Someone should tell the corporate media a good 50% of the country hardly even noticed the rugby world cup and of the rest most were over it on Sunday afternoon.
The way our corporate media have managed to suck any joy out of the RWC with their incessant clickbait stories that are a weird combination of braggadocio and insecurity has been amazing. And still, thtree days later, Susie Ferguson insults the intelligence of her listeners (again) by a) making her first question to Jacinda about the rugby then going for a gotcha. Seriously, there is more important things than trying to foot trip the PM over a three day old rugby match.
Ain't that the truth, I haven't heard one work mate discuss the world cup these last few months, I don't think anyone even knew it was on, I watched one game as I was staying in a motel and they had terrestrial telly, I would have watched more if it was accessible, the greedy bastards are killing the interest in the game in the name of short term profit.
Jimmy This is a place of relatively free expression of what is happening personally to you. Because someone expresses something different to what you feel or have experienced shouldn't be an opportunity for you to sneer at them and ask them if they work in a morgue.
You could have left those first two questioning sentences out. Why be combative and negative about other how other people's random comment about something. Like I am at present! But with a desire to get better interaction amongst us.
Excuse me greywarshark but I don't think Jimmy was being anything of the sort. His comment was a very Kiwi way of expressing his surprise with a smattering of humour thrown in.
Each to his own. It's not your place to tell others how to express themselves here – or anywhere else.
greywarshark should be warned to stay away from Taika Waititi's JoJo Rabbit. The kiwi comedy in that (kiwiism warning!) would blow his tiny little mind, especially as it is tempered with very serious themes and moral issues.
aom You don't understand much of what you see and read if you think I don't deeply concern myself with 'very serious themes and moral issues'. You are just a learner compared to where i come from. So soak up all you can and you might get wise.
It's not your place to come here and tell me not to express myself about what I think is important Anne. It is what you do yourself all the time, coming from a feeling of entitlement I think. And it goes against the Open Mike zeitgeist. So don't preach to me in your didactic way.
Do you ever stop and look and listen to yourself. ‘It is not your place’ you say to me. Is that classless speech? Are you really interested in democracy but rather talking down to others who haven’t reached your height of seniority in your profession?
Anne, consider your hand smacked by the TS's own Clayton's moderator- LOL.
But life has its comedy moments – and TS has its comedy juxtapositions of comments at times. Today's is a classic – G's reply to you has landed immediately under G's reply to aom. Read together (particularly the last two sentences in the reply to aom) they are laughable. Talk about lacking in self-awareness, and not looking and listening to one's self.
I was earlier unable to respond with anything other than an emoticon.
Thanks for the words of encouragement.
I think Greywarshark needs to learn to treat other people's comments with more care and attention. He/she seems occasionally vulnerable to misinterpretations. Perhaps a bit of a furlough and some internal reflection would be advisable before he/she starts laying down the law to other people who might wish to comment here.
Hi Greywarshark…apologies then as I was not meaning to offend anyone. Love the rugby, or hate the rugby, it is the most important thing to so many kiwis. I am not a huge fan myself but will follow the world cup. (and even the soccer world cup when its on).
I was simply amazed that people were not talking about it in some way at I feel the love's work place. For anyone that does work in a morgue, I did not mean to be nasty or put them down as they do an extremely important job that many people would probably not do.
Hi Jimmy – It was just a thought – we in NZ are too inclined to negativity I think. Also some people find rugby a bit of a faux way to come together in NZ. And find the brutal approach which shows up in spear tackling and the love of big men crashing into each other a bit pathetic as an example of the finest and most charismatic sport here.
Lately I looked at the local film called Bludgeon, and I reckon that would be a great sport for physical guys, and it involves armour that a man or woman could make themselves and use metal-working skills, so a steep learning curve and giving more individual satisfaction than rugby.
Fair bit of crash and bash there. But there is a code of conduct. But still some risk – I think blokes like taking on risk with judgment of how to avoid it. What did you think of Bludgeon? It's different, could be good. Might be an alternative to rugby, so we have more than one claim to fame eh?
We need to get more positive in NZ and talk to each other in a way that promotes that, and that aids conversation and helps in getting to know that person and what's good about them. That is something I think we need to work on in NZ – my opinion. So I throw in Bludgeon as an extra talking point to rugby.
Thinking about negativity. NZrs are said to be a bit dour, and our creative output can follow that. But perhaps we get insight through it in a way, but then have watch not to set in negative mode. Scandinavia is a place that has to do this also I hear – they can suffer from SAD.*
*Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you're like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody.Oct 25, 2017
Ha! My workplace ranges in ages from early 20s to mid 60s, a few 100 people, all walks of life in Dunedin, men and women, and I haven't heard one mention or RWC or the ABs losing, what can I say but that is what I see. We have pools for Melbourne cup and other major sports but no one did one for the rugby. I've no doubt there are fans because people do play and I recall talk of a shield game, but seriously, it's a game being killed by its expense. I don't mind the game, but I don't mind any sport, I just don't favour any and have better things to spend my money on. Just my view.
There were a pile of flags at work in the last few weeks. Mostly because the plants were removed before we move. A few mad keen rugby nuts talking about something that I hadn't seen.
Some dribble in the papers that looked like more mindless advertising.
Personally I just ignored it. Have better things to waste time on.
I pretty much give up on sports activities when I finish doing them. These days physical activity is mainly restricted to the daily commuting to work on a e-bike and the weekend chores on it. Limited supply of enthusiasts for that as well as the rugby
It's less important as a game, as having once been a major community binding activity. Having fallen under the dual pressures of urbanization and professionalization, rugby is no longer a uniting communal obsession. Like the churches, its congregation are aging and diminishing.
Interesting perspective and quite relevant. A resurgence in anti-colonial sentiment (not that I want to stir the hornet's nest) – No Siree! Quite a few quite capable of stirring up shit, acting like missionaries and imposing their will all by themselves.
I know rugby is regarded by some here primarily through the lens of a fanatical culture war item, but I don't really care for the tiresome whining of the anti-rugby brigade so if you are not interested in discussing it – in the nicest possible way just don't comment and f**k off to anther topic. 🙂
So onto rugby.
If I were the NZRFU I would be alarmed at the general indifference the public has shown to the All Black's defeat. We are not "more mature' – it is just a huge number of people no longer give a shit. General interest in the game peaked twenty years and has been in decline ever since. Rugby is of no interest to an increasingly large percentage of the population. Kids nowadays have been alienated by an elite school system that actively discourages participation for fun as a burden on their winning. The game has been behind a paywall for a generation that has seen it's support base becoming increasing elderly, white and middle class. The focus on the apex means club and now provincial rugby has been gutted. The NPC is a now a complete farce – does anyone seriously believe Tasman has the best pool of provincial players in NZ?
The general public is chronically over exposed to rugby from February to December and is IMHO sick to death of saturation uncritical coverage in the corporate media. Outside a few pockets no one is interested in provincial rugby, there is to much super rugby and too many All Blacks tests. The NPC was once the engine of the game – home of tribalism, huge unwavering support and where the interest in the game was actually highest. Now? I don't think so, especially in Auckland where the complacency and disinterest of the NZRFU at the decline of rugby should be a huge sports media scandal.
Steve Tew will leave a game utterly hollowed out by professionalism. His whole era was characterised by increasingly desperate efforts to slow – but never halt – the decline of NZ's rugby power in the face of the huge wads of money being laundered through sports clubs in the Europe. In order to buy another season of All Black success, the NZRFU has destroyed the game below the elite level and now- in the light of the hiding the All Blacks just got – those chickens are coming home to roost at elite level as well. The NZRFU has never really had a plan to sustain rugby in NZ for a generation, and our well resourced sports media are not about to call them out on it.
The problem is the NZ media are basically PR for rugby, so the general public gets no sensible debate about the direction of the game, the dropping interest, it's massive over-exposure or the issues of player loss. No one wants to talk about how player loss has gutted the quality of the rugby championship and weakened the All Blacks depth. Once Ben Smith suddenly became over the hill and Reiko Ioane apparently lost interest in playing for the All Blacks after Hanson publically dissed his brother our lack of depth was exposed at first five and wing (why is no one asking Hanson about the reasons for Reiko's loss of form?) What difference would having Charles Piutau, Lima Sopoaga, Steven Luatua, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Liam Squire, Luke Whitelock and Jackson Hemopo made had they been available? Especially as they play in positions where we were totally found out like lose forward, lock, and wing. They won't, because it would be to imply all is not well in the three rings and the media are part of the circus.
Sanc…I should point out that, despite my comment above, I was glued to both RWC semi-finals for the whole game in the Hawea Pub….I think rugby is a wonderful game….just not quite in the league of climate change or Brexit for its implications.
Yeah, I love rugby as well. To the point I actually believe being good at it should possibly attract a government subsidy to keep th best players here. Take the money from defense, I'd rather see nationalism at Eden Park than cheering a parade of tanks.
Why do the best players need to stay here ? Our lack of depth IMO is because we have this boys club approach to only local players getting an AB gig, Via the super 15/16 whatever it is now which is a created, invite only league.
Brazil/Argentina haven't won their world cups in football with 'local' players exclusively. There's a world out there we should welcome our players going OS to. Geez the current world champs don't give their centre forward a game because he's not making the field at Chelsea, that's a position we should be in !
Our local game would probably flourish if more got a chance via the big names following the $$$ offshore. It's pure market forces etc a.k.a. professionalism, something the NZRU have mostly sucked at since day 1./
The decision was made years ago to focus on the All Black's brand and the creation of an elite player program to feed a steady stream of new All Blacks into the squad. Everything else was sacrificed – mass participation, club rugby, the NPC and now even Super Rugby – to that end. But No one is asking if that model is fundamentally flawed. The parade of clueless doofus mercenaries being churned out from our elite school system and academies is testament to the flaws in the current model, as is the decline interest and participation. These new generation elite players have had the red carpet rolled out for them since they hit about 14 years old, and are only used to winning and have a huge sense of entitlement to a fat professional salary. They are starting to bugger off once they realise that the All Blacks is a bit harder than they thought and they can get just as much dosh for half the effort playing in France. Being an All Black for an increasing number of these elite players is now a bit like making porno movies for a few years is for a whore – a sort of video CV for the better paying whales and sugar daddies.
An alternative does/did exist – get government funding for the cultural component of the game and emphasise mass participation, club and NPC level and a cut down professional competition including Australia. Accept the inevitable of overseas money luring away our best players (akin to Brazilians and Argentinians accepting their best players are all in Europe) and just work out a strategy to get them back in time to ensure we remain rugby world champions.
That way, when the current era of massively overpaid professional sport eventually eats itself (as it is showing signs of doing with the falling interest from people who can longer afford to watch, the obsolescence of the paywall TV model to fund it all and the increasing demand for low carbon – i.e. no flying everywhere – sport) at least you'll still have a game left to administer.
It won't happen, because unlike football, all the TV money goes to the union instead of the clubs, but the centralised contracts should go and players become free agents, able to move between teams across borders and still be available for national selection.
That would mean clear windows for international tests, just like soccer, which could if done right, also be of benefit to tier two nations and a way of growing the sport globally.
The same malaise has afflicted many of our sports, with the same depletion of overall participation, and the death of many of what used to be healthy local clubs.
In practice overseas clubs do affect a players availability for selection for a national side elsewhere, especially as clubs and national games overlap.
Would English clubs try to restrict NZ players being selected for the All Blacks ? You bet
I don't recall any club v country rows in English football for quite some time, with South American, African and Asian players turning out for their nations, even when tournaments are held during the season. Son Heung min from Spurs played in the Asian cup this year, for example, though the African cup of nations has now switched to the European off season recently.
The key is obviously well organised international windows for cups, qualification purposes and friendlies. Like I said above, it won't happen under the current system but it could with the necessary changes.
Boorish needs to remember that he is supposed to be following the will of the people, and not just his own – that is dictatorship. And for those who are going to trot out the bit about the referendum 'indicating the will of the people', I laugh at you. How can people make up their minds for some action based on unfair information, lies to deceive?? What gimcrack idea of democracy are you fostering? What sort of person are you who quotes prim verse out of a text which does not include the principle of straight and honest dealing?
To have a matter put before the people which will overturn or affect all of a country's policies is a major undertaking for them to consider carefully. To treat it as if they were voting to have a new library that would only stock records of UK writing and thinking, is an attempt at deception by a very devious, even criminally fraudulent group of politicians. And then to suggest that a mere simple majority is sufficient for such a proposal, and then set out to confuse the trusting or ignorant populace, is irredeemably malicious.
To call for a change within Parliament of an election date different from the normal, a snap election*, requires 66% or two-thirds of the House of the representatives of the people to make a rearrangement of that grouping who are mere servants of the people. Yet just a simple majority for a matter affecting and at the heart of all the people and country, that they are supposed to be serving!
This shows a wish to take power over the people and indeed the country. It is in effect, a coup planned by the unscrupulous, and those Members in the part of Parliament who stand for the people are putting up a desperate battle, using all the law and precedents that they can. These have been introduced to give the country a strong and reliable Parliament without a resort to violence to debase Parliament and then enable the winners to take control the country. (And there have already been murders in the political sphere, these should not be overlooked, as preliminary skirmishes.)
PS joe90 – I wonder how the photographers got a shot of Boorish in front of a poster about Sepsis and Infection? Or is this an example of photo-shopping – part of the playing around with images, leading to serious falsifying that the simple minds of we ordinary people have to examine carefully to form an opinion. No longer ‘seeing is believing’.
It's a scam. Someone pulls a empty cheque out writes brexit on it, then says sign here. Nobody is signing that without details put in. Blank cheque politics goes against every grain. Parliament is never going to ratify the deal, it would put their name on it, and for whatever reason… …Tory voters who want to stay in, or Labour voters who want to end austerity, or Libs who have said no. The only way to move on is to put the deal to the electorate in a referendum. Boris is an unelected leader of a minority party that demands the scam be accepted. Put up or shut up, put the deal to the people in a referendum, let them sign the cheque. Oh, and that means expat too.
Parliament has ratified the deal. They did so last week ,as per the procedure with the agreement to be tabled so that it becomes a public document
. It well known that the deal in this context is the full agreement between UK and EU negotiators.
Additional legislation and regulations follow too cover the fine details of the law over various aspects of Brexit : Agriculture , Fisheries, Financial Services, Immigration and so on.
PM Johnson is desperate for another general election (after 2 years and 4 months), but reluctant to rerun the Brexit referendum (after 3 years and 4 months.)
Why not rerun both at the same time, if only to clarify the 'mood' of a better-informed U.K. electorate? I see one parallel in the NZ National-led government claiming that their election win was a mandate for the massive transfer of public assets/wealth into private ownership, despite opinion polls at the time showing a clear majority of those polled were opposed.
Brexit will consolidate the already vast power and influence of U.K./multinational wealth. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
"Pigs rank at the top-most level in the structure, dogs coming next, and then other animals rank accordingly. Pigs are the rulers and the masters. That means they can rewrite or reinterpret commandments to ensure their benefit, and control over other animals." https://literarydevices.net/all-animals-are-equal/
I think you are confused about what Brexit will do . Its the EU that was consolidating power , especailly with the Euro ( which Britain almost by accident was able to avoid)
Ask the people of Greece , Spain Italy etc about EU austerity.
The people of Greece even voted by a large majority against the EUs austerity deal, but as is Normal with the EU bureaucrats and financial mandarins they forced the Greek government to take even harsher medicine.
Like I said you seem to have 'forgotten' how much the EU is despised for its economic policies , not only in Britain.
Duke, I though it was more about bananas than mandarins – don't have a dog in this contest of ideas, but none of my 'elitist' academic colleagues are particularly thrilled about the possible net effect of Brexit on UK university research and teaching programmes.
Your suggestion to "Ask the people of Greece , Spain Italy etc about EU austerity" is a good one – asking electorates about where they stand on important issues, by way of (binding) referenda, is a great idea IMHO.
In the UK, national referenda are not constitutionally binding, and since the UK has held only three national referenda [in 1975 (UK remaining in the EEC [Labour]), 2011 (voting system [Tory]), and 2016 (Brexit [Tory])], I can understand the reluctance for a fourth, particularly given the unsettling mess that the third delivered.
However, since there appears to be some uncertainty as to whether a simple majority of UK voters currently support Brexit (3 years and four months on), I just wondered if another general election (2 years and 4 months on) might be the perfect opportunity to test the current mood of the electorate on Brexit. After all, it’s an issue which some at least consider to have quite far-reaching consequences, more so even than cannabis which the NZ electorate will be voting on next year.
I watched an interesting presentation by Tom Scott at the Royal Society called there is no Algorithm for Truth. He starts off with a challenge, what if a supposed algorithm for internet truth decides (correctly) that a no deal brexit is the best for the UK. The question being (to the audience) do you therefore accept this, or respond by trying to amplify your position? I think you should conduct the same thought experiment based on the fact that at least 40 something percent of the UK disagree with your position.
I didn't realise that 40% of UK were watching me for a lead. That is a serious responsibility and i will bear it in mind Nic the NZer. Are you Nic the ex Pom?
Good on Corbyn for getting his lines in when they are on offer. I think its quite weak rhetoric though as parliament forced Boris to do it. Would they rather he refused to ask for an extension over parliaments will here?
It is a fluid matter of possibilities and probabilities and who will vote for who in the UK. Knowing what the situation is in detail, would help to understand why certain things are/not being done.
This is an interesting piece on Johnson from aljazeera.
When you've previously agreed to do a favour for your boss and work the occasional cash in hand extra, at their suggestion, only to be told a couple of days after doing the last one it's now on the books.
Good on you mate.But you and your boss were equally responsible for tax evasion.Your not alone unfortunately.Ripping off genuine taxpayers seems to be a national sport.
It was only a few hours work, so not really about the money, more the being lied to.
And while I get the point about tax evasion, and certainly not mitigating it after the fact, unemployed people can earn up to $90pw without affecting entitlements, and with my hourly rate, it wasn't even near that much.
Well it doesn't matter now as I've paid the tax on the $60 I earned, including extra towards my student loan payment. It's okay, the country can afford light rail in Auckland after all.
No telling what we can achieve as soon as we stop off the books cash payments to babysitters.
If I leave $40 for a cleaner or gardener, I don't care if they do their paperwork properly.
When the multinational sharks start paying tax on their hundreds of millions of income before expenditure, then we can sweep up a few minnows who failed to declare a little bit of income here and there.
IRD will go after non-monetary earnings too. If you trade hours of your normal paid work for someone else's hours (or some veggies), your hours are taxable.
TA is talking about working for not much money, to put in other words he sounds poor, and that's what the fuck he is concerned about, and to improve that situation even slightly.
Not quite true, as some households on benefits bring in more than mine, yet they're still permitted to earn $90 pw on top, a third more than I was in line for, but as I implied, it's not a contest, and I certainly don't begrudge them that extra.
They still pay tax on it. I don't see the point you are trying to make. It seems as marty says, that the unemployed often get dragged into non-related points. That it is somehow ok for you to cheat on tax because unemployed people.
Okay, I was under the impression that someone not working and then earning such a small amount wouldn't pay any tax, but I checked it out and found I was wrong.
'Fun' result would be the election of a Boris "Let's get Brexit done" Johnson-led Tory govt combined with a narrow majority for ‘remain’ in a Brexit referendum rerun.
Rise of the right connected directly to 2008 financial collapse, when the wealthiest aren't jailed for their crimes, they will play. Brexit, Trump, used to be you can't take the money with you when you die, now it's what can you destroy with your money before you die. The planet, markets, economies, democracy, its a fire sale.
2 A investigation found a clandestine network of 14 large Facebook pages that exclusively promote content from The Daily Wire
They promote same content, at the same time, w/the same text
Collectively they have 8 million+ fans
3. Facebook's rules explicitly prohibit "coordinated inauthentic behavior" which it defines as "groups of accounts and Pages working together to mislead people about who they are and what they’re doing."
That's exactly what's happening here
4. Facebook says when it finds "coordinated inauthentic behavior" it will "remove all inauthentic and authentic accounts, Pages and groups directly involved"
Facebook admitted that these pages are acting deceptively, but it will not take them down
[…]
8. It's hard to overstate how good The Daily Wire is at gaming Facebook. While a average NYT article received 1871 engagements in September, the average The Daily Wire article received 15283 engagements
At any rate, I “lived” the 2015 election with my heart in my throat, particularly after Mauricio Macri was elected over the Peronist formula, effectively putting an end to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and all the good things she’d been doing (and some of the bad because, let’s be honest, there’s always going to be something bad/questionable).
[…]
Today I woke up to find out that not only did Argentina kicked Macri out unceremoniously, but former president CFK is now Vice President to Alberto Fernández
Today farming leaders and the Government announced a plan to join forces to develop practical and cost-effective ways to measure and price emissions at the farm level by 2025, so that 100 per cent of New Zealand's emissions will be on the path downwards. – Scoop
The cynic in me says the Agriculture lobby expects to hang on for just 2-3 years so that when National gets in they will drop the Plan.
I think we are being overwhelmed by freedom campers and should put limits on visitors – some places insist on sighting return tickets with dates that comply with visas, permits. Then visitors need to show they have enough money to sustain themselves for their holiday so they don't go round stealing, bludging and ripping the country off. We have NZ men who are enough trouble without adding more.
Rubbish-strewn campsites, home-made toilets and illegal felling of native trees by "arrogant and disrespectful" freedom campers at Lake Waikaremoana have shocked and saddened Ngāi Tūhoe.
Crikey! WTF with cutting down trees, that should never ever happen, what pricks for doing so.
Imagine a dedicated freedom camping task force in every region. They could police the freedom campers and share stories about their local area. If people felt a sense of importance about the land they are occupying maybe they would be better behaved.
Would also like to see recycling and rubbish facilities at designated spots as well as toilets. The way I see it, freedom camping isn't going away any time soon, so we may as well mange it instead.
Agree – manage it on location and limit it at the borders. It is not a big income earner, and we can do without these wandering would-be wilderness pretenders. Run the system of woofers as the main intake of long-term visitors, they would have jobs to go to with members who are registered. Lovely people, and a terrific asset to the country, forming friendships and helping out in a valuable way. They would have to be looked after to make sure that local ab-users of the system didn't take advantage, and vice versa.
I would not be surprised if the 'campers' are munters from NZ rather than further afield. The hunters mentioned in the story certainly are. Who brings their own toilet seat with them on holiday?
A third of New Zealanders are cutting down on their meat consumption or not eating any at all, new research shows.
The survey of more than 1000 people found that 31 percent have been limiting their meat intake over the past year, with a further 3 percent being vegetarian or vegan.
Health was cited as the most common reason people were cutting down on meat, followed by concern for the environment and animal welfare.
Some of the survey respondents named taste, nutrition and price as barriers to trying plant-based meat alternatives.
…Despite plant-based meat alternatives evolving from traditional options, the research says only a fifth of New Zealanders have tried this 'new generation' of foods. And a further 44 percent expressed they'd like to try them, including nearly half of those reducing their meat intake.
Vege sausages are $9 for 6 of them. I tried some vegan cheese the other day – man it was not good sadly.
YouTube stars raise over $6m to plant trees around the world
More than 600 creators and social media influencers join campaign to plant 20m trees
A group of YouTube stars have raised more than $6m (£4.7m) to plant trees around the world by rallying their huge numbers of subscribers.
The American YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, was challenged on Reddit in May to plant 20m trees to celebrate reaching 20 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, where he posts videos of extravagant stunts.
He then teamed up with other YouTubers to create the #TeamTrees project with a target of $20m – each $1 donation will plant one tree. Launched on 25 October, the crowdfunder raised $5m in just 48 hours, with $1.75m coming from YouTube alone, which the team claims is a new fundraising record for the site.
How times have changed I can remember when a prominent Maori was grilled live about the same problems being talked about this morning.
Awsome mahi Mike Te gumboot fund for people with vulnerable emotions.
Totally agree with that statement Mike.
Congratulations to Te Netball Wahine.
I would love to go out and back up what I say and join the peaceful protest to protect our futures environment but that move would be putting myself in Check.
What I like about this research is that a few minor changes and our farmers will be mitigateing their carbon footprint. Another great point is the idea works with Papatuanuku and not trying to reinvent her or against her. Ka pai.
Researchers dig deeper in fight against climate change
Researchers have found deep soil holds potential to off-set greenhouse gas emissions and improve production for farmers.
Dr Mike Beare and his colleagues at Plant and Food Research have been studying how soils differ in their potential to store carbon, and the risk for carbon loss.
Many continuous pasture soils in New Zealand are stratified, with carbon levels declining rapidly with depth. "Where there is much greater potential to store additional carbon is below the surface soil," Beare said.
The potential lies beneath the top 15 centimetres.
Plant roots are an important source of the carbon that is constantly being fed into soils and help form the organic matter that improves soil health.
The problem is that even with plants that do send roots below that depth, most of the roots still tend to be concentrated near the surface.
"The challenge is to find productive and profitable plants that produce enough roots below ground," Beare says.
Farmers re-seed pastures every 10-to-15 years, to improve the pastures' production. During this pasture renewal, Beare said farmers could create a deeper topsoil.
Full-inversion tillage buries the carbon-rich top soil below 15cm and brings up the sub-soil material that is under-saturated in carbon
I agree every one is going to lose if we do not change the way we live to minimise our carbon footprint and become a carbon neutral society. We need to stop buying stuff and next minute literally they end up it Te Tangaroa or the dump. Some people are spouting doom and gloom because we have to become minimalist in every Facit of our lives. Reality is they don't want to change. If they don't get on the WAKA to becoming minimalist then I say they will lose.
Some days, I am filled with dread. Some nights, I have trouble sleeping. But I would not swap my job for any other.
As global environment editor for the Guardian, I report from the Amazon to the Arctic on the disappearing wonders of a rapidly deteriorating world. Along with a growing number of colleagues, I investigate who is affected, who is to blame and who is fighting back.
This is both depressing and exciting. The trends for the climate, the oceans, the forests and the soil are unrelentingly frightening. Humanity has never faced a more wicked problem than the collapse of these natural life support systems. Nobody is free of responsibility. Everybody has something to lose, especially those with the most power. The challenge is huge, urgent and beset with opponents. But change is happening nonetheless.
The primary challenge for a journalist is to make it feel personal. Without that, the science becomes abstract, global issues seem too huge to grasp, and it becomes difficult to relate to far off places and other species. Without that, the “environment” slips too easily into an elite pigeonhole for academics, policymakers and middle-class white people, when it should be recognised as the main driver of inequality, conflict and injustice. This is not just another subject; it is a prism through which to see the world.
I came to this view reluctantly. Starting as a cub reporter in Asia in the 1990s, I initially wrote about politics, finance and sport – issues that are traditionally considered newsworthy because they are fast moving, human-focussed and marketable. But the more I travelled as a foreign correspondent, the harder it became to ignore how the degradation of the air, water, soil and climate was threatening people, other species and future generations. These themes rarely made front-page news, but they were often the underlying cause of political tension, economic instability and psychological unease.
That's the way if you have the means Sue the people who are still wrecking our climate with pollution carbon emissions the oil producers.
Iwi leader Mike Smith takes OMV oil boss to International Criminal Court
Māori leader Mike Smith has shot the first arrow in a global war between indigenous communities and oil companies.
Smith has started legal proceedings in the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Rainer Seele, the CEO of Austrian oil giant OMV.
He said oil company executives deserved to stand trial for genocide and other climate crimes impacting on indigenous communities now and in the future
"They choose to put profit ahead of millions of people all over the world who will suffer the effects of climate change. It's a crime of global proportions. I know it sounds dramatic but that's because it is. We need to hold these people to account."
Smith is currently in Vienna, Austria where the OMV headquarters is based. He held a media conference outside their offices to announce the legal challenge.
"We managed to chase out all the rest of them and turn the government around so we're not taking anymore permits," Smith said.
Once we get rid of this lot then we become an exemplar to the rest of the world."
In July, Smith filed proceedings in the High Court against the Government for failing to protect Māori from climate change
Smith recently travelled to Mexico where he met with indigenous leaders from central and southern American tribes and First Nations people in Canada. He also attended the United Nations Indigenous Caucus earlier this year.
The indigenous groups would join Smith in starting legal proceedings against a number of oil bosses in the ICC based in The Hague, Netherlands.
We're expecting these companies to play dirty," Smith said.
Here we go people not respecting the beautiful creatures in our Wai Tuna being killed because they don't give a stuff. What a waste of a taonga and a precious resource.
The dead and dying eels were discovered by Napier resident Matiu Heremia encased in tonnes of mud that had been dumped on the banks of the Moteo River in February.
His video of the dead eels went viral on Facebook prompting MPI to investigate the council's practice and the council itself to halt all drain works while it undertook its own review.
Eight months later MPI said it had "insufficient evidence" to lay any charges
Matiu Heremia, who alongside family members, worked for hours to rescue eels that were still alive and return them to the river, said MPI's decision was "appalling."
"It's absolute bollocks. In that video [there were] tonnes and tonnes of eel in that mud. There's enough evidence there to prosecute as far as I'm concerned."
If that was me that hauled all those eels out of a drain I'd be in trouble … they'd come down on me like a tonne of bricks."
Many Māori caught illegally fishing were not treated with such leniency, he said.
The misleading information unit is needed in this day and age.
Katie the business close to the Tamarik Makaru city rail link will be happy that the government and council are putting a fund together to help for their loss of customers and profits.
The wild life of Australia are suffering from the huge bushfire what a shame.
Never mind Hine 4 years is not long then you can get a 100 vote majority kia kaha.
Ka pai to Te puea marae for looking after the homeless tangata and Wahine and who have bullying Tane. I say all Iwi should invest in Whare for Te tangata you know that old saying As Safe As Whare.
It looks like the new Crown unit to stop social media fake news is being used against me the sole purpose for the old white men who have the power who have been shaping our society since Rob Muldoon. It's time to kick these old farts out of power.
IE they blocked my devices this morning.
Ka kite Ano
I tried to stay out of the forestry debacle. But one does not sell Te Whenua to anyone it is a finite resource that needs to be kept in Kiwis hands or we will all become tenants in our own Aotearoa.
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
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. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
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By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
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Someone should tell the corporate media a good 50% of the country hardly even noticed the rugby world cup and of the rest most were over it on Sunday afternoon.
The way our corporate media have managed to suck any joy out of the RWC with their incessant clickbait stories that are a weird combination of braggadocio and insecurity has been amazing. And still, thtree days later, Susie Ferguson insults the intelligence of her listeners (again) by a) making her first question to Jacinda about the rugby then going for a gotcha. Seriously, there is more important things than trying to foot trip the PM over a three day old rugby match.
Ain't that the truth, I haven't heard one work mate discuss the world cup these last few months, I don't think anyone even knew it was on, I watched one game as I was staying in a motel and they had terrestrial telly, I would have watched more if it was accessible, the greedy bastards are killing the interest in the game in the name of short term profit.
Wow ….where do you work? The morgue? We have had plenty of talk at work about it over the last few weeks although its a lot quieter now!
Jimmy This is a place of relatively free expression of what is happening personally to you. Because someone expresses something different to what you feel or have experienced shouldn't be an opportunity for you to sneer at them and ask them if they work in a morgue.
You could have left those first two questioning sentences out. Why be combative and negative about other how other people's random comment about something. Like I am at present! But with a desire to get better interaction amongst us.
Excuse me greywarshark but I don't think Jimmy was being anything of the sort. His comment was a very Kiwi way of expressing his surprise with a smattering of humour thrown in.
Each to his own. It's not your place to tell others how to express themselves here – or anywhere else.
Agree – a pretty standard, funny and slightly pointed kiwi saying. I can't sense malice in that.
greywarshark should be warned to stay away from Taika Waititi's JoJo Rabbit. The kiwi comedy in that (kiwiism warning!) would blow his tiny little mind, especially as it is tempered with very serious themes and moral issues.
aom You don't understand much of what you see and read if you think I don't deeply concern myself with 'very serious themes and moral issues'. You are just a learner compared to where i come from. So soak up all you can and you might get wise.
It's not your place to come here and tell me not to express myself about what I think is important Anne. It is what you do yourself all the time, coming from a feeling of entitlement I think. And it goes against the Open Mike zeitgeist. So don't preach to me in your didactic way.
Do you ever stop and look and listen to yourself. ‘It is not your place’ you say to me. Is that classless speech? Are you really interested in democracy but rather talking down to others who haven’t reached your height of seniority in your profession?
Anne, consider your hand smacked by the TS's own Clayton's moderator- LOL.
But life has its comedy moments – and TS has its comedy juxtapositions of comments at times. Today's is a classic – G's reply to you has landed immediately under G's reply to aom. Read together (particularly the last two sentences in the reply to aom) they are laughable. Talk about lacking in self-awareness, and not looking and listening to one's self.
Enjoy! kia kaha
Hi veutoviper,
I was earlier unable to respond with anything other than an emoticon.
Thanks for the words of encouragement.
I think Greywarshark needs to learn to treat other people's comments with more care and attention. He/she seems occasionally vulnerable to misinterpretations. Perhaps a bit of a furlough and some internal reflection would be advisable before he/she starts laying down the law to other people who might wish to comment here.
Hi Greywarshark…apologies then as I was not meaning to offend anyone. Love the rugby, or hate the rugby, it is the most important thing to so many kiwis. I am not a huge fan myself but will follow the world cup. (and even the soccer world cup when its on).
I was simply amazed that people were not talking about it in some way at I feel the love's work place. For anyone that does work in a morgue, I did not mean to be nasty or put them down as they do an extremely important job that many people would probably not do.
Agree… It is one of our few growth industries.
Hi Jimmy – It was just a thought – we in NZ are too inclined to negativity I think. Also some people find rugby a bit of a faux way to come together in NZ. And find the brutal approach which shows up in spear tackling and the love of big men crashing into each other a bit pathetic as an example of the finest and most charismatic sport here.
Lately I looked at the local film called Bludgeon, and I reckon that would be a great sport for physical guys, and it involves armour that a man or woman could make themselves and use metal-working skills, so a steep learning curve and giving more individual satisfaction than rugby.
Fair bit of crash and bash there. But there is a code of conduct. But still some risk – I think blokes like taking on risk with judgment of how to avoid it. What did you think of Bludgeon? It's different, could be good. Might be an alternative to rugby, so we have more than one claim to fame eh?
We need to get more positive in NZ and talk to each other in a way that promotes that, and that aids conversation and helps in getting to know that person and what's good about them. That is something I think we need to work on in NZ – my opinion. So I throw in Bludgeon as an extra talking point to rugby.
Thinking about negativity. NZrs are said to be a bit dour, and our creative output can follow that. But perhaps we get insight through it in a way, but then have watch not to set in negative mode. Scandinavia is a place that has to do this also I hear – they can suffer from SAD.*
*Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you're like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody.Oct 25, 2017
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20364651
Ha! My workplace ranges in ages from early 20s to mid 60s, a few 100 people, all walks of life in Dunedin, men and women, and I haven't heard one mention or RWC or the ABs losing, what can I say but that is what I see. We have pools for Melbourne cup and other major sports but no one did one for the rugby. I've no doubt there are fans because people do play and I recall talk of a shield game, but seriously, it's a game being killed by its expense. I don't mind the game, but I don't mind any sport, I just don't favour any and have better things to spend my money on. Just my view.
There were a pile of flags at work in the last few weeks. Mostly because the plants were removed before we move. A few mad keen rugby nuts talking about something that I hadn't seen.
Some dribble in the papers that looked like more mindless advertising.
Personally I just ignored it. Have better things to waste time on.
I pretty much give up on sports activities when I finish doing them. These days physical activity is mainly restricted to the daily commuting to work on a e-bike and the weekend chores on it. Limited supply of enthusiasts for that as well as the rugby
I'd guess it really matters to 30% of the population….but only for a couple of weeks.
I mean come on, it's a game based on the random bounce of an odd-shaped ball.
' a game based on the random bounce of an odd-shaped ball. ' Sounds like an analogy for life really, as in the start when our eggie got fertilised.
It's less important as a game, as having once been a major community binding activity. Having fallen under the dual pressures of urbanization and professionalization, rugby is no longer a uniting communal obsession. Like the churches, its congregation are aging and diminishing.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-50134723/singapore-the-artist-cutting-off-the-head-of-a-british-colonialist
Interesting perspective and quite relevant. A resurgence in anti-colonial sentiment (not that I want to stir the hornet's nest) – No Siree! Quite a few quite capable of stirring up shit, acting like missionaries and imposing their will all by themselves.
I know rugby is regarded by some here primarily through the lens of a fanatical culture war item, but I don't really care for the tiresome whining of the anti-rugby brigade so if you are not interested in discussing it – in the nicest possible way just don't comment and f**k off to anther topic. 🙂
So onto rugby.
If I were the NZRFU I would be alarmed at the general indifference the public has shown to the All Black's defeat. We are not "more mature' – it is just a huge number of people no longer give a shit. General interest in the game peaked twenty years and has been in decline ever since. Rugby is of no interest to an increasingly large percentage of the population. Kids nowadays have been alienated by an elite school system that actively discourages participation for fun as a burden on their winning. The game has been behind a paywall for a generation that has seen it's support base becoming increasing elderly, white and middle class. The focus on the apex means club and now provincial rugby has been gutted. The NPC is a now a complete farce – does anyone seriously believe Tasman has the best pool of provincial players in NZ?
The general public is chronically over exposed to rugby from February to December and is IMHO sick to death of saturation uncritical coverage in the corporate media. Outside a few pockets no one is interested in provincial rugby, there is to much super rugby and too many All Blacks tests. The NPC was once the engine of the game – home of tribalism, huge unwavering support and where the interest in the game was actually highest. Now? I don't think so, especially in Auckland where the complacency and disinterest of the NZRFU at the decline of rugby should be a huge sports media scandal.
Steve Tew will leave a game utterly hollowed out by professionalism. His whole era was characterised by increasingly desperate efforts to slow – but never halt – the decline of NZ's rugby power in the face of the huge wads of money being laundered through sports clubs in the Europe. In order to buy another season of All Black success, the NZRFU has destroyed the game below the elite level and now- in the light of the hiding the All Blacks just got – those chickens are coming home to roost at elite level as well. The NZRFU has never really had a plan to sustain rugby in NZ for a generation, and our well resourced sports media are not about to call them out on it.
The problem is the NZ media are basically PR for rugby, so the general public gets no sensible debate about the direction of the game, the dropping interest, it's massive over-exposure or the issues of player loss. No one wants to talk about how player loss has gutted the quality of the rugby championship and weakened the All Blacks depth. Once Ben Smith suddenly became over the hill and Reiko Ioane apparently lost interest in playing for the All Blacks after Hanson publically dissed his brother our lack of depth was exposed at first five and wing (why is no one asking Hanson about the reasons for Reiko's loss of form?) What difference would having Charles Piutau, Lima Sopoaga, Steven Luatua, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Liam Squire, Luke Whitelock and Jackson Hemopo made had they been available? Especially as they play in positions where we were totally found out like lose forward, lock, and wing. They won't, because it would be to imply all is not well in the three rings and the media are part of the circus.
Sanc…I should point out that, despite my comment above, I was glued to both RWC semi-finals for the whole game in the Hawea Pub….I think rugby is a wonderful game….just not quite in the league of climate change or Brexit for its implications.
Yeah, I love rugby as well. To the point I actually believe being good at it should possibly attract a government subsidy to keep th best players here. Take the money from defense, I'd rather see nationalism at Eden Park than cheering a parade of tanks.
Why do the best players need to stay here ? Our lack of depth IMO is because we have this boys club approach to only local players getting an AB gig, Via the super 15/16 whatever it is now which is a created, invite only league.
Brazil/Argentina haven't won their world cups in football with 'local' players exclusively. There's a world out there we should welcome our players going OS to. Geez the current world champs don't give their centre forward a game because he's not making the field at Chelsea, that's a position we should be in !
Our local game would probably flourish if more got a chance via the big names following the $$$ offshore. It's pure market forces etc a.k.a. professionalism, something the NZRU have mostly sucked at since day 1./
The decision was made years ago to focus on the All Black's brand and the creation of an elite player program to feed a steady stream of new All Blacks into the squad. Everything else was sacrificed – mass participation, club rugby, the NPC and now even Super Rugby – to that end. But No one is asking if that model is fundamentally flawed. The parade of clueless doofus mercenaries being churned out from our elite school system and academies is testament to the flaws in the current model, as is the decline interest and participation. These new generation elite players have had the red carpet rolled out for them since they hit about 14 years old, and are only used to winning and have a huge sense of entitlement to a fat professional salary. They are starting to bugger off once they realise that the All Blacks is a bit harder than they thought and they can get just as much dosh for half the effort playing in France. Being an All Black for an increasing number of these elite players is now a bit like making porno movies for a few years is for a whore – a sort of video CV for the better paying whales and sugar daddies.
An alternative does/did exist – get government funding for the cultural component of the game and emphasise mass participation, club and NPC level and a cut down professional competition including Australia. Accept the inevitable of overseas money luring away our best players (akin to Brazilians and Argentinians accepting their best players are all in Europe) and just work out a strategy to get them back in time to ensure we remain rugby world champions.
That way, when the current era of massively overpaid professional sport eventually eats itself (as it is showing signs of doing with the falling interest from people who can longer afford to watch, the obsolescence of the paywall TV model to fund it all and the increasing demand for low carbon – i.e. no flying everywhere – sport) at least you'll still have a game left to administer.
It won't happen, because unlike football, all the TV money goes to the union instead of the clubs, but the centralised contracts should go and players become free agents, able to move between teams across borders and still be available for national selection.
That would mean clear windows for international tests, just like soccer, which could if done right, also be of benefit to tier two nations and a way of growing the sport globally.
+1, Sanctuary.
The same malaise has afflicted many of our sports, with the same depletion of overall participation, and the death of many of what used to be healthy local clubs.
In practice overseas clubs do affect a players availability for selection for a national side elsewhere, especially as clubs and national games overlap.
Would English clubs try to restrict NZ players being selected for the All Blacks ? You bet
I don't recall any club v country rows in English football for quite some time, with South American, African and Asian players turning out for their nations, even when tournaments are held during the season. Son Heung min from Spurs played in the Asian cup this year, for example, though the African cup of nations has now switched to the European off season recently.
The key is obviously well organised international windows for cups, qualification purposes and friendlies. Like I said above, it won't happen under the current system but it could with the necessary changes.
Don't think that we have any tanks.
Arent the LAV a sort of modern version as they have a cannon , especially against demonstrators in cities which cant put up much resistance.
NZ LAV = APC replacement
Did the APC have a turret mounted cannon like the LAVs do?
Off the top of my head the NZ APCs had .50 cal only.
Technically the NZ LAVs are infantry fighting vehicles (= APC with cannon stuck on top). Basically a more heavily armed infantry taxi.
I'd rather be dead in a ditch than agree to a Brexit delay.… okay, just this once..https://twitter.com/AP/status/1188876292457934851
Boorish needs to remember that he is supposed to be following the will of the people, and not just his own – that is dictatorship. And for those who are going to trot out the bit about the referendum 'indicating the will of the people', I laugh at you. How can people make up their minds for some action based on unfair information, lies to deceive?? What gimcrack idea of democracy are you fostering? What sort of person are you who quotes prim verse out of a text which does not include the principle of straight and honest dealing?
To have a matter put before the people which will overturn or affect all of a country's policies is a major undertaking for them to consider carefully. To treat it as if they were voting to have a new library that would only stock records of UK writing and thinking, is an attempt at deception by a very devious, even criminally fraudulent group of politicians. And then to suggest that a mere simple majority is sufficient for such a proposal, and then set out to confuse the trusting or ignorant populace, is irredeemably malicious.
To call for a change within Parliament of an election date different from the normal, a snap election*, requires 66% or two-thirds of the House of the representatives of the people to make a rearrangement of that grouping who are mere servants of the people. Yet just a simple majority for a matter affecting and at the heart of all the people and country, that they are supposed to be serving!
This shows a wish to take power over the people and indeed the country. It is in effect, a coup planned by the unscrupulous, and those Members in the part of Parliament who stand for the people are putting up a desperate battle, using all the law and precedents that they can. These have been introduced to give the country a strong and reliable Parliament without a resort to violence to debase Parliament and then enable the winners to take control the country. (And there have already been murders in the political sphere, these should not be overlooked, as preliminary skirmishes.)
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap_election#United_Kingdom
PS joe90 – I wonder how the photographers got a shot of Boorish in front of a poster about Sepsis and Infection? Or is this an example of photo-shopping – part of the playing around with images, leading to serious falsifying that the simple minds of we ordinary people have to examine carefully to form an opinion. No longer ‘seeing is believing’.
It's a scam. Someone pulls a empty cheque out writes brexit on it, then says sign here. Nobody is signing that without details put in. Blank cheque politics goes against every grain. Parliament is never going to ratify the deal, it would put their name on it, and for whatever reason… …Tory voters who want to stay in, or Labour voters who want to end austerity, or Libs who have said no. The only way to move on is to put the deal to the electorate in a referendum. Boris is an unelected leader of a minority party that demands the scam be accepted. Put up or shut up, put the deal to the people in a referendum, let them sign the cheque. Oh, and that means expat too.
Parliament has ratified the deal. They did so last week ,as per the procedure with the agreement to be tabled so that it becomes a public document
. It well known that the deal in this context is the full agreement between UK and EU negotiators.
Additional legislation and regulations follow too cover the fine details of the law over various aspects of Brexit : Agriculture , Fisheries, Financial Services, Immigration and so on.
PM Johnson is desperate for another general election (after 2 years and 4 months), but reluctant to rerun the Brexit referendum (after 3 years and 4 months.)
Why not rerun both at the same time, if only to clarify the 'mood' of a better-informed U.K. electorate? I see one parallel in the NZ National-led government claiming that their election win was a mandate for the massive transfer of public assets/wealth into private ownership, despite opinion polls at the time showing a clear majority of those polled were opposed.
Brexit will consolidate the already vast power and influence of U.K./multinational wealth. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Dont think any party in UK wants that.
I think you are confused about what Brexit will do . Its the EU that was consolidating power , especailly with the Euro ( which Britain almost by accident was able to avoid)
Ask the people of Greece , Spain Italy etc about EU austerity.
The people of Greece even voted by a large majority against the EUs austerity deal, but as is Normal with the EU bureaucrats and financial mandarins they forced the Greek government to take even harsher medicine.
Like I said you seem to have 'forgotten' how much the EU is despised for its economic policies , not only in Britain.
Duke, I though it was more about bananas than mandarins – don't have a dog in this contest of ideas, but none of my 'elitist' academic colleagues are particularly thrilled about the possible net effect of Brexit on UK university research and teaching programmes.
Your suggestion to "Ask the people of Greece , Spain Italy etc about EU austerity" is a good one – asking electorates about where they stand on important issues, by way of (binding) referenda, is a great idea IMHO.
In the UK, national referenda are not constitutionally binding, and since the UK has held only three national referenda [in 1975 (UK remaining in the EEC [Labour]), 2011 (voting system [Tory]), and 2016 (Brexit [Tory])], I can understand the reluctance for a fourth, particularly given the unsettling mess that the third delivered.
However, since there appears to be some uncertainty as to whether a simple majority of UK voters currently support Brexit (3 years and four months on), I just wondered if another general election (2 years and 4 months on) might be the perfect opportunity to test the current mood of the electorate on Brexit. After all, it’s an issue which some at least consider to have quite far-reaching consequences, more so even than cannabis which the NZ electorate will be voting on next year.
I watched an interesting presentation by Tom Scott at the Royal Society called there is no Algorithm for Truth. He starts off with a challenge, what if a supposed algorithm for internet truth decides (correctly) that a no deal brexit is the best for the UK. The question being (to the audience) do you therefore accept this, or respond by trying to amplify your position? I think you should conduct the same thought experiment based on the fact that at least 40 something percent of the UK disagree with your position.
I didn't realise that 40% of UK were watching me for a lead. That is a serious responsibility and i will bear it in mind Nic the NZer. Are you Nic the ex Pom?
No. Neither if us has a particular right to speak for the UK in general I would say.
There is an algorithm for Truth
Its called Theology. Thats why it the idea, if used in politics is totally unworkable.
Jezza puts the needle in.
https://twitter.com/Doozy_45/status/1188872295051345920?
Good on Corbyn for getting his lines in when they are on offer. I think its quite weak rhetoric though as parliament forced Boris to do it. Would they rather he refused to ask for an extension over parliaments will here?
It is a fluid matter of possibilities and probabilities and who will vote for who in the UK. Knowing what the situation is in detail, would help to understand why certain things are/not being done.
This is an interesting piece on Johnson from aljazeera.
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/boris-johnson-britain-prime-minister-190722183952925.html?utm_source=website&utm_medium=article_page&utm_campaign=read_more_links
The letter was unsigned and was the exact text in the Benn Act about asking for an extension.
Cover letters made it clear Johnson wasnt 'asking for it' at all. Parliament made him do it.
When you've previously agreed to do a favour for your boss and work the occasional cash in hand extra, at their suggestion, only to be told a couple of days after doing the last one it's now on the books.
Wont be doing that again.
Good on you mate.But you and your boss were equally responsible for tax evasion.Your not alone unfortunately.Ripping off genuine taxpayers seems to be a national sport.
It was only a few hours work, so not really about the money, more the being lied to.
And while I get the point about tax evasion, and certainly not mitigating it after the fact, unemployed people can earn up to $90pw without affecting entitlements, and with my hourly rate, it wasn't even near that much.
unemployed people can earn up to $90pw without affecting entitlements,
What that fuck has that got to do with it? They are supposed to pay tax too.
ISTR back in the day that there was some threshold ($200?) of undeclared income that IRD didn't give a damn about.
A few hours work isn't the problem. "Family trusts" and corporate tax sandwiches are the problem.
You could well be right that IRD don’t “give a damn”.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/116799972/revenue-minister-stuart-nash-queries-ird-over-staff-engagement-rate-of-29
Well it doesn't matter now as I've paid the tax on the $60 I earned, including extra towards my student loan payment. It's okay, the country can afford light rail in Auckland after all.
No telling what we can achieve as soon as we stop off the books cash payments to babysitters.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/100078541/cash-payments-will-always-leave-a-trail-inland-revenue-says
“A cash job is any payment on which tax is not paid. That might be the $40 you leave out for your house cleaner, $50 for a babysitter or $1000 for a plumber fixing your shower.”
As long as they don’t tax paper boys 😉
paper boys have gone extinct I think
Right, and the good old posties are next. No wonder they want to do away with paper voting. Mailboxes are only good for junkmail nowadays.
If I leave $40 for a cleaner or gardener, I don't care if they do their paperwork properly.
When the multinational sharks start paying tax on their hundreds of millions of income before expenditure, then we can sweep up a few minnows who failed to declare a little bit of income here and there.
IRD will go after non-monetary earnings too. If you trade hours of your normal paid work for someone else's hours (or some veggies), your hours are taxable.
TA is talking about working for not much money, to put in other words he sounds poor, and that's what the fuck he is concerned about, and to improve that situation even slightly.
Still has absolutely nothing to do with benefit abatement rates.
exactly – an unrelated issue not connected other than the unemployed often get dragged into non-related points.
Not quite true, as some households on benefits bring in more than mine, yet they're still permitted to earn $90 pw on top, a third more than I was in line for, but as I implied, it's not a contest, and I certainly don't begrudge them that extra.
yet they're still permitted to earn $90 pw on top
They still pay tax on it. I don't see the point you are trying to make. It seems as marty says, that the unemployed often get dragged into non-related points. That it is somehow ok for you to cheat on tax because unemployed people.
Okay, I was under the impression that someone not working and then earning such a small amount wouldn't pay any tax, but I checked it out and found I was wrong.
I am poor, but relatively speaking, I'm not really.
'Why not rerun both at the same time,'…splendid suggestion =the 'best out of 3' ..option!
'Fun' result would be the election of a Boris "Let's get Brexit done" Johnson-led Tory govt combined with a narrow majority for ‘remain’ in a Brexit referendum rerun.
Rise of the right connected directly to 2008 financial collapse, when the wealthiest aren't jailed for their crimes, they will play. Brexit, Trump, used to be you can't take the money with you when you die, now it's what can you destroy with your money before you die. The planet, markets, economies, democracy, its a fire sale.
How Facebook coddles and promotes RWNJ's and their freeze peach above all others.
https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/1188797290527498240
2 A investigation found a clandestine network of 14 large Facebook pages that exclusively promote content from The Daily Wire
They promote same content, at the same time, w/the same text
Collectively they have 8 million+ fans
3. Facebook's rules explicitly prohibit "coordinated inauthentic behavior" which it defines as "groups of accounts and Pages working together to mislead people about who they are and what they’re doing."
That's exactly what's happening here
4. Facebook says when it finds "coordinated inauthentic behavior" it will "remove all inauthentic and authentic accounts, Pages and groups directly involved"
Facebook admitted that these pages are acting deceptively, but it will not take them down
[…]
8. It's hard to overstate how good The Daily Wire is at gaming Facebook. While a average NYT article received 1871 engagements in September, the average The Daily Wire article received 15283 engagements
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1188797290527498240.html
https://popular.info/p/facebook-allows-prominent-right-wing
Argentinian buoyed by the election of a centre-left candidate.
At any rate, I “lived” the 2015 election with my heart in my throat, particularly after Mauricio Macri was elected over the Peronist formula, effectively putting an end to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and all the good things she’d been doing (and some of the bad because, let’s be honest, there’s always going to be something bad/questionable).
[…]
Today I woke up to find out that not only did Argentina kicked Macri out unceremoniously, but former president CFK is now Vice President to Alberto Fernández
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/10/28/1895561/-My-hopes-shot-up-this-morning
The cynic in me says the Agriculture lobby expects to hang on for just 2-3 years so that when National gets in they will drop the Plan.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1910/S00190/world-first-plan-for-farmers-to-reduce-emissions.htm
World first – I hate that term now. We were the world's first to drop our drawers and go freest market. Prostitutes are more practical.
I think we are being overwhelmed by freedom campers and should put limits on visitors – some places insist on sighting return tickets with dates that comply with visas, permits. Then visitors need to show they have enough money to sustain themselves for their holiday so they don't go round stealing, bludging and ripping the country off. We have NZ men who are enough trouble without adding more.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/402025/arrogant-and-disrespectful-freedom-campers-sadden-ngai-tuhoe
New Zealand Te Ao Māori
'Arrogant and disrespectful' freedom campers sadden Ngāi Tūhoe 3:19 pm today
Rubbish-strewn campsites, home-made toilets and illegal felling of native trees by "arrogant and disrespectful" freedom campers at Lake Waikaremoana have shocked and saddened Ngāi Tūhoe.
Crikey! WTF with cutting down trees, that should never ever happen, what pricks for doing so.
Imagine a dedicated freedom camping task force in every region. They could police the freedom campers and share stories about their local area. If people felt a sense of importance about the land they are occupying maybe they would be better behaved.
Would also like to see recycling and rubbish facilities at designated spots as well as toilets. The way I see it, freedom camping isn't going away any time soon, so we may as well mange it instead.
Agree – manage it on location and limit it at the borders. It is not a big income earner, and we can do without these wandering would-be wilderness pretenders. Run the system of woofers as the main intake of long-term visitors, they would have jobs to go to with members who are registered. Lovely people, and a terrific asset to the country, forming friendships and helping out in a valuable way. They would have to be looked after to make sure that local ab-users of the system didn't take advantage, and vice versa.
I would not be surprised if the 'campers' are munters from NZ rather than further afield. The hunters mentioned in the story certainly are. Who brings their own toilet seat with them on holiday?
bottle wall, sounds like Kiwis to me.
Too many tourist freedom campers as well, and councils restricting where Kiwis can camp because of that is fucked up.
I wondered why the White Helmets didn't show up to help the Kurds
Not just about fighting fires either
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/15b19407-31f2-4709-ab99-580b6a66dc72
Speaking of the Kurds you may find this interesting (if you haven't already read it) https://www.voltairenet.org/article207992.html
I wonder what the white helmets will do with the latest handout from Thrump.
They could donate it to the OPCW of course
https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/opcw-losing-credibility-as-even-more-revelations-surface-on-douma-755a0621710b
Hey thanks Brigid
Hadn't come across those links
Jonathan Steele is a brave man!He was one of the few decent journalists at the Guardian, but now mostly writes for Middle East Eye
Good work citizens
Surely cost would be one of the main reasons?
Yeah I would have thought so too
Vege sausages are $9 for 6 of them. I tried some vegan cheese the other day – man it was not good sadly.
That's the way we need to plant billions of trees to slow Global warming and Sea level rising.
The more people that understand global warming the sooner we will ramp up the changes needed to minimise it.
YouTube
YouTube stars raise over $6m to plant trees around the world
More than 600 creators and social media influencers join campaign to plant 20m trees
A group of YouTube stars have raised more than $6m (£4.7m) to plant trees around the world by rallying their huge numbers of subscribers.
The American YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, was challenged on Reddit in May to plant 20m trees to celebrate reaching 20 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, where he posts videos of extravagant stunts.
He then teamed up with other YouTubers to create the #TeamTrees project with a target of $20m – each $1 donation will plant one tree. Launched on 25 October, the crowdfunder raised $5m in just 48 hours, with $1.75m coming from YouTube alone, which the team claims is a new fundraising record for the site.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/29/youtube-stars-fundraise-plant-trees-around-the-world
Kia Ora 1 News.
A election in Britain this year.
The Grenfield fire was shocking heap of people lives lost.
I can remember watching Greece it was the a movie that shaped cultures.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I think that protecting our futures environment is important.
Suicide is a waste of people lives and very sad.
I agree with Moana Jackson.
That's awesome Pharmacist being given a clearance to administer measles vaxcernations.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Breakfast.
How times have changed I can remember when a prominent Maori was grilled live about the same problems being talked about this morning.
Awsome mahi Mike Te gumboot fund for people with vulnerable emotions.
Totally agree with that statement Mike.
Congratulations to Te Netball Wahine.
I would love to go out and back up what I say and join the peaceful protest to protect our futures environment but that move would be putting myself in Check.
Ka kite Ano.
What I like about this research is that a few minor changes and our farmers will be mitigateing their carbon footprint. Another great point is the idea works with Papatuanuku and not trying to reinvent her or against her. Ka pai.
Researchers dig deeper in fight against climate change
Researchers have found deep soil holds potential to off-set greenhouse gas emissions and improve production for farmers.
Dr Mike Beare and his colleagues at Plant and Food Research have been studying how soils differ in their potential to store carbon, and the risk for carbon loss.
Many continuous pasture soils in New Zealand are stratified, with carbon levels declining rapidly with depth. "Where there is much greater potential to store additional carbon is below the surface soil," Beare said.
The potential lies beneath the top 15 centimetres.
Plant roots are an important source of the carbon that is constantly being fed into soils and help form the organic matter that improves soil health.
The problem is that even with plants that do send roots below that depth, most of the roots still tend to be concentrated near the surface.
"The challenge is to find productive and profitable plants that produce enough roots below ground," Beare says.
Farmers re-seed pastures every 10-to-15 years, to improve the pastures' production. During this pasture renewal, Beare said farmers could create a deeper topsoil.
Full-inversion tillage buries the carbon-rich top soil below 15cm and brings up the sub-soil material that is under-saturated in carbon
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/116646839/researchers-dig-deeper-in-fight-against-climate-change
I agree every one is going to lose if we do not change the way we live to minimise our carbon footprint and become a carbon neutral society. We need to stop buying stuff and next minute literally they end up it Te Tangaroa or the dump. Some people are spouting doom and gloom because we have to become minimalist in every Facit of our lives. Reality is they don't want to change. If they don't get on the WAKA to becoming minimalist then I say they will lose.
Some days, I am filled with dread. Some nights, I have trouble sleeping. But I would not swap my job for any other.
As global environment editor for the Guardian, I report from the Amazon to the Arctic on the disappearing wonders of a rapidly deteriorating world. Along with a growing number of colleagues, I investigate who is affected, who is to blame and who is fighting back.
This is both depressing and exciting. The trends for the climate, the oceans, the forests and the soil are unrelentingly frightening. Humanity has never faced a more wicked problem than the collapse of these natural life support systems. Nobody is free of responsibility. Everybody has something to lose, especially those with the most power. The challenge is huge, urgent and beset with opponents. But change is happening nonetheless.
The primary challenge for a journalist is to make it feel personal. Without that, the science becomes abstract, global issues seem too huge to grasp, and it becomes difficult to relate to far off places and other species. Without that, the “environment” slips too easily into an elite pigeonhole for academics, policymakers and middle-class white people, when it should be recognised as the main driver of inequality, conflict and injustice. This is not just another subject; it is a prism through which to see the world.
I came to this view reluctantly. Starting as a cub reporter in Asia in the 1990s, I initially wrote about politics, finance and sport – issues that are traditionally considered newsworthy because they are fast moving, human-focussed and marketable. But the more I travelled as a foreign correspondent, the harder it became to ignore how the degradation of the air, water, soil and climate was threatening people, other species and future generations. These themes rarely made front-page news, but they were often the underlying cause of political tension, economic instability and psychological unease.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/28/everybody-has-something-to-lose-the-exciting-depressing-life-of-a-climate-writer
That's the way if you have the means Sue the people who are still wrecking our climate with pollution carbon emissions the oil producers.
Iwi leader Mike Smith takes OMV oil boss to International Criminal Court
Māori leader Mike Smith has shot the first arrow in a global war between indigenous communities and oil companies.
Smith has started legal proceedings in the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Rainer Seele, the CEO of Austrian oil giant OMV.
He said oil company executives deserved to stand trial for genocide and other climate crimes impacting on indigenous communities now and in the future
"They choose to put profit ahead of millions of people all over the world who will suffer the effects of climate change. It's a crime of global proportions. I know it sounds dramatic but that's because it is. We need to hold these people to account."
Smith is currently in Vienna, Austria where the OMV headquarters is based. He held a media conference outside their offices to announce the legal challenge.
"We managed to chase out all the rest of them and turn the government around so we're not taking anymore permits," Smith said.
Once we get rid of this lot then we become an exemplar to the rest of the world."
In July, Smith filed proceedings in the High Court against the Government for failing to protect Māori from climate change
Smith recently travelled to Mexico where he met with indigenous leaders from central and southern American tribes and First Nations people in Canada. He also attended the United Nations Indigenous Caucus earlier this year.
The indigenous groups would join Smith in starting legal proceedings against a number of oil bosses in the ICC based in The Hague, Netherlands.
We're expecting these companies to play dirty," Smith said.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/116938671/iwi-leader-mike-smith-takes-omv-oil-boss-to-international-criminal-court
Here we go people not respecting the beautiful creatures in our Wai Tuna being killed because they don't give a stuff. What a waste of a taonga and a precious resource.
No-one will be prosecuted over the death of potentially hundreds of long-finned eels dug up and dumped by Hawke's Bay Regional Council workers clearing a drain, the Ministry for Primary Industries says.
The dead and dying eels were discovered by Napier resident Matiu Heremia encased in tonnes of mud that had been dumped on the banks of the Moteo River in February.
His video of the dead eels went viral on Facebook prompting MPI to investigate the council's practice and the council itself to halt all drain works while it undertook its own review.
Eight months later MPI said it had "insufficient evidence" to lay any charges
Matiu Heremia, who alongside family members, worked for hours to rescue eels that were still alive and return them to the river, said MPI's decision was "appalling."
"It's absolute bollocks. In that video [there were] tonnes and tonnes of eel in that mud. There's enough evidence there to prosecute as far as I'm concerned."
If that was me that hauled all those eels out of a drain I'd be in trouble … they'd come down on me like a tonne of bricks."
Many Māori caught illegally fishing were not treated with such leniency, he said.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/402185/no-prosecutions-over-eel-deaths-that-followed-work-by-hawke-s-bay-regional-council
Kia Ora 1 News
The misleading information unit is needed in this day and age.
Katie the business close to the Tamarik Makaru city rail link will be happy that the government and council are putting a fund together to help for their loss of customers and profits.
The wild life of Australia are suffering from the huge bushfire what a shame.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Never mind Hine 4 years is not long then you can get a 100 vote majority kia kaha.
Ka pai to Te puea marae for looking after the homeless tangata and Wahine and who have bullying Tane. I say all Iwi should invest in Whare for Te tangata you know that old saying As Safe As Whare.
They don't even want to share one seat.
Ka kite Ano
Kia ora they blocked my phone.
https://youtu.be/LHCob76kigA
It looks like the new Crown unit to stop social media fake news is being used against me the sole purpose for the old white men who have the power who have been shaping our society since Rob Muldoon. It's time to kick these old farts out of power.
IE they blocked my devices this morning.
Ka kite Ano
I tried to stay out of the forestry debacle. But one does not sell Te Whenua to anyone it is a finite resource that needs to be kept in Kiwis hands or we will all become tenants in our own Aotearoa.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/402225/forestry-conversions-rules-totally-out-of-control