but at the same time only do so in unchallenging ways. And wear only approved items of “flair”.
I have a very culturally proud Maori friend who has many, many tattoos and he is as white collar as they come.
“IMO, it’s just that some bosses look upon people wit tattoos with derision and scorn rather than accepting them as the unique person they are.”
Bit of a generalisation (granted it is your opinion though).
Depends on the job, usually customer servicing in high end retail and hospitality tend to biased against visible tattoos in general, and having visible neo-nazi tattoos pretty much will cause issues for a lot of employers.
Check out what WINZ tells people, check out what the Salvation Army does and the Auckland Chamber of Business. It’s not my opinion.
“It’s not my opinion.”
Then why did you say it was?
Sorry, mis-followed the thread. Yes, that bit was my opinion.
And then we get this:
Generally speaking, I’m in agreement with the comments. It’s a show of how bad things have become.
lol
If I were a disgruntled employee I know where I’d put the tat 🙂
Lordy, lordy! Why don’t they just get a barcode identifying them as the company’s property tattooed on the back of their heads?
Serendip strikes again…
Fascinating piece of trivia from Cracked.com.
Apparently “addict” comes from a Roman practise of enslaving debtors.
susan Devoid it seems.
NZD makes the Keiser Report:
http://www.maxkeiser.com/2013/05/new-zealand-opens-new-front-in-currency-war/
One of the last comments talk about the sheep eating green (dollars instead of buying actual assets)…in NZ shouldn’t that be eating red or purple?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/electricity/news/article.cfm?c_id=187&objectid=10886490
– – – – and did I hear that MRP shares have dropped 14 cents below the issue price?
Wow, down to $2.36 at the close of the market yesterday.
Does not bode well for the sale of Meridian. And Key is talking about floating Meridian in two separate share issues.
https://nzx.com/markets/NZSX/securities/MRP
Key is talking of selling Meridian come hell or high water.
Call me a cynic, but floating Meridian in “chunks” will look like this:
First, we bundle the “chunks” into the “better performing” assets and those that have to be “brought in line with investor expectations in a dynamic market”. Then we sell the “better performing assets”, i.e. all the profitable and well maintained hydro schemes, to Key’s cronies. The second chunk will never reach investors’ expectations and the National party, ever with a hand on the populace’s pulse, will decide that it would be “not economically viable at this stage” to lumber investors with assets that will actually need investment in. So we get to keep the assets, our 51%, until such time as they are brought up to standard at our expense., before that part gets floated next time they are in power.
Not so much a “float” as a “sink”.
Chris Trotter has an interesting piece in the Press this morning regarding Winston Peters’ speech last week about Chinese immigration and its effect on parts of New Zealand.
He says that concern about changing demographics and the threats to ones culture and place that arise from that are entirely legitimate concerns. It is not straight up racist or xenophobic to raise these issues, he says.
Yet it is interesting isn’t it how on here Peters gets instantly labelled racist and xenophobic for raising these issues of concern to some people. It is also interesting that there is some precedent for this in New Zealand and that is Maori and the treaty of course. Maori were concerned about a massive wave of immigration that threatened their culture and their place here. They did something about it. Is it ok for these people to also do something about it? Or are the people of North Shore to be afforded something different? And if so, why and what?
“Maori were concerned about a massive wave of immigration that threatened their culture and their place here. They did something about it.”
Not really true but sure a small part of why some signed.
http://year10sos.blogspot.co.nz/2007/06/reasons-for-signing-treaty-of-waitangi.html
http://www.treaty2u.govt.nz/the-treaty-up-close/two-parties-two-understandings/
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/treaty/making-the-treaty/signing-the-treaty
It’s pretty simply vto. Peters is racist because of how he raises the issues (and because he does so in this way to get votes), not because he raises them. Do you see the difference?
Yes I have heard this raised countless times but the head struggles to get around it at times… How has Peters done it here which makes it racist? How do the people of Auckland who raise this issue make them racist? Not a leading question – a genuine one…
We have some immigration issues in NZ, let’s talk about them. Let’s look at all the different ways people from various countries come to NZ and how/why they are allowed to live here. When we look at some of the trickier issues, let’s look at how OUR immigration policy, set by OUR govt created problems, rather than blaming the people who took fair and legal advantage of those policies.
compared to:
Chinese immigrants are responsible for increasing house prices, crime and prostitution in Auckland and are turning it into a city of sin
Can you really not see the different, vto?
There are definitely people who think that all immigration is ok and that any talk about immigration problems is racist. Unfortunately people like Peters, who actually racist, just polarise the situation, making more care needed to be able to discuss the issues.
“How do the people of Auckland who raise this issue make them racist?”
Never said they did, and please don’t bring in something else in that way, it just confuses the issue. We are talking about Peters. Not all people of Auckland think the same, so your statement about them really doesn’t make sense.
hmmmm, I’m not so sure that your comparison in approaches there makes one racist and the other not. Merely pointing out various foibles in one group does not make it racist (provided what is being pointed out is correct, which it appears not to be here).
If I might offer an example…. some years ago there was a movie called “White Men Can’t Jump”. Is that racist?
I guess if one is intended to be hurtful, create disharmony, is factually wrong, etc then that is racist. But if one does not have that intention and the facts are correct, is that still racist, evn though the circumstances are unfavourable to the subject people?
Probably what happens most often is an overlap of the two modus operandi.. Just curious as of course such labels get thrown my direction for raising issues at times.
… sheesh, it’s a minefield area of discussion …….
The title “White men can’t jump” is ironic because
“They play a final game against two hoops legends of the L.A. scene, “The King” and “Duck.” In a very tight game, Sidney and Billy prevail, the winning points coming when Sidney lobs an “alley-oop” pass to Billy, who dunks it.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Men_Can%27t_Jump
irony – “Descriptions or depictions of situational irony, whether in fiction or in non-fiction, serve the communicative function of sharpening or highlighting certain discordant features of reality.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony
Really?
One points out how an open immigration policy creates problems while the other states that Chinese immigration causes problems.
“Merely pointing out various foibles in one group does not make it racist (provided what is being pointed out is correct, which it appears not to be here).”
which it appears not to be here
Yeah vto, that’s the point. Peters is ascribing the problems of a few people (brothel keepers etc) to a whole race of people. That’s a pretty classic definition of racism.
I guess if one is intended to be hurtful, create disharmony, is factually wrong, etc then that is racist. But if one does not have that intention and the facts are correct, is that still racist, evn though the circumstances are unfavourable to the subject people?
Can you give an example? One that uses ethnicities rather than very broad categories like ‘white’.
Racism exists well beyond intention. Institutional racism is often unintended, or outside the awareness of the people who create it, but exists nevertheless.
Labour and the Greens needs to consider taking out full page declarations of policy and strategy intent once a month, in every Sunday paper between now and the election. Clear statements, clear policy, every month. (Of course another full page detailing every lie and corruption of democracy that National have been guilty of wouldn’t hurt either.)
If Labour and The Green Party want to show the country they can work together as a Government, then finding a way to split a page each month is a pretty good way to start.
There are a lot of very wealthy people within both memberships, and the MPs themselves do not exactly earn a pittance. Conventional letterbox drops and various other promotional print runs are a waste of resources. Not just the financial resources, the sheer volume of paper involved is itself reason enough to reconsider how they communicate their policies. There are many details out there about how many hands a newspaper goes through and how often letterbox materials get trashed before a second pair of eyes even see them.
Call it a naive statement if you want, but at the most base level:
In the next twelve months alone, the 48 MPs of Labour and The Green party will receive total remuneration of $ 6,239,200 NZD They have enormous expense accounts, most own their homes, have sizeable investments and basically are not struggling to get by.
Think of the response to 48 MPs pledging to live on the MODE average salary of roughly 35K for the next year and spending the remaining $4,559,200 of their hard earned dollars on saving Aotearoa. As I said, call it naive, but some battles need sacrifice for the war to be won.
Guess it depends how badly these people want to save New Zealand ?
spending the remaining $4,559,200
What are the rules for ‘political message’ spending by political parties outside of the 3 months prior to an election.
No limits
Are you serious? MPs spend their own money, yeah right.
Green Party MPs already donate 10% of their salary back to the party.
All Labour MPs do similar as well.
Winston,
that throwaway line beautifully illustrates the difference between what I do and what you do.
I come to The Standard to actually try and engage others in finding constructive progressive ideas that will help New Zealand. Many here take their visit as an opportunity to simply belittle the wish for change as senseless harpings of the deluded whilst they themselves do little more than regurgitate acrimonious pathologies of social oppression and democratic criminality.
We all have our moments of mirth, they are essential for sanity. Some comments, my own included, are often overly critical but it is where they originate from that is the point of difference here.
I see Aotearoa as a country that without revolution or bloodletting or even dramatic loss of the coveted wealth so few have so much of, could actually be more equal, more functional and above all more inclusive than the quagmire of self interest it has become these past thirty years.
If circumstances in my own life had been different and I had not had a few stumbles on the goat track of circumstance, I can assure you that, just as i do today, all of my resources would be going into making as much noise as possible about how destructive our current structures are. If things improve a little and some of the irons currently in the forge produce tools I can use, you can bet I will be putting my money where my mouth is. Every person who visits The Standard has one thing in common. We are all human, we all matter and we all have the same rights to live the best and most socially productive lives that we can. At present that is patently not possible for the majority of New Zealanders.
I have to go sign on to unemployment next week. I tried for six weeks not to and I won’t bore you with the difficulties of my current circumstances, but enough to say that living on the generosity of friends and ignoring the protestations of my body to do a couple of hours grunt labour here and there because MSD thinks my skills, my experience and my abilities are “irrelevant to the current job market” only emphasizes the ludicrous environment we are living in. So forgive me when I say that attitudes like yours can not contribute to change. They can only further demoralize expectations and reconfirm the state sanctioned ignorance of what a people should expect from their representatives. New Zealand is in trouble and it needs people to lead by example. Who better than those elected to represent us?
Well said, Freedom.
Well said Freedom… and there’s nothing ‘naive’ about your suggestions. Great idea. Pamphlets and target mailing may have it’s place sometimes but it is largely a waste of time these days. Letter boxes are slowly becoming near redundant.
URGENT! The Auckland Unitary Plan is based upon UNLAWFUL? ‘high’ population growth projections from the Auckland (Spatial) Plan:
28 May 2013
‘Open Letter’ to ALL New Zealand MPs.
Which New Zealand MP from which Party will ‘step up to the plate’ and present the following petition to the House, preferably tomorrow, Wednesday 29 May 2013? (Attached)
That Parliament declines to proceed with the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill until the lawfulness of the reliance of Auckland Council on the New Zealand Department of Statistics ‘high’ population growth projections, instead of their ‘medium’ population growth projections for the Auckland Spatial Plan, has been properly and independently investigated – taking into consideration that both Auckland Transport and Watercare Services Ltd, have relied upon ‘medium’ population growth projections for their infrastructural asset management plans.
________________________________________________________________________________
BACKGROUND:
The Housing Accord and Special Housing Areas Bill:
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/informationreleases/ris/pdfs/ris-mbie-cspa-may13.pdf
Regulatory Impact Analysis
29 Four main options (and two variants of one option) were considered to achieve the objective.
30 Each option is predicated on the assumptions that: the proposed new Auckland Unitary Plan (which is expected to be finalised in three years) will provide a sufficient basis to address Auckland’s expected land demands and will reduce pressure on land supply and house prices in Auckland; and that other initiatives to reform the resource management system, to improve operation of the resource consent system, and better plan for and fund infrastructure will result in
improvements for the rest of New Zealand over the medium to long term.
http://www.mbie.govt.nz/about-us/publications/ris
Regulatory Impact Statement: Creating Special Housing Areas, 15 April 2013 [244 KB PDF]
4 Four main options were identified and assessed to address this problem:
a. Rely solely on the Government’s proposals to reform the resource management system; and
b. Allow Auckland’s new Unitary Plan (in either part or whole) to take effect from its notification date (September 2013) rather than its intended finalisation date (September 2016); or
c. Establish, through specific legislation, an Urban Development Agency (UDA) to take a permissive approach to the issuing of resource consents and building consents for larger housing developments and redevelopments in areas suffering severe housing affordability problems and constrained land supply; or
d. Create special housing areas, through agreement with local councils, in which local councils would exercise more permissive resource consenting powers.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
BUT- THE PURPOSE OF THE AUCKLAND UNITARY PLAN – IS TO IMPLEMENT THE AUCKLAND (SPATIAL) PLAN – WHICH HAS BEEN USING THE ‘HIGH’ POPULATION GROWTH PROJECTIONS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS – WHEN THEY RECOMMENDED ‘MEDIUM’ POPULATION GROWTH PROJECTIONS!
HOW CAN THIS BE LAWFUL UNDER s.79 (4) (c) of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009?
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2009/0032/latest/DLM3338660.html
___________________________________________________________________________________________
FURTHER BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
‘OPEN LETTER’ to Mayor Len Brown and all Auckland Councillors
Emailed 27 May 2013:
(Supporting documentation attached includes:
1) Letter from NZ Department of Statistics dated 28 March 2011.
2) Email from Auckland Council Chief Planning Officer, Dr Roger Blakeley received 23 May 2013..
URGENT TEXT I SENT TO AUCKLAND COUNCILLORS, Monday 28 May 2013 9.40am:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
URGENT! Auckland Councillors plse confirm YES or NO whether YOU support the OPENING of ALL Ak Council Ak Future Vision/ Auckland Plan Ctte CONFIDENTIAL MINUTES prior to + after the launch of the Ak Spatial Plan – so voting public can see HOW decision was made to rely on Dept of Stats HIGH population growth projection when they advised MEDIUM population growth projection to be used for Ak Plan?
Plse confirm that advice frm Ak Council Chief Planning Officer Dr Roger Blakeley to rely on Dept of Sats HIGH population growth projection was subjected to competent professional legal advice for lawful compliance with LOCAL GOVT (AUCKLAND COUNCIL) ACT 2009 s.79 (4) (c).
Also whether decision(s) by Ak Council to rely on Dept of Stats HIGH population growth projection was subjected to competent professional advice for lawful compliance with LOCAL GOVT (AUCKLAND COUNCIL) ACT 2009 s.79 (4) (c)?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
(I have already received text messages back from ……………… and Christine Fletcher, both supporting my request for the CONFIDENTIAL minutes relating to the Auckland Spatial Plan to be made publicly available).
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2009/0032/latest/DLM3338660.html
Part 6
Spatial planning for Auckland
Part 6: added, on 1 November 2010, by section 31 of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 36).
79Spatial plan for Auckland
(1)The Auckland Council must prepare and adopt a spatial plan for Auckland.
(2)The purpose of the spatial plan is to contribute to Auckland’s social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being through a comprehensive and effective long-term (20- to 30-year) strategy for Auckland’s growth and development.
(3)For the purposes of subsection (2), the spatial plan will—
(a)set a strategic direction for Auckland and its communities that integrates social, economic, environmental, and cultural objectives; and
(b)outline a high-level development strategy that will achieve that direction and those objectives; and
(c)enable coherent and co-ordinated decision making by the Auckland Council (as the spatial planning agency) and other parties to determine the future location and timing of critical infrastructure, services, and investment within Auckland in accordance with the strategy; and
(d) provide a basis for aligning the implementation plans, regulatory plans, and funding programmes of the Auckland Council.
(4)The spatial plan must—
(a)recognise and describe Auckland’s role in New Zealand; and
(b)visually illustrate how Auckland may develop in the future, including how growth may be sequenced and how infrastructure may be provided; and
(c)provide an evidential base to support decision making for Auckland, including evidence of trends, opportunities, and constraints within Auckland; and
(d)identify the existing and future location and mix of—
(i)residential, business, rural production, and industrial activities within specific geographic areas within Auckland; and
(ii)critical infrastructure, services, and investment within Auckland (including, for example, services relating to cultural and social infrastructure, transport, open space, water supply, wastewater, and stormwater, and services managed by network utility operators); and
(e)identify nationally and regionally significant—
(i)recreational areas and open-space areas within Auckland; and
(ii)ecological areas within Auckland that should be protected from development; and
(iii)environmental constraints on development within Auckland (for example, flood-prone or unstable land); and
(iv)landscapes, areas of historic heritage value, and natural features within Auckland; and
(f)identify policies, priorities, land allocations, and programmes and investments to implement the strategic direction and specify how resources will be provided to implement the strategic direction.
Section 79: added, on 1 November 2010, by section 31 of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 36).
Please be advised that it my intention to urgently petition Parliament to request the House NOT to proceed with the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill,
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Legislation/Bills/d/0/a/00DBHOH_BILL12225_1-Housing-Accords-and-Special-Housing-Areas-Bill.htm
until the lawfulness of Auckland Council’s reliance upon the Department of Statistics HIGH population growth projection, instead of their recommended MEDIUM population growth projection, (as outlined in the attached ‘Auckland Growth Projections for Spatial Plan’ letter dated 28 March 2011), has been properly and thoroughly investigated.
Please confirm that as a responsible and law-abiding Local Government elected representative, that YOU will not act precipitously, and sign off on the above-mentioned (Auckland) Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill, until the lawfulness of Auckland Council’s reliance upon the Department of Statistics HIGH population growth projection, instead of their recommended MEDIUM population growth projection, (as outlined in the attached ‘Auckland Growth Projections for Spatial Plan’ letter dated 28 March 2011, has been properly and thoroughly investigated.
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
(‘Democracy for Developers’?)
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/?page_id=137
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
……………….
2 attachments — Download all attachments
AUCKLAND GROWTH PROJECTIONS FOR SPATIAL PL;AN DEPT OF STATISTICS SNZ letter.pdf
119K View Download
AUCKLAND COUNCIL GROWTH Response to Ms Penny Bright – word version of email from Roger Blakeley 23-05-13 (3).doc
252K View Download
PETITION Parliament not to proceed with the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Bill … 28 May 2013.doc
37K View Download
Penny your links aren’t working, can you redo your attachments please so i can have a look.
Here you go!
The Auckland ‘Daft Lunatic Plan’?
‘Democracy for developers’?
The FACTS and EVIDENCE.
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/?page_id=145
Cheers!
Penny Bright
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
How long are we going to keep letting Penny do this typical paste-and-run here?
Long May She Run (I Love Her Attitude).
Until the mods get bored 😛
I often do not have time to sit behind my computer and engage in debate on-line.
Sorry about that.
Like today – I was out at the Fickling Centre – helping Grey Power set up for their AGM.
Guest speakers after the AGM were Winston Peters and Metiria Turei.
Got more signatures for the following petition, and have hopefully made progress on getting an MP to present it to the House ASAP.
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/PETITION-Parliament-not-to-proceed-with-the-Housing-Accords-and-Special-Housing-Areas-Bill-28-May-2013.pdf
So – what did YOU do to help the DAFT Auckland LUNATIC Plan?
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
Go away and have a cry L. And don’t come back. Penny, Morrissey, and numerous others are entertaining and informative. You are very “yawn”.
You know, people would take Martyn Bradbury over at the dailyblog a lot more seriously if he didn’t make up obvious, easily disproved conspiracy theories trying to big up his own little pet obsession with the Mana party. honestly, why does he insist on drinking the conspiracy Kool aid so uncritically?
Linky?
Ah Bomber, so much good stuff, with a leavening of critical thinking fail, for well over a decade now.
Climate change being one of them.
So just do what I do and skip the derp to save yourself.
I made a comment that Gerry Brownlee would surely not be re-elected again. But the feeling from the Chch faction was that his electorate is so blue that they would support him again despite his virtually spiteful attitude to many of the city’s people and services.
What if all left-wing people in his electorate took in left-wing voters for long enough for them to register as voters? Tilt the see-saw somehow. Wish something could be done.
The blue seats in Chch will swing harder blue and the red seats in Chch will swing harder red.
Brownlee has ensured that houses in the blue seats were repaired first, despite having diddly squat damage, while those homes in the red seats out east with the most hardcore damage have been left to last.
This is the reality.
Fuck the blue seats.
You say that blue seat houses got faster results though they had less damage. This is correct for the people I know. But perhaps the EQC have done the smallest and easiest jobs first. And perhaps they are in the ‘better’ and more stable areas while cheap workers housing has been clustered and more badly damaged.in the unstable ‘red’ left-voting zones nearer the sandy coast.
I’d say that is more likely as structural damage beyond the EQC limit would require much more assessment and planning; however if facts got out that richer suburbs were prioritised first for political reasons, there would be, ahem, social unrest.
That doesn’t wash CV. There have been many more homes in the east with “easy” repairs than in the west, yet still they have been left to wait.
You may recall that Akaroa holiday homes were done some time ago now too.
The city of many tales is also becoming more divided imo. “Tis a strange place these days. Lots of stories and things going on. It is volatile, it is uncertain, some are up some are down. As I suggested some time ago, how the city ends up developing is a big wide open question. The blueprint is of lmited use in this. The job is massive. The job is just about too big. Too much.
My guess is that it will end up developing organically over another set of decades and generations. And that be a long time to wait ……. meantime it is all diggers and dust and tradesmen and utes and builders and cones and stop go men and now its freakin’ started snowing! Lovely…
Having listen to some of those supporters, they don’t really pay full attention to the bad shit Brownlee does, plus he tends to deal with issues in his electorate and suck up to the various churches.
Can someone please tell me how to revert back to google.co.nz from google.com? I changed to google.com the other day for some reason and I can’t remember how to change back. I’m using firefox (mac).
Hopefully this helps for you.
1. Go to Google.com in a new window.
2. In the very bottom right hand corner should be a link to Google.co.nz, click it.
3. Open a new window and type in Google.com, it should now automatically redirect to google.co.nz
Thanks! I was using a search page set to my preferences, hence no .co.nz at the bottom of the page. But the main google.com one had one. Cheers.
Another think. Why don’t they use hovercraft in Dunedin? They know that they get serious snow often, and people are trapped in homes, can’t get to the airport etc. I think that Dunedin needed this type of vehicle available to emergency needs more than their expensive all weather stadium. There needs to be a few and they could be used as a tourist feature between emergency needs.
Dunedin is hilly
that’s what makes it such a fun idea 🙂
I like your attitude
Horizontal or vertically inclined? Can’t hovercraft go up inclines? Or if yes, what is the maximum ratio?
Not sure, but this suggests it might be tricky to pilot one on Baldwin St.
It’s difficult to pilot anything on Baldwin St. As many a student has found out to his/her peril.
Nah.
If it has brakes and steering, it’s a piece of piss.
Low friction = sliding down steep hills 😛
It’s also which makes it impossible.
Don’t get me started on the fucking stadium 🙂
But really it’s not too bad – most of the main roads are gritted/clear by mid-morning. But by the all the school have shut, so half the town has to stay home to take care of the sprogs. And a few of the hill suburbs are stuffed no matter what – main roads might get clear, but there’s 50 metres of side street needed to travel down to get to one.
But it doesn’t usually last more than a day or so, so no worries. It’s hardly “serious snow”. Anyone from Q’town would laugh at the thought.
By the way, in addition to having serious “likes to do down hills like a truck on black ice” issues, hovercraft are also very noisy.
I think a couple of snow plows + more road gritters would be safer and cheaper 😛
Well, this is really helpful from that white piece of sh*t Van der Heyden, soon to be on the Board of Auckland International Airport
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10886643
re the Chinese, “don’t ever trust them…never.”
Ha, wotta dick! (despite the love of God, it is a challenge to bear some idiots).
Just who you want at the top of our main exporter, and also our main airport. ***Facepalm***
(Not that I fully disagree with his point, but how about a little bit of sutblety please!)
Unfreakin’ believable, considering the monitoring of media that goes on. Talk about living in the Dark Ages. What a f*ckwit (pay-day) 😉
I think you’re taking it a bit out of context. As someone who has done a lot of business sourcing components from China, you’d be foolish to leave anything to chance. This is echoed by our (Chinese) purchasing rep in China, and our attorney in Auckland who is also Chinese.
A couple years ago I was reading everything I could find about doing business there, and a universal recurring theme was that the guy you are working with will attempt to sell or trade on every piece of proprietary information you let them in on, will underdeliver whenever given an opportunity, and will act as a double agent with whatever company they are dealing with on your behalf. And contracts are utterly unenforceable. It was always characterized as “they’re not being dishonest, it’s just how things are done”, and it is.
That is correct, so?
Accommodation and Assimilation, or have your exports left out in the cold container.
Can’t trust those slanty eyes
But they got all the money, they are the next Pacific super power (Japan is an economic corpse still walking), and dim sum is so very nice.
Really, you do have to wonder about people in this country (as a generalization).
Todays pat-on-the-back; Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the most insightful of all… 😎
Good on ya mate! A man has to earn his lager.
very kind; brought tears to my eyes; still, we are a collective looking forwards.(maybe a video, and some tasty cheese to go as we settle in the camp).
Kind Regards.
I was reading everything I could find about doing business there, and a universal recurring theme…
….and like your good self, dear wee tentacles Keyster, Van durr hey, thin Guy and all other solid upright colonial snipers will keep repeating the arrogant supercilious bombast and still never, ever, understand why the mutton still sits on the wharf….
I, uh.. What?
Matt
Can’t find it on google but I remember hearing about a NZ book publisher and I think its Hong Kong agent used its legal position to onsell the books to China. The agent continued to handle the books as legally agreed in Hong Kong I think but used its entrepreneurial contacts in China on its own behalf but had the right to sign documents which it did then for its own profit.
China being a big market it meant a big loss of potential profits for the publisher who had to view it as making a brand entry which they could follow up with similar product sold by themselves.
For those who like to keep an eye on Winston P. This was him as Foreign Affairs Minister.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10503174
from the media,
-New Zealanders not very smart with their smart-phones (16% of all smart-phone users ripped off last year- NetSafe) yet many “can’t cope without them”.
RNZ on National Science Challenges
-Gluckman agrees “we don’t ‘weigh’ basic sciences funding high enough in New Zealand.
-Kate McGrath (hope that’s correct) concerns about reduction of funding, away from basic science towards the scope of the National Science Challenges.
-Jeff Tallon, Professor of Physics, Vic. – ‘poor association with the neccessary growth in technologies, physical sciences poorly represented; ‘Energy’ research missing.
More missed opportunity navel-gazing.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon
but then, “Roger and Val Have Just Got In”.
‘Strangeways’ -“you can take the boy out of the hood, but you can’t take the hood out of the boy”.
Die Todten reiten schnell.
Small business watch out, fracking is threatening German Beers, small breweries who have their own wells are threatened by the gas fracking boom.
Interesting …. the OZ Greens (and Sky News) is reporting that ASIO has been hacked by the Chinese.
Oh Goodness me!
Maybe only because they didn’t have any frozen lamb on the docks that could be held up instead.
Haha. As if ASIO isn’t trying to hack the Chinese Embassy. We intercept their communications and send them on to the seppos. There are no clean spies.
Must-see tonight’s documentary on Maori TV at 8:30 pm:
Festival Documentary: The Shock Doctrine
Adapted from Naomi Klein’s 2007 Book, the Shock Doctrine is a Gripping Deconstruction of How Free-market Policies Have Come to Dominate the World Through the Exploitation of Disaster-shocked People and Countries. (premiere)
Yep. Recording it.
Labour gets hammered again in parliament .
When will they learn ,green = political suicide.
The topic west coast mining , the Bathurst project and it’s obvious merits.
It was revealed that Damion Oconner had written to the Govt pleading for action on this project and encouraging the govt to do all it can to get this project up and running.
Good on ya Damion.
Damion is probably in the crap with his spineless leaders but it exposes a rift and any body who is interested in prosperity for our country will be dismayed at labours stance on this proposal.
What’s so bizare about labours stance is the fact that this land has been mined before has no special status or protection.
It offers more than $1 billion to our economy .
Unless they change their attitude to this , it will haunt them all the way to the next election.
Is my month up yet?
[lprent: See http://thestandard.org.nz/someone-is-lying-about-mrp-float/#comment-628679 and http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-18052013/#comment-634637 ]
Is my month up yet?
I’ve served out a one-week ban, a one-month ban, then a two-month ban.
In addition, I was banned from Whaleoil’s site for two days, and it looks like I’m permanently banned from Brian Edward’s dire cheerleading site for self-serving scum.
Yet I have survived, and thrived.
Suck it up, sucker.
Hi everyone, I used to comment on here a bit a few years ago but I’ve forgotten how it works – is there an easy way to see if someone replies to you or do you have to trawl through the posts again?
If you put your user name into the search engine it will pop up all your comments. You can then open each one to see if anyone has replied.
Cool, thanks