It'll be good to see if the TWAW crowd will bring themselves to watch and come to the realisation current definition of transwomen includes these men.
The irony of criticising Act (for beingAct) when Golriz Ghahraman and the Green Party have succeeded on dismantling women's rights and hounding out heretics from the party to do so.
A veteran Green Party feminist and lesbian activist has sparked a storm among party members by warning that MPs' attitudes to transgender issues risks undermining women's rights.
Jill Abigail wrote an article for the party's online newsletter Te Awa in response to comments by MP Jan Logie that the party was trying to resist a backlash against trans people.
Party co-leader Marama Davidson says the article put the right of trans people to exist up for debate, and should never have been published.
It's since been removed and the party says the newsletter editor has apologised for publishing it. But Jill Abigail rejects claims it was transphobic or hateful.
For those who can handle reading an article so hateful, it was republished (without self-righteous erasure) on the Public Good website:
I am writing a personal response to Jan Logie’s words in the last Te Awa, where she says: “We continue to push for progress on LGBTQI+ freedoms, and resist the backlash that’s trying to undermine our trans and gender diverse whanau and roll back their hard-won rights”.
Who is the “we” in this statement? Is it the Rainbow Greens? I am a lesbian, supposedly under their umbrella, but I am part of the backlash. Is it the whole Green Party? I am a long-time Greens member, but I am part of the backlash. If the Greens caucus is acting on policy that feelings of gender identity over-ride biological sex, then some of us older feminists in the party have strong concerns about its implications….
…Many feminists are concerned to protect the sex-based rights of women and girls, whose disadvantaged position under patriarchy is based exactly on our biology and whose primary problem is male violence. Hence sex-based rights include the right to female-only spaces and activities. But feminist analysis of patriarchy seems to be completely lacking in gender ideology. Indeed, feminists who have worked for decades to achieve the rights now enjoyed by younger women are being vilified.
So, criticism of David Seymour is shooting fish in a barrel – enjoy the amateur sport if you like.
The Green Party has been no friend to women and girls. A slippery target, but a foe to females because of gender ideology in many countries – including ours.
(Also, lacklustre on climate change, but that's another discussion)
Unfortunately, Labour is no better. I was interested to see that the "celebrations" of 25 years of Rainbow Labour were cancelled recently through "lack of interest". As Rainbow Labour (which I helped establish) now is totally committed to gender ideology and has turned its back on the same sex attracted people it was formed to promote and serve, it is no wonder that many of us were not going to put ourselves through the exercise.
Visubversa, I've got a very small project with an Australian woman, collating NZ specific links regarding the impact on women's rights of legislation and policy changes.
If you are interested, just reply in the affirmative, and I'll ask weka to connect us.
(Also, lacklustre on climate change, but that's another discussion)
Since you mentioned it 😉 they're not. They have a really good suite of policies on climate aimed at shifting the Overton Window, and they're culturally committed to transition. They're also stymied by the Labour vote, because Labour are dragging the chain the climate. If the Greens had serious governmental powers, we'd be in a completely different position and we could be leading the world on transition.
I find it odd when people diss the Greens' performance or policies (not sure which you were doing here). But it's like the realities of parliament don't exist and they almost never factor into the criticisms. Meanwhile Shaw and his team, and the other Green MPs, with the small amount of power they have, have been changing government culture from the inside. This is gold. In government departments, the thinking and policies are being changes to prepare for transition.
It's not enough obviously, and Shaw says this frequently. He also says that they/we need people outside of parliament to act strongly and boldly as well.
I know we disagree on this weka. I don't have the same perspective as you, and have articulated why a few times. I keep up with the Green policies, and when offered by their surveys – submit my opinions directly to them on proposed or current policies.
I think that's all I can reasonably do as a member of the public in terms of the focus and the policies of the Greens.
To bring the conversation back to the issue of Green Party policies in various countries, it is worth noting that the meeting this week in NSW, reported by Catherine Karena between parents of ROGD children and politicians, was not attended by any Green Party politicians. They declined to attend.
I know we disagree on this weka. I don't have the same perspective as you, and have articulated why a few times.
I you believe the GP are lacklustre on climate, but I don't know why, and certainly not in the context of the issue I raised about the realities of parliamentary process and power.
I could search my comments on this and repost, but TBH don't really see the necessity.
Sabine often has the same criticisms I do of the Greens, so if you really want to know, I am often in accord with her thoughts as well.
If the Green Party take note of their survey results they will already have my input. Despite previous voting choices, they are presently not the party for me. That loss is no doubt compensated by the increase in party votes by those to whom they now appeal, so it's probably not much of a loss in terms of the Green Party representation.
That’s a sound political Green Party position to be in.
I'm not bothered by you not voting for them, nor that they are not the party for you. What interests me here is the running of anti-Green lines, on climate, when they are the leading edge for NZpol on this. It's not that they're perfect, it's that they're what we have and we don't have much else, at a time when we're entering of the biggest crisis any of us will ever face.
Critiquing the Greens is important. But I'm not seeing that. Certainly Sabine's position doesn't stand up to scrutiny. I know she doesn't like the Greens, and the reasons are probably legitimate for her (so again, don't vote for them, they're not the party for her).
But the politics matter a great deal, people exploring what their antipathy means in real terms in the real world. If people are going to run ant-Green lines without an analysis or debating it, I can't see how this is much different from GI allies doing what they do in the gender wars.
Attitude towards those that are adversely affected by their proposals or policies. Failure to spark public interest or discussions. Supporting knee-jerk National Policy Statements on productive soils, but not strongly advocating for one on climate change – which will have immediate effect on all local government planning documents, sending emails celebrating divisive policies or implying credit for other's achievement, performative political posturing, throwing feminists out of the party…etc.
Let me break that down,
Attitude towards those that are adversely affected by their proposals or policies.
What attitude? Which people? Which adverse effects?
Failure to spark public interest or discussions.
They vary on this a fair bit, they used to do it more, they got gun shy after Turei's ousting, they're visibly upping their game since Shaw was challenged over the co-leadership.
Supporting knee-jerk National Policy Statements on productive soils, but not strongly advocating for one on climate change – which will have immediate effect on all local government planning documents,
This is a deeper political point that's worth looking at, but needs an explanation. I'll be wondering how much of it is them spread too thin, or what other explanation there might be.
sending emails celebrating divisive policies or implying credit for other's achievement,
such as? 🤷♀️ They get criticised for not showing how they are different from Labour, and then when they do, they get criticised.
performative political posturing,
such as?
throwing feminists out of the party…etc.
this one we agree on
I'm not saying you have to put any energy/time into this. I'm saying that while you believe you are giving a clear political analysis for your position that the GP are lacklustre, what I see is comments that reaffirm your antipathy and dislike (and disdain), but without explanations or political analysis.
Which was in a thread I started about what would happen if the GP went full Turei.
Both you and Sabine didn't engage with my opening question, but instead spent time talking about your dislike of the Greens. Bugger all analysis of the problems with the GP, lots of declaratory statements that they are wrong and/or wanting.
I thought both Sabine and I did respond in essence to that post, but also see that we responded to other comments to that thread that may have redirected away from your original question.
So, in regards to the Green Party going full Turei.
I can't see it happening, if I consider their actions in this regard, rather than their words:
"I agree. Also voted in support of Metiria Turei, even while thinking to myself, it looks like the Green Party supported the policy behind the public statement, and then collectively all took several steps back, when the pushback was immediate and negative.
Leaving her isolated, undefended and ultimately, ejected.
Looking back, I should've taken more note of this incident. The integrity of the organisation was shown here. Good political strategy no doubt, but not appealing to me."
I continue to think this was a direct response to your question. (Moreso than many others on the thread.) If you don't agree, then write it off as irrelevant.
Just because it remains my opinion, doesn't make it either a convincing or relevant one for others. I'm OK with that.
I don’t think it’s irrelevant at that time, people can diverge from topics. But I didn’t ask in that tweet thread if it would happen, I asked what would happen if they did go full Turei. Which is relevant here, because it’s the same issue of playing out people’s ideas to see how they might work in the world, in this case in parliament and nzpol.
(I wrote posts during the 2017 election and Shaw was completely beside Turei all the way through. He stood up repeatedly and said he supported her. I don’t know what happened inside the party away from the public eye, but in public the party didn’t abandon her (apart from the two Mps who went rogue on caucus)
What sank Metiria was not the policy – it was the absolute political bungling that accompanied its' delivery. Imagine the difference if Ann Hartley (the child's paternal grandmother) had been standing on that stage beside Metiria and had backed her up her by saying something like "yes, we supported Metiria and we would have given our last dollar to help her with our first grandchild, but the punitive clawback regime of Social Welfare means that she would have been no better off". The media focus than would have been on the policy, not on the benefit "fraud".
As it was, the Hartleys were absolutely blindsided and as every journo in the country knew about the connection, they were persecuted for days. This also led to the Election "fraud" charges as the media pack were digging into the living arrangements at the time which led to the fact that Metiria had registered to vote at a place where she was not living. It was the house in New Bond St that the Hartleys had actually purchased for Metiria and Paul to live in – but the relationship did not survive.
It was basic political bungling – absolute amateur hour stuff, and how any Party could let their co-leader do it is beyond belief.
OK. My opinion is that they are lacklustre. My opinion of their policies can be dismantled.
Because I don't want them to fail, I refrain from more than a cursory discussion on one or two points, on this left wing site.
Climate change as a priority means that ALL decisions and policies need to consider the impact on every other policy and issue.
As someone pointed out the other day, transition requiring the use of mined minerals, means that a blanket opposition to mining is no longer able to be supported, because the priority of climate change means that sometimes mining is the cost.
This disconnection regarding climate change impacts, continues where it suits.
One example of a feted policy that I don't support is the Clean Car rebate:
"Kiwi families will be supported to make the transition to low-emission alternatives through the establishment of the Clean Car Upgrade, a scrap-and-replace trial, with funding from the Climate Emergency Response Fund.
Transport to drive down emissions
Rolling out the Clean Car Upgrade programme, supporting lower- and middle- income families transition to low-emission alternatives through a new scrap-and-replace trial
Supporting the rapid development of urban cycleway networks, walkable neighbourhoods, healthier school travel, and increased accessibility and reliability of public transport through our transport choices initiative
Accelerating the decarbonisation of the public transport bus fleet"
A frankly middle-class initiative that ignores the reality of lower-income households, and their financial and alternative transport options. And consequential time poverty.
In terms of climate change, the NZ built environment and housing affordability crisis, means that an assumption that walkable neighbourhoods and urban cycleway networks provide a commuter or required transport option, rather than a recreational asset, is not evidenced.
Supporting the rapid development of urban cycleway networks, walkable neighbourhoods,
A considerable amount of transition resources and project proposals relate to this, but in many cases, this is not a transition project. It is a community asset for recreation and well-being – but not transition.
The hard choices that face us all with regards to climate change, are not being faced at all by an approach that treats transition as a supplementary issue, not the overriding priority. Climate change is either THE overriding policy consideration, or it is not.
Their failure to propose, or even publicly discuss a National Policy Statement on Climate Change that would have an immediate effect on local and regional planning documents and decisions, is acceptable for the National party but can be critiqued for an environmental one.
That's about all I wish to comment on, as an example of my withdrawal of support. If you want to raise a particular policy that you find good, I can comment on whether I agree or not.
thanks for this, this gives me a better idea of what the issues are for you, cheers.
Much of what you say in this comment I agree with.
As someone pointed out the other day, transition requiring the use of mined minerals, means that a blanket opposition to mining is no longer able to be supported, because the priority of climate change means that sometimes mining is the cost.
Not sure if you mean all mining, or mining under conservation land. But here’s where I am at: We should already have a moratorium on all mining (not just conservation) except for that needed for essentials. We should be reclaiming metals from landfill and other dump sites, and we should be building expert level and subsidised systems for reuse, upcycle, recycle, as well as dropping demand.
How many people in NZ do you think believe what either of us just said?
What do you think would happen if the Greens released such a policy? I think the first thing that would happen would be a bunch of MSM articles quoting David Seymour and such that the GP are cranks and have lost the plot. Some MSM would attempt some analysis of the policy, and I think it would help shift both understanding and the Overton window on resources use a bit. It probably wouldn’t lose the Greens their place in parliament next year. But if they released a suite of policies like that, they might.
Which brings me to this: do you believe that political parties should develop policy independent of what is politically viable in NZ? Because that’s kind of what it sounds like, that the Greens should on principle develop policy that is true to climate action even if NZ isn’t on board and it means they leave parliament in 2023.
And if it’s not that, if it’s more a grey area, where the Greens should be realistic about the politica situation but should speak out more strongly, I agree. Hence my Full Turei question.
Climate change as a priority means that ALL decisions and policies need to consider the impact on every other policy and issue.
Which party has a policy of having all government departments consider climate in their policy development?
The "not all men" crowd slide effortlessly from "this never happens" to "that is only one person, you can't judge them all by that", to "do you spend all day trawling the internet over this – you must be obsessed".
I loved how Helen Joyce summed up the toilet issue, which is always downplayed by trans activists. Women need privacy, dignity and safety …then as another cleanliness! True to life examples of helping an elderly person in a toilet which means the door is open and this is not regarded as problematic except now it will be as men are able to use the toilets. The happenings of periods happening suddenly and the sad one that I did not really know and that is that many miscarriages occur in toilets. Plus the hiding out example.
Then there is ghastly link from Visubversa. So many wrong answers. So much truth in the headings.
Helen Joyce made mention of the male sex drive that meant that they want to call themselves women, many of the examples in the wrong answers link would be very frightening to many women using female toilets. They look dressed up, threatening and clearly obviously still men, who shouldn't be in women's toilets.
To me it is men who should be more welcoming to these men who choose to dress as women. Or if that is unsafe then make toilets that these men can use. Just don't force women to use them as well. I have seen urinals (for men) and then a unisex toilet for men and women. So where is the privacy, dignity and safety there?
Winston Marshall also did a great interview with James Dreyfus who was cancelled from Dr Who because he supported JK Rowling.
A great watch with an excellent interviewer and great actor & person of integrity.
i am most likely biased towards quiet, thoughtful, well educated people able to debate but I have not seen, in all the time of following this issue this kind stuff from the other side.
There the debate is as we know 'no debate', yelling and picketing and being obscene at the SUFW meetings, lots of 'lady dick' and other stuff to get you on side,
Is there anyone for the trans issue who can explain quietly about why they should be able to go to female toilets, compete against born females in sport therefore potentially wiping out born women's sport etc?
And in riposte "denying women their identity (as a voting majority) is designed as a trojan horse to divide and conquer (into diverse self-interested individuals) resistance to right wing authoritarianism".
The first stage was to equate the social gospel as socialism to promote prosperity religion – making idols of a wealthy elite class as inequality grew.
This excusing of the dismantling of women's rights by referring to "right-wing" rhetoric is not convincing or persuasive.
The word woman is taken. The word women is taken.
Keep your cervix havers, menstruators, impregnatable people, and non-males in your lexicon if you wish. They indicate a complete disregard for women, and by your words you will be known.
There have been two obvious moves by the American political right in recent decades.
1. to attack the social gospel as socialism, to promote prosperity religion – making idols of the wealthy elite (including some pastors, aka Brian Tamaki bling here) as inequality grew.
2. and of course to promote self-interest (libertarianism, economic and otherwise) rather than group/class/community solidarity.
This includes undermining unity among women – given women are a voting majority. Thus each effort to divide and conquer solidarity/here women is a trojan horse to weaken resistance to right wing authoritarianism.
So I saying that the claim made in the magazine article is wrong in fact.
It is in common cause as women that resistance to right wing agendas for social control can best be made.
"It is in common cause as women that resistance to right wing agendas for social control can best be made."
So, wasn't too far of the mark in my comment, which was about left-wing support for women's rights being focused on dismissal of right-wing rhetoric.
The same can be said in regards to the left-wing:
It is in common cause as women that resistance to left wing agendas for social control can best be made.
Of course, that is predicated on women being able to retain the right to accurately name themselves as a political and distinct class, and be allowed to organise without left-wing censure and dismissal.
The Harper article claimed the identification of those capable of bearing children as women was part of a right wing agenda for social control. And I said no, given unity of a group/class was essential to avoid being subject to such social control. It is not in the identification as women but their promise keeper mentality and desire to determine women’s fertility (access to health care/family planning/lack of concern for poor families etc).
If bitterness between women (over womens ID) undermines common cause, the political right will the ones that take advantage.
I see… bitter women not understanding political class (my emphasis) which will result in the political right benefitting.
I cannot make sense of the part in italics. And I said bitterness between women on the ID issue.
The political left have a problem. If they go by the polling the strongest support for transgender rights comes from women. Until this changes what can they do?
"The political left have a problem. If they go by the polling the strongest support for transgender rights comes from women. Until this changes what can they do?"
(Unfortunately, I can't find the Facebook link to this data by SUFW as I am not a Facebook user. But they undertook an analysis of the submissions received and this figure was against the legislation as proposed.)
And, you know, they always have the choice of doing the right thing – even on the left.
Submissions were against civil unions etc. They are not indicative, apart from how many are motivated to make a submission against a proposed change – to demonstrate a strongly held position.
Even on the left ..
Don't put that bit in when campaigning for change.
I've seen no indication that any of the parties in parliament will review the decision to go with self-identification. Locally it's for now a matter of flow on effect, as to prison policy etc (and the impact of decisions made by the NHS on local practice)..
"Submissions were against civil unions etc. They are not indicative, apart from how many are motivated to make a submission against a proposed change – to demonstrate a strongly held position."
Yet surveys are?
"I've seen no indication that any of the parties in parliament will review the decision to go with self-identification. "
The removal of the words describing the reproductive capabilities of females is required to uncouple the reproductive process from the concept of "womanhood". Men who demand we call them women can perform "femininity" – some well, some appallingly badly, but what they cannot perform are women's reproductive functions. Therefore, those functions must be separated out from the concept of womanliness in order that these men can completely occupy and own the word "woman".
This is not left or right – it is Gender Ideology.
One could quibble that not all women can have children, but sure those born female are of the biological form for doing so.
Originally it was women's groups who called for gender equality (they women can and should be able to do anything/whatever career etc). So they are on the back foot on the issue, and while generally support gender ID, they must have concerns about the consequences of self ID and the "assertive" dick on two legs – opportunity for women and women's safety has been their thing.
The British slow process for adult ID system screens that out to some extent. Maybe there should be a campaign to end self ID for those who abuse it.
"One could quibble that not all women can have children, but sure those born female are of the biological form for doing so."
Not really seeing how "one could quibble", it is a material fact that not all women can have children. Of those that do, they are unquestionably women.
Originally it was women's groups who called for gender equality (they women can and should be able to do anything/whatever career etc).
And the problem with this is?
"So they are on the back foot on the issue, and while generally support gender ID, they must have concerns about the consequences of self ID and the "assertive" dick on two legs – opportunity for women and women's safety has been their thing."
There's a series of assumptions here:
Women are a hive mind,
Feminists who fought for equal opportunity, equally supported men as women,
Women who are informed support gender ID – because… surveys…
That lesbians and feminists who retained a degree of sanity have not been fighting against this co-option of woman for decades. Their voices are not amplified, so perhaps you are unaware.
"The British slow process for adult ID system screens that out to some extent. Maybe there should be a campaign to end self ID for those who abuse it."
The conflation of sex, with an arbitrary gender identity IS in itself an abusive process.
How gracious of you to suggest that women begin a campaign to reintroduce the notion that women is not a costume for just any man, but only the nice ones. I'll ponder that – but have a couple of suggestions of my own.
Why not begin a campaign for men to accept non-conforming males in their spaces and protect them from abuse, so that women don't have to invest energy in reclaiming legal and policy protection for women's single sex spaces.
And while you are at it, find another term for transwomen.
The word woman is taken. The word women is also taken.
Excellent Molly. I too think that men should fix the problem that other men, when they are dressed/identifying as women have with access to toilets. I said just up the thread a little
"To me it is men who should be more welcoming to these men who choose to dress as women. Or if that is unsafe then make toilets that these men can use. Just don't force women to use them as well. I have seen urinals (for men) and then a unisex toilet for men and women. So where is the privacy, dignity and safety there?"
SPC the Helen Joyce interview is worth watching for clarity. Women do not stop being women because they have or never have used their biological evolutionary reproductive apparatus they are born with. Just as men do not stop being men ditto.
It’s grim reading. It’s almost as if those who’ve been demanding immediate action are motivated by the inaction of our supposed leaders of our society:
There is “no credible pathway” to keep the rise in global temperatures below the key threshold of 1.5C, according to a bleak new UN assessment.
Scientists believe that going beyond 1.5C would see dangerous impacts for people all over the world.
The report said that since COP26 last year, governments’ carbon cutting plans had been “woefully inadequate”.
Only an urgent transformation of society would avoid disaster, the study said.
It's an almost unsolvable problem, we are so dependent on the system that allows our planet to support most of use in a reasonable civil functioning society, that massively cutting carbon with out collapsing this society is so far eluding our leaders,
Get it wrong and a decent in to the brutal barbaric societies of old is not far a away.
The descent is locked in, only changing our societies priorities now will prevent barbarism. If our society wasn’t purely motivated by the pursuit of profit, more action would be happening. Inaction is justified as preserving the ‘economy’.
Perhaps the government should implement a windfall tax on ANZ's $2.3 billion profit where the proceeds are tagged specifically for CC measures and nothing else?
I prefer realistic, ever cent of carbon tax should be going to solving fusion power and carbon capture, shit if you could find away to remove carbon while turning in to a profitable resource, capitalism would solve the problem.
Don’t you think if there was a profitable way of doing it they’d be doing it already? Capitalism created the problem, there is no incentive within capitalism to solve it.
Carbon capture is only profitable with a globally enforced carbon price that rises and a falling cap on emissions. This requires governments to implement.
Technological research is best performed by government funded universities and crown labs that are not restrained to commercial applications.
Our system of global capitalism enforces artificial scarcity, waste and unequal distribution of the resources of the world. There are superior ways of distribution than pure profit motivation.
Capitalism requires external pressures to constrain and direct it (read regulation) at the very least, and certainly cannot solve the problems of unequal distribution that it is fundamentally responsible for. This is demonstrated with the wealth of the world being concentrated into the hands of smaller and smaller groups of people year on year.
Those with extreme wealth have often accumulated their fortunes on the backs of people around the world who work for poor wages and under dangerous conditions. According to Oxfam, the wealth divide between the global billionaires and the bottom half of humanity is steadily growing. Between 2009 and 2018, the number of billionaires it took to equal the wealth of the world’s poorest 50 percent fell from 380 to 26.
Capitalism over the 20th century has managed to free itself of it's traditional constraints. Organised labour and socialist politics has been stifled and undermined for the last 50 years. The untried system is eco-socialism.
best we get on with testing other systems then, pronto. Because no-one who is taking climate collapse seriously believes that the capitalist global economy will survive what’s coming if we don’t change.
Raworth had the imagination to see how it could be different. She’s far from alone, but if you want a system that looks like something to leap to from where we are, this isn’t too shabby.
that's not realistic though. We're nowhere close to having CCS tech available on the scale that would be needed and with sufficient testing and safety built in.
Just as important, that conceptual approach to the problem is the same kind of thinking that got us in this shit in the first place. It comes from the idea that humans are separate from nature and that the world is basically a resource bank for us to use as we please. We're hard up against the reality that this is not true, that in fact we are deeply embedded in the natural world and everything we have comes from that and is dependent upon it. Hence the solutions are also embedded in nature.
Nature is as realistic as it comes. There are whole sectors now working with nature, because it stops us shitting in our own nest, but also because it's easier and more efficient. Using very expensive (in $, carbon, ecology terms) infrastructure and inputs to grow dairy in hot, dry climates is working against nature. Instead we can grow things in those climates that do well there. Likewise, shipping tomatoes to the other side of the world is just fucking daft because it works against the natural flow of energy inherent in seasons and distance, when we could eat local and seasonal instead. These are not difficult things to understand or do.
It's an almost unsolvable problem, we are so dependent on the system that allows our planet to support most of use in a reasonable civil functioning society, that massively cutting carbon with out collapsing this society is so far eluding our leaders,
This is largely a social/political/psychological problem. We have the methods to drop GHGs and create sustainable societies that give us good lives. Our lives will look very different, but they don't have to be bad.
Most mainstream leaders lack the imaginative skills to see a different path than BAU or collapse. There are other people doing this work though, for a long time, creating processes and structures that will help with the transition. When we listen to them, we see hope rather than hopelessness, and we see a pathway for actions that we can all take instead of getting stuck in powerlessness and despair.
It’s not close to being unsolvable, we have the social tech to change our minds.
Absolutely. We have long imagined different ways of living, but now we imagine the status quo of late capitalism is eternal and There Is No Alternative. Those who profit from inaction are happy to promote climate nihilism. We can change our minds through education, agitation and organisation:
As the great American labor organizer and socialist Mary Harris ‘Mother’ Jones said: “Sit down and read. Educate yourself for the coming conflicts.”
Restoring wetlands and planting additional raupō in them can be effective filtering the water as well as sinking carbon. In healthier waterways the raupō can be a food source also.
Not yet, additional research needs to be done, action needs to start now though.
More accurate assessment of sequestration rates and additional sources of sequestration (e.g. soil carbon, wetlands, and tussock) may be recognised in the system in the future.
The evidence makes me fatalistic about death & global warming, but I won't give up.
Correlates of belief in climate change: Demographics, ideology and belief systems [October 2022]
Climate change is clearly more an ideological issue than anything else. Liberal as opposed to politically conservative people accept the idea that climate change is real and primarily man made whilst conservatives reject this view. As a consequence, the former advocate a range of radical changes in society while the latter strongly reject them. Perhaps it is this factor that accounts for the finding: that is, because the “solutions” to climate change are so radical, conservatives find it easiest to reject the possible cause. This hypothesis may be tested by asking people about the beliefs in the efficacy and indeed morality of climate change interventions.
According to the theory, the near-endless sociocultural variety that characterizes human life across time and space is in part produced by interactions among adherents to four “elementary” ways of organizing, perceiving, justifying, and experiencing social relations, labeled egalitarianism, individualism, hierarchy, and fatalism. Each of these “ways of life” consists of a particular mode of organizing social relations and a supporting cultural bias, including views of nature, human nature, time, space, risk, technology, etc. Douglas derived these ways of life by assigning “high” and “low” values to two fundamental social dimensions: “grid” (i.e., the extent to which ranking and stratification constrain the behavior of individuals) and “group” (that is, the extent to which an overriding commitment to a social unit constrains the thought and action of individuals).
What's interesting is the up-front-ness about problematic issues in his past (being an idiot at uni, alcohol abuse, etc.).
This looks like the Uffindell legacy – hiding issues from the media/public (even suppressing them at the selection committee level) *will* come back to bite you.
Also, the clear change in candidate selection (in what is a pretty white-bread rural electorate) from the 'boys in suits' Tauranga line-up.
All the details can be got out of the way now I suppose. When James Meager is elected a backgrounder on his part of the 'swathe of newbies in the House' won't be needed.
Well, it looks like a straw-in-the-wind towards increased diversity in their caucus.
Hamilton selection will show if it's an isolated instance, or a trend.
While I recognise that you despise anything coming from National – we will, at some point, have a National-led government again – and surely it's a good thing if their representation is broader, rather than narrower.
I agree about the eventuality of a Nact Govt at some stage.
However John Key. like this candidate, James Meagher, also came from State house and one parent family and it did not seem to imbue him with an especial knowledge and sympathy for life's battlers. There are a group of people who, once 'getting there', want to pull the ladder up so others cannot follow them.
we will, at some point, have a National-led government again
Although that is the conventional wisdom, as the quality of their policies and personnel continues to plummet, a series of resounding defeats could force an evolutionary change to a more competent and charismatic party – a kinder, gentler bunch of lying cryptofascists.
Well, it could – but record level defeats for either National or Labour have historically been followed by a rebuilding, rather than an extinction.
Given the neck-and-neck polling ATM – (the party is scoring well, even if the leader isn't) it doesn't seem at all likely that National is going to curl up and die.
Their voting demographic have grown-up grandchildren by now; perhaps, like a particularly noisome fart, they will (excruciatingly slowly) fade away to being merely an unpleasant memory, as toxic and invisible as bovine eructation.
No, you said representation was broader with the selection of Meager. I pointed out with evidence that Meager eschews such representation. He actively dismisses it.
Your position illustrates the Nats' idea that any brown face will do. Actual representation does not come into it for them, or for you.
Meager also comes from a solo-parent family, state-house background, and some pretty significant experiences of poverty.
Yes but as I said further up John Key had these life circumstances and his time/leadership in the Nats did not seem to be different as a result. In fact in the olden day Nats there would have been a caring for the underdog more than you see now – thinking Duncan McIntyre, Ralph Hanan, Jack Marshall.
Not really as his work history and contacts with Paula Bennett, Chris Bishop and Michael Woodlouse are evidence of current and recent work, and generally you try to move on from an environment, or at least don't stress it in word picture of oneself. So it seems to me that these are proud moments where he learned much to help him on his journey.
The Bennett/Woodhouse/Bishop links are troubling to me and put him fairly and squarely into the standard Nat selection regime.
His view of a safety net could be taken as meaning bare minimums, reluctantly given by an intrusive Govt Dept with the slack picked up by philanthropists (a la Nicola Woods) giving to the ‘deserving poor’.
" In fact in the olden day Nats there would have been a caring for the underdog more than you see now – thinking Duncan McIntyre, Ralph Hanan, Jack Marshall."
I would add Tom Shand to that list. A conservative minister who was controversial from time to time, but who also showed compassion for the 'working class'. My old Dad, a long time Labour supporter certainly seemed to think so.
I also think past National ministers like Brian Talboys and Don McKinnon were principled political operators and even old 'Kiwi Keith' despite his affectations, was an even handed prime minister.
Yes Tom Shand, yes I knew there was a Minister of Labour in there too but could not remember his name. Agree about Brian Talboys, Don McKinnon and Keith Holyoake too. Different breed from the current crowd but as someone said on here MMP has meant that the more liberal side of the Nats have gone elsewhere…..
Yes, but I'm sure you'll prefer to believe Stuart Munro.
You are very sure of yourself – Stuart certainly has a lovely turn of phrase.
Their [the National party party] voting demographic have grown-up grandchildren by now; perhaps, like a particularly noisome fart, they will (excruciatingly slowly) fade away to being merely an unpleasant memory, as toxic and invisible as bovine eructation.
we will, at some point, have a National-led government again
– Belladonna @3.4.1
Yes it did,the increased liquidity meant there was two much money chasing too few assets,the high asset appreciation created a wealth effect,with excess leverage expanding the debt markets.
Here the RBNZ increased its balance sheet by 50% over the last 2 years,
and concomitant we saw housing jump through the roof,as leveraged asset inflation started and house values appreciate by 500b$ ,forced by both weak lending rules and policy changes.
Yeah I'd prefer a tax on carbon, one on carbon used in producing tradeable goods would "incentivise" a decarbonisation. The money going to fund renewables in the developing world.
More than a million dead Americans and the partisan effort to divert from Trump and the Republican party's disastrous response continues.
But the findings published on Thursday, while interim, bore only Mr. Burr’s signature. And in relying largely on existing public evidence, rather than new or classified information, the report came as something of a letdown even to those who supported its conclusions.
“One can only conclude from the circumstances that they met an impasse,” said Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, referring to his disappointment that Republican and Democratic staff members working on the inquiry have not yet released a more complete, bipartisan report. https://archive.ph/GBfDW (nyt)
With an unhealthy population America was going to be hit hard no matter who was in charge.
Early on, responses from blue states like New York seemed to be left wanting, and Trump was used to point the finger at. Hard to know how warranted that was.
The public health response was also led by high profile dem scientists, not Trump. If you are to blame Trump then you must also blame them.
A white guy who speaks a bit of Mandarin sitting in a dark office called the Bat Cave on the east coast of the US professes to understand a secret language which only the Chinese politburo uses.
"Overwhelmed by the costs of construction, Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy on March 29, while its corporate parent, Japan’s Toshiba Corp, is close to financial ruin [L3N1HI4SD]. It has said that controls at Westinghouse were “insufficient.”
Still it will be operating by 2023,despite delays and overuns and the higher cost of electricity in the US will shorten the payback.
It would make a big difference to Poland emissions which at present is mostly coal for electricity and combined heat,and is the worst in Europe (followed now by czech,netherlands and germany as the sad 4 polluters)
Going on past performance of nuclear construction it is highly unlikely it will be operational by the initial projected date…the cost is also guaranteed to blow out….and it is unlikely to impact coal and lignite power peoduction in any meaningful or timely manner, but that is not a problem that Poland is alone in facing.
And then there is the problem of future energy demand for mitigation, Im of the opinion that nuclear is whole of life energy net negative
Yes and no,this time the US government is behind it,as is the canadian government with their small reactor programme which was announced this week.
Germany has spent 1/2 a trillion dollars replacing nuclear with solar,wind and biomass (which still emits co2 at a higher then coal rate) and now has significant issues with energy costs rising 42% and food 20% in the last 12 months.It has moved from a current account creditor to a debtor very fast,so all subsidies are now debt funded.
It will take (estimated) 10 trillion euro to replace gas and coal in Germany alone,as well as a significant investment in transmission,and problematic issues with getting peakload generation.
Nuclear is only a part of a solution,and it does provide good baseload,where in use.
No denying its base load capability, but it is slow and energy intensive to construct (not to mention highly technical, with a dearth of capability), maintain and with at best 70-80 year operational lifespan exceedingly energy intensive for decommission and mitigation…the fact the US gov is supportive solves none of those issues.
Twitter is a disaster clown car company that is successful despite itself, and there is no possible way to grow users and revenue without making a series of enormous compromises that will ultimately destroy your reputation and possibly cause grievous damage to your other companies.
I say this with utter confidence because the problems with Twitter are not engineering problems. They are political problems. Twitter, the company, makes very little interesting technology; the tech stack is not the valuable asset. The asset is the user base: hopelessly addicted politicians, reporters, celebrities, and other people who should know better but keep posting anyway. You! You, Elon Musk, are addicted to Twitter. You’re the asset. You just bought yourself for $44 billion dollars.
[…]
What I mean is that you are now the King of Twitter, and people think that you, personally, are responsible for everything that happens on Twitter now. It also turns out that absolute monarchs usually get murdered when shit goes sideways.
"The man was in such deep distress,"
Said Tom, "that I could do no less
Than give him good advice." Said Jim:
"If less could have been done for him
I know you well enough, my son,
To know that's what you would have done."
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
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 arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
The protest outside the White House correspondents’ dinner hotel. Image: Anatolu video screenshot APR More than two dozen Palestinian journalists had called for a boycott of the dinner, writing an open letter urging their American colleagues not to attend. “You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and ...
“Our exporters should, therefore, be deeply concerned that the Fast-track Approvals Bill was not assessed for consistency with any of our free trade commitments prior to being introduced to the House,” says Gary Taylor, Chief Executive of the Environmental ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
A historian with a track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. 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 ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
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The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
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Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
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Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
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The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
When they show you what they are – believe them. NSFW.
https://odysee.com/@Skirt_Go_Spinny:7/Wrong-Ans-Only-1:b
It'll be good to see if the TWAW crowd will bring themselves to watch and come to the realisation current definition of transwomen includes these men.
The irony of criticising Act (for beingAct) when Golriz Ghahraman and the Green Party have succeeded on dismantling women's rights and hounding out heretics from the party to do so.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018711720/green-member-s-transphobic-article-sparks-outrage-among-party
For those who can handle reading an article so hateful, it was republished (without self-righteous erasure) on the Public Good website:
https://www.publicgood.org.nz/2019/09/02/solutions-that-are-fair-to-everyone/
So, criticism of David Seymour is shooting fish in a barrel – enjoy the amateur sport if you like.
The Green Party has been no friend to women and girls. A slippery target, but a foe to females because of gender ideology in many countries – including ours.
(Also, lacklustre on climate change, but that's another discussion)
Unfortunately, Labour is no better. I was interested to see that the "celebrations" of 25 years of Rainbow Labour were cancelled recently through "lack of interest". As Rainbow Labour (which I helped establish) now is totally committed to gender ideology and has turned its back on the same sex attracted people it was formed to promote and serve, it is no wonder that many of us were not going to put ourselves through the exercise.
The co-opting of the LGB community is one of the many egregious acts of gender ideology.
The LGB support is a thin facade, it has been cannibalised from within.
Visubversa, I've got a very small project with an Australian woman, collating NZ specific links regarding the impact on women's rights of legislation and policy changes.
If you are interested, just reply in the affirmative, and I'll ask weka to connect us.
Molly, my eyesight is not good these days, so there will be others better able to help than me.
All good.
(Will just search some of your comments on here, and see if there are any that can be mined for the purpose. Keep on posting.. )
👍
Since you mentioned it 😉 they're not. They have a really good suite of policies on climate aimed at shifting the Overton Window, and they're culturally committed to transition. They're also stymied by the Labour vote, because Labour are dragging the chain the climate. If the Greens had serious governmental powers, we'd be in a completely different position and we could be leading the world on transition.
I find it odd when people diss the Greens' performance or policies (not sure which you were doing here). But it's like the realities of parliament don't exist and they almost never factor into the criticisms. Meanwhile Shaw and his team, and the other Green MPs, with the small amount of power they have, have been changing government culture from the inside. This is gold. In government departments, the thinking and policies are being changes to prepare for transition.
It's not enough obviously, and Shaw says this frequently. He also says that they/we need people outside of parliament to act strongly and boldly as well.
I know we disagree on this weka. I don't have the same perspective as you, and have articulated why a few times. I keep up with the Green policies, and when offered by their surveys – submit my opinions directly to them on proposed or current policies.
I think that's all I can reasonably do as a member of the public in terms of the focus and the policies of the Greens.
To bring the conversation back to the issue of Green Party policies in various countries, it is worth noting that the meeting this week in NSW, reported by Catherine Karena between parents of ROGD children and politicians, was not attended by any Green Party politicians. They declined to attend.
https://twitter.com/KatKarena/status/1585236938143199233?s=20&t=FyfMZD5PZPVKHGGLyOQcJA
I you believe the GP are lacklustre on climate, but I don't know why, and certainly not in the context of the issue I raised about the realities of parliamentary process and power.
I could search my comments on this and repost, but TBH don't really see the necessity.
Sabine often has the same criticisms I do of the Greens, so if you really want to know, I am often in accord with her thoughts as well.
If the Green Party take note of their survey results they will already have my input. Despite previous voting choices, they are presently not the party for me. That loss is no doubt compensated by the increase in party votes by those to whom they now appeal, so it's probably not much of a loss in terms of the Green Party representation.
That’s a sound political Green Party position to be in.
I'm not bothered by you not voting for them, nor that they are not the party for you. What interests me here is the running of anti-Green lines, on climate, when they are the leading edge for NZpol on this. It's not that they're perfect, it's that they're what we have and we don't have much else, at a time when we're entering of the biggest crisis any of us will ever face.
Critiquing the Greens is important. But I'm not seeing that. Certainly Sabine's position doesn't stand up to scrutiny. I know she doesn't like the Greens, and the reasons are probably legitimate for her (so again, don't vote for them, they're not the party for her).
But the politics matter a great deal, people exploring what their antipathy means in real terms in the real world. If people are going to run ant-Green lines without an analysis or debating it, I can't see how this is much different from GI allies doing what they do in the gender wars.
eg, this from a month ago.
Let me break that down,
What attitude? Which people? Which adverse effects?
They vary on this a fair bit, they used to do it more, they got gun shy after Turei's ousting, they're visibly upping their game since Shaw was challenged over the co-leadership.
This is a deeper political point that's worth looking at, but needs an explanation. I'll be wondering how much of it is them spread too thin, or what other explanation there might be.
such as? 🤷♀️ They get criticised for not showing how they are different from Labour, and then when they do, they get criticised.
such as?
this one we agree on
I'm not saying you have to put any energy/time into this. I'm saying that while you believe you are giving a clear political analysis for your position that the GP are lacklustre, what I see is comments that reaffirm your antipathy and dislike (and disdain), but without explanations or political analysis.
same in this comment,
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27-09-2022/#comment-1912500
Which was in a thread I started about what would happen if the GP went full Turei.
Both you and Sabine didn't engage with my opening question, but instead spent time talking about your dislike of the Greens. Bugger all analysis of the problems with the GP, lots of declaratory statements that they are wrong and/or wanting.
I thought both Sabine and I did respond in essence to that post, but also see that we responded to other comments to that thread that may have redirected away from your original question.
So, in regards to the Green Party going full Turei.
I repeat what I said in the thread.
I can't see it happening, if I consider their actions in this regard, rather than their words:
I continue to think this was a direct response to your question. (Moreso than many others on the thread.) If you don't agree, then write it off as irrelevant.
Just because it remains my opinion, doesn't make it either a convincing or relevant one for others. I'm OK with that.
I don’t think it’s irrelevant at that time, people can diverge from topics. But I didn’t ask in that tweet thread if it would happen, I asked what would happen if they did go full Turei. Which is relevant here, because it’s the same issue of playing out people’s ideas to see how they might work in the world, in this case in parliament and nzpol.
(I wrote posts during the 2017 election and Shaw was completely beside Turei all the way through. He stood up repeatedly and said he supported her. I don’t know what happened inside the party away from the public eye, but in public the party didn’t abandon her (apart from the two Mps who went rogue on caucus)
What sank Metiria was not the policy – it was the absolute political bungling that accompanied its' delivery. Imagine the difference if Ann Hartley (the child's paternal grandmother) had been standing on that stage beside Metiria and had backed her up her by saying something like "yes, we supported Metiria and we would have given our last dollar to help her with our first grandchild, but the punitive clawback regime of Social Welfare means that she would have been no better off". The media focus than would have been on the policy, not on the benefit "fraud".
As it was, the Hartleys were absolutely blindsided and as every journo in the country knew about the connection, they were persecuted for days. This also led to the Election "fraud" charges as the media pack were digging into the living arrangements at the time which led to the fact that Metiria had registered to vote at a place where she was not living. It was the house in New Bond St that the Hartleys had actually purchased for Metiria and Paul to live in – but the relationship did not survive.
It was basic political bungling – absolute amateur hour stuff, and how any Party could let their co-leader do it is beyond belief.
OK. My opinion is that they are lacklustre. My opinion of their policies can be dismantled.
Because I don't want them to fail, I refrain from more than a cursory discussion on one or two points, on this left wing site.
Climate change as a priority means that ALL decisions and policies need to consider the impact on every other policy and issue.
As someone pointed out the other day, transition requiring the use of mined minerals, means that a blanket opposition to mining is no longer able to be supported, because the priority of climate change means that sometimes mining is the cost.
This disconnection regarding climate change impacts, continues where it suits.
One example of a feted policy that I don't support is the Clean Car rebate:
https://www.greens.org.nz/transport_to_drive_down_emissions
"Kiwi families will be supported to make the transition to low-emission alternatives through the establishment of the Clean Car Upgrade, a scrap-and-replace trial, with funding from the Climate Emergency Response Fund.
Transport to drive down emissions
A frankly middle-class initiative that ignores the reality of lower-income households, and their financial and alternative transport options. And consequential time poverty.
In terms of climate change, the NZ built environment and housing affordability crisis, means that an assumption that walkable neighbourhoods and urban cycleway networks provide a commuter or required transport option, rather than a recreational asset, is not evidenced.
A considerable amount of transition resources and project proposals relate to this, but in many cases, this is not a transition project. It is a community asset for recreation and well-being – but not transition.
The hard choices that face us all with regards to climate change, are not being faced at all by an approach that treats transition as a supplementary issue, not the overriding priority. Climate change is either THE overriding policy consideration, or it is not.
Their failure to propose, or even publicly discuss a National Policy Statement on Climate Change that would have an immediate effect on local and regional planning documents and decisions, is acceptable for the National party but can be critiqued for an environmental one.
That's about all I wish to comment on, as an example of my withdrawal of support. If you want to raise a particular policy that you find good, I can comment on whether I agree or not.
thanks for this, this gives me a better idea of what the issues are for you, cheers.
Much of what you say in this comment I agree with.
Not sure if you mean all mining, or mining under conservation land. But here’s where I am at: We should already have a moratorium on all mining (not just conservation) except for that needed for essentials. We should be reclaiming metals from landfill and other dump sites, and we should be building expert level and subsidised systems for reuse, upcycle, recycle, as well as dropping demand.
How many people in NZ do you think believe what either of us just said?
What do you think would happen if the Greens released such a policy? I think the first thing that would happen would be a bunch of MSM articles quoting David Seymour and such that the GP are cranks and have lost the plot. Some MSM would attempt some analysis of the policy, and I think it would help shift both understanding and the Overton window on resources use a bit. It probably wouldn’t lose the Greens their place in parliament next year. But if they released a suite of policies like that, they might.
Which brings me to this: do you believe that political parties should develop policy independent of what is politically viable in NZ? Because that’s kind of what it sounds like, that the Greens should on principle develop policy that is true to climate action even if NZ isn’t on board and it means they leave parliament in 2023.
And if it’s not that, if it’s more a grey area, where the Greens should be realistic about the politica situation but should speak out more strongly, I agree. Hence my Full Turei question.
Which party has a policy of having all government departments consider climate in their policy development?
The "not all men" crowd slide effortlessly from "this never happens" to "that is only one person, you can't judge them all by that", to "do you spend all day trawling the internet over this – you must be obsessed".
A good but long (1 hour) interview was recently posted between Helen Joyce and Winston Marshall.
(Didn't realise till after the interview he gave with Richard Dreyfus, that he was a member of the band Mumford & Sons, that had to leave after causing a Twitter storm with a book recommendation.)
It's worth a watch, or a listen if you have the time:
https://youtu.be/o8b6b2i_LH0
What a fantastic interview.
I loved how Helen Joyce summed up the toilet issue, which is always downplayed by trans activists. Women need privacy, dignity and safety …then as another cleanliness! True to life examples of helping an elderly person in a toilet which means the door is open and this is not regarded as problematic except now it will be as men are able to use the toilets. The happenings of periods happening suddenly and the sad one that I did not really know and that is that many miscarriages occur in toilets. Plus the hiding out example.
Then there is ghastly link from Visubversa. So many wrong answers. So much truth in the headings.
Helen Joyce made mention of the male sex drive that meant that they want to call themselves women, many of the examples in the wrong answers link would be very frightening to many women using female toilets. They look dressed up, threatening and clearly obviously still men, who shouldn't be in women's toilets.
To me it is men who should be more welcoming to these men who choose to dress as women. Or if that is unsafe then make toilets that these men can use. Just don't force women to use them as well. I have seen urinals (for men) and then a unisex toilet for men and women. So where is the privacy, dignity and safety there?
Yes, I agree.
Have you read Helen Joyce's book:
Trans : when ideology meets reality?
It's a very well considered book. The audio book sounds like a good car journey listen.
On a lighter note, what happens to women after they pass the age when Elvis Presley croons – "You are so young and beautiful…"?
https://twitter.com/Ilivefree6969/status/1586202123233988608?s=20&t=kvKsMmfjDeg7Cv4JopO3ww
also!
I also loved seeing the other woman laugh.
Winston Marshall also did a great interview with James Dreyfus who was cancelled from Dr Who because he supported JK Rowling.
A great watch with an excellent interviewer and great actor & person of integrity.
i am most likely biased towards quiet, thoughtful, well educated people able to debate but I have not seen, in all the time of following this issue this kind stuff from the other side.
There the debate is as we know 'no debate', yelling and picketing and being obscene at the SUFW meetings, lots of 'lady dick' and other stuff to get you on side,
Is there anyone for the trans issue who can explain quietly about why they should be able to go to female toilets, compete against born females in sport therefore potentially wiping out born women's sport etc?
Perhaps Winston Marshall could do an interview?
100 % Molly.
Greens and Labour have thrown women and girls under a bus
Women is now purported to be a "right wing" term, intended to alienate – impregnatable people from their bodies, Harper Magazine, October 2022 issue:
No impact, my impregnatable friends, no impact.
https://twitter.com/ripsintolabels/status/1586080458835922944?s=20&t=kvKsMmfjDeg7Cv4JopO3ww
And in riposte "denying women their identity (as a voting majority) is designed as a trojan horse to divide and conquer (into diverse self-interested individuals) resistance to right wing authoritarianism".
The first stage was to equate the social gospel as socialism to promote prosperity religion – making idols of a wealthy elite class as inequality grew.
Pull your head in, SPC.
This excusing of the dismantling of women's rights by referring to "right-wing" rhetoric is not convincing or persuasive.
The word woman is taken. The word women is taken.
Keep your cervix havers, menstruators, impregnatable people, and non-males in your lexicon if you wish. They indicate a complete disregard for women, and by your words you will be known.
In your haste to react you have both misunderstood and misrepresented my post.
Apologies for that.
Can you be clearer? Your riposte came across as dismissive of a concern that the current left political position is not supportive of women's rights.
… and a redirection into class analysis, in terms of inequality…
There have been two obvious moves by the American political right in recent decades.
1. to attack the social gospel as socialism, to promote prosperity religion – making idols of the wealthy elite (including some pastors, aka Brian Tamaki bling here) as inequality grew.
2. and of course to promote self-interest (libertarianism, economic and otherwise) rather than group/class/community solidarity.
This includes undermining unity among women – given women are a voting majority. Thus each effort to divide and conquer solidarity/here women is a trojan horse to weaken resistance to right wing authoritarianism.
So I saying that the claim made in the magazine article is wrong in fact.
It is in common cause as women that resistance to right wing agendas for social control can best be made.
"It is in common cause as women that resistance to right wing agendas for social control can best be made."
So, wasn't too far of the mark in my comment, which was about left-wing support for women's rights being focused on dismissal of right-wing rhetoric.
The same can be said in regards to the left-wing:
It is in common cause as women that resistance to left wing agendas for social control can best be made.
Of course, that is predicated on women being able to retain the right to accurately name themselves as a political and distinct class, and be allowed to organise without left-wing censure and dismissal.
The Harper article claimed the identification of those capable of bearing children as women was part of a right wing agenda for social control. And I said no, given unity of a group/class was essential to avoid being subject to such social control. It is not in the identification as women but their promise keeper mentality and desire to determine women’s fertility (access to health care/family planning/lack of concern for poor families etc).
If bitterness between women (over womens ID) undermines common cause, the political right will the ones that take advantage.
"If bitterness between women (over womens ID) undermines common cause the political right will the ones that take advantage."
I see… bitter women not understanding political class which will result in the political right benefitting.
Let's ignore the complete disregard of the other consequences for women, and consider that your comment is the sole focus.
What do you think the response of the political left should be to this threat?
I cannot make sense of the part in italics. And I said bitterness between women on the ID issue.
The political left have a problem. If they go by the polling the strongest support for transgender rights comes from women. Until this changes what can they do?
@SPC
"The political left have a problem. If they go by the polling the strongest support for transgender rights comes from women. Until this changes what can they do?"
Well, perhaps don't rely on outcome directed polling of the deliberately mis or un informed, but on the 73% that submitted to the self-id legislation that were ignored. The number of submissions was well into the thousands.
(Unfortunately, I can't find the Facebook link to this data by SUFW as I am not a Facebook user. But they undertook an analysis of the submissions received and this figure was against the legislation as proposed.)
And, you know, they always have the choice of doing the right thing – even on the left.
Submissions were against civil unions etc. They are not indicative, apart from how many are motivated to make a submission against a proposed change – to demonstrate a strongly held position.
Don't put that bit in when campaigning for change.
I've seen no indication that any of the parties in parliament will review the decision to go with self-identification. Locally it's for now a matter of flow on effect, as to prison policy etc (and the impact of decisions made by the NHS on local practice)..
"Submissions were against civil unions etc. They are not indicative, apart from how many are motivated to make a submission against a proposed change – to demonstrate a strongly held position."
Yet surveys are?
"I've seen no indication that any of the parties in parliament will review the decision to go with self-identification. "
So?
The removal of the words describing the reproductive capabilities of females is required to uncouple the reproductive process from the concept of "womanhood". Men who demand we call them women can perform "femininity" – some well, some appallingly badly, but what they cannot perform are women's reproductive functions. Therefore, those functions must be separated out from the concept of womanliness in order that these men can completely occupy and own the word "woman".
This is not left or right – it is Gender Ideology.
One could quibble that not all women can have children, but sure those born female are of the biological form for doing so.
Originally it was women's groups who called for gender equality (they women can and should be able to do anything/whatever career etc). So they are on the back foot on the issue, and while generally support gender ID, they must have concerns about the consequences of self ID and the "assertive" dick on two legs – opportunity for women and women's safety has been their thing.
The British slow process for adult ID system screens that out to some extent. Maybe there should be a campaign to end self ID for those who abuse it.
"One could quibble that not all women can have children, but sure those born female are of the biological form for doing so."
Not really seeing how "one could quibble", it is a material fact that not all women can have children. Of those that do, they are unquestionably women.
Originally it was women's groups who called for gender equality (they women can and should be able to do anything/whatever career etc).
And the problem with this is?
"So they are on the back foot on the issue, and while generally support gender ID, they must have concerns about the consequences of self ID and the "assertive" dick on two legs – opportunity for women and women's safety has been their thing."
There's a series of assumptions here:
"The British slow process for adult ID system screens that out to some extent. Maybe there should be a campaign to end self ID for those who abuse it."
The conflation of sex, with an arbitrary gender identity IS in itself an abusive process.
How gracious of you to suggest that women begin a campaign to reintroduce the notion that women is not a costume for just any man, but only the nice ones. I'll ponder that – but have a couple of suggestions of my own.
Why not begin a campaign for men to accept non-conforming males in their spaces and protect them from abuse, so that women don't have to invest energy in reclaiming legal and policy protection for women's single sex spaces.
And while you are at it, find another term for transwomen.
The word woman is taken. The word women is also taken.
Excellent Molly. I too think that men should fix the problem that other men, when they are dressed/identifying as women have with access to toilets. I said just up the thread a little
"To me it is men who should be more welcoming to these men who choose to dress as women. Or if that is unsafe then make toilets that these men can use. Just don't force women to use them as well. I have seen urinals (for men) and then a unisex toilet for men and women. So where is the privacy, dignity and safety there?"
SPC the Helen Joyce interview is worth watching for clarity. Women do not stop being women because they have or never have used their biological evolutionary reproductive apparatus they are born with. Just as men do not stop being men ditto.
It’s grim reading. It’s almost as if those who’ve been demanding immediate action are motivated by the inaction of our supposed leaders of our society:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/477621/climate-change-un-warns-key-warming-threshold-slipping-from-sight
Just Stop Oil
It's an almost unsolvable problem, we are so dependent on the system that allows our planet to support most of use in a reasonable civil functioning society, that massively cutting carbon with out collapsing this society is so far eluding our leaders,
Get it wrong and a decent in to the brutal barbaric societies of old is not far a away.
The descent is locked in, only changing our societies priorities now will prevent barbarism. If our society wasn’t purely motivated by the pursuit of profit, more action would be happening. Inaction is justified as preserving the ‘economy’.
Great cartoon.
Perhaps the government should implement a windfall tax on ANZ's $2.3 billion profit where the proceeds are tagged specifically for CC measures and nothing else?
The same for the other banks too.
Bring back the horse and buggy.
Yeah look forward to the international conferences on how to deal with horse shit and dead horses in the street.
But you know even reductio ad absurdum can offer insights.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-first-global-urban-planning-conference-was-mostly-about-manure
"Get it wrong and a decent in to the brutal barbaric societies of old is not far a away."
The 'descent' has already started. It just gets worse from here.
it definitely will get worse if we're fatalistic about it and give up. We have a choice instead to act to create something better.
I prefer realistic, ever cent of carbon tax should be going to solving fusion power and carbon capture, shit if you could find away to remove carbon while turning in to a profitable resource, capitalism would solve the problem.
Don’t you think if there was a profitable way of doing it they’d be doing it already? Capitalism created the problem, there is no incentive within capitalism to solve it.
Carbon capture is only profitable with a globally enforced carbon price that rises and a falling cap on emissions. This requires governments to implement.
Technological research is best performed by government funded universities and crown labs that are not restrained to commercial applications.
Our system of global capitalism enforces artificial scarcity, waste and unequal distribution of the resources of the world. There are superior ways of distribution than pure profit motivation.
Distribution by need for one.
Capitalism requires external pressures to constrain and direct it (read regulation) at the very least, and certainly cannot solve the problems of unequal distribution that it is fundamentally responsible for. This is demonstrated with the wealth of the world being concentrated into the hands of smaller and smaller groups of people year on year.
https://inequality.org/facts/global-inequality/
I have no problem with regulating capitalism, it's just tool after all.
It also needs balancing with socialism,
I just see so much danger in dismantling it for some untried system,
Capitalism over the 20th century has managed to free itself of it's traditional constraints. Organised labour and socialist politics has been stifled and undermined for the last 50 years. The untried system is eco-socialism.
best we get on with testing other systems then, pronto. Because no-one who is taking climate collapse seriously believes that the capitalist global economy will survive what’s coming if we don’t change.
https://time.com/5930093/amsterdam-doughnut-economics/
Raworth had the imagination to see how it could be different. She’s far from alone, but if you want a system that looks like something to leap to from where we are, this isn’t too shabby.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut_(economic_model)
that's not realistic though. We're nowhere close to having CCS tech available on the scale that would be needed and with sufficient testing and safety built in.
Just as important, that conceptual approach to the problem is the same kind of thinking that got us in this shit in the first place. It comes from the idea that humans are separate from nature and that the world is basically a resource bank for us to use as we please. We're hard up against the reality that this is not true, that in fact we are deeply embedded in the natural world and everything we have comes from that and is dependent upon it. Hence the solutions are also embedded in nature.
Nature is as realistic as it comes. There are whole sectors now working with nature, because it stops us shitting in our own nest, but also because it's easier and more efficient. Using very expensive (in $, carbon, ecology terms) infrastructure and inputs to grow dairy in hot, dry climates is working against nature. Instead we can grow things in those climates that do well there. Likewise, shipping tomatoes to the other side of the world is just fucking daft because it works against the natural flow of energy inherent in seasons and distance, when we could eat local and seasonal instead. These are not difficult things to understand or do.
This is largely a social/political/psychological problem. We have the methods to drop GHGs and create sustainable societies that give us good lives. Our lives will look very different, but they don't have to be bad.
Most mainstream leaders lack the imaginative skills to see a different path than BAU or collapse. There are other people doing this work though, for a long time, creating processes and structures that will help with the transition. When we listen to them, we see hope rather than hopelessness, and we see a pathway for actions that we can all take instead of getting stuck in powerlessness and despair.
It’s not close to being unsolvable, we have the social tech to change our minds.
Absolutely. We have long imagined different ways of living, but now we imagine the status quo of late capitalism is eternal and There Is No Alternative. Those who profit from inaction are happy to promote climate nihilism. We can change our minds through education, agitation and organisation:
https://climateandcapitalism.com/2019/07/27/20-essential-books-on-marxist-ecology/
– Rosa Luxemburg
https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1915/junius/ch01.htm
Grow trees beside deep lakes. Fell them, sink them; carbon sunk, right there.
Restoring wetlands and planting additional raupō in them can be effective filtering the water as well as sinking carbon. In healthier waterways the raupō can be a food source also.
THE HUMBLE WETLAND – A CARBON SUPERHERO? – https://www.waternz.org.nz/Resources/Attachment?Action=Download&Attachment_id=5202
Farmers are doing that but apparently it's not going to be recognized in the new wake eka noa
Not yet, additional research needs to be done, action needs to start now though.
https://hewakaekenoa.nz/faqs/
If you want you can make a submission that supports continued research and their inclusion in the scheme: https://consult.environment.govt.nz/climate/agriculture-emissions-and-pricing/consultation/
The evidence makes me fatalistic about death & global warming, but I won't give up.
Clumsy solutions and climate change: A retrospective [27 October 2022]
According to the theory, the near-endless sociocultural variety that characterizes human life across time and space is in part produced by interactions among adherents to four “elementary” ways of organizing, perceiving, justifying, and experiencing social relations, labeled egalitarianism, individualism, hierarchy, and fatalism. Each of these “ways of life” consists of a particular mode of organizing social relations and a supporting cultural bias, including views of nature, human nature, time, space, risk, technology, etc. Douglas derived these ways of life by assigning “high” and “low” values to two fundamental social dimensions: “grid” (i.e., the extent to which ranking and stratification constrain the behavior of individuals) and “group” (that is, the extent to which an overriding commitment to a social unit constrains the thought and action of individuals).
Big puff piece in the media about the National candidate for Rangitata.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130268530/timing-is-everything-the-rise-of-aspiring-politician-james-meager
What's interesting is the up-front-ness about problematic issues in his past (being an idiot at uni, alcohol abuse, etc.).
This looks like the Uffindell legacy – hiding issues from the media/public (even suppressing them at the selection committee level) *will* come back to bite you.
Also, the clear change in candidate selection (in what is a pretty white-bread rural electorate) from the 'boys in suits' Tauranga line-up.
All the details can be got out of the way now I suppose. When James Meager is elected a backgrounder on his part of the 'swathe of newbies in the House' won't be needed.
A self-described obnoxious, loud-mouth libertarian lawyer who cut his political teeth in Bennett's office. Nope, no red flags there.
Woodhouse!! Birds of a feather….???
It's National's attempt to brown-wash their caucus. Only got it half right.
Well, it looks like a straw-in-the-wind towards increased diversity in their caucus.
Hamilton selection will show if it's an isolated instance, or a trend.
While I recognise that you despise anything coming from National – we will, at some point, have a National-led government again – and surely it's a good thing if their representation is broader, rather than narrower.
I agree about the eventuality of a Nact Govt at some stage.
However John Key. like this candidate, James Meagher, also came from State house and one parent family and it did not seem to imbue him with an especial knowledge and sympathy for life's battlers. There are a group of people who, once 'getting there', want to pull the ladder up so others cannot follow them.
we will, at some point, have a National-led government again
Although that is the conventional wisdom, as the quality of their policies and personnel continues to plummet, a series of resounding defeats could force an evolutionary change to a more competent and charismatic party – a kinder, gentler bunch of lying cryptofascists.
Well, it could – but record level defeats for either National or Labour have historically been followed by a rebuilding, rather than an extinction.
Given the neck-and-neck polling ATM – (the party is scoring well, even if the leader isn't) it doesn't seem at all likely that National is going to curl up and die.
Their voting demographic have grown-up grandchildren by now; perhaps, like a particularly noisome fart, they will (excruciatingly slowly) fade away to being merely an unpleasant memory, as toxic and invisible as bovine eructation.
Nice try. Broader representation is about just that, representation. Meager offers none of that because, in the words of the writer;
So, for Meager and the National party, a little bit of brown is enough to pretend those who they pretend to represent are represented.
Sucked you in, though. Which is clearly not difficult!
Ah, yes, the Willie Jackson and Kelvin Davis theme – you're only 'real' Maori if you agree with us politically.
No, you said representation was broader with the selection of Meager. I pointed out with evidence that Meager eschews such representation. He actively dismisses it.
Your position illustrates the Nats' idea that any brown face will do. Actual representation does not come into it for them, or for you.
Meager also comes from a solo-parent family, state-house background, and some pretty significant experiences of poverty.
Diversity isn't just racial.
Though, I think that he probably represents a hefty chunk of urban Maori – many of whom are also not connected with their whakapapa.
Or, do you honestly think there is no difference between Meager and Uffindell and the 3 other candidates from the Tauranga by-election?
Yes but as I said further up John Key had these life circumstances and his time/leadership in the Nats did not seem to be different as a result. In fact in the olden day Nats there would have been a caring for the underdog more than you see now – thinking Duncan McIntyre, Ralph Hanan, Jack Marshall.
So, do you also, see no difference between Meager and the National candidate quartet in Tauranga?
Not really as his work history and contacts with Paula Bennett, Chris Bishop and Michael Woodlouse are evidence of current and recent work, and generally you try to move on from an environment, or at least don't stress it in word picture of oneself. So it seems to me that these are proud moments where he learned much to help him on his journey.
The Bennett/Woodhouse/Bishop links are troubling to me and put him fairly and squarely into the standard Nat selection regime.
His view of a safety net could be taken as meaning bare minimums, reluctantly given by an intrusive Govt Dept with the slack picked up by philanthropists (a la Nicola Woods) giving to the ‘deserving poor’.
I would add Tom Shand to that list. A conservative minister who was controversial from time to time, but who also showed compassion for the 'working class'. My old Dad, a long time Labour supporter certainly seemed to think so.
I also think past National ministers like Brian Talboys and Don McKinnon were principled political operators and even old 'Kiwi Keith' despite his affectations, was an even handed prime minister.
Yes Tom Shand, yes I knew there was a Minister of Labour in there too but could not remember his name. Agree about Brian Talboys, Don McKinnon and Keith Holyoake too. Different breed from the current crowd but as someone said on here MMP has meant that the more liberal side of the Nats have gone elsewhere…..
Still, no hurry eh?
According to Stuart Munro, above, all is not lost. We may never again see a National-led government.
And according to Belladonna @3.4.1, all is lost?
Still, no hurry eh?
Yes, but I'm sure you'll prefer to believe Stuart Munro.
You are very sure of yourself – Stuart certainly has a lovely turn of phrase.
Still, no hurry eh?
Definitely 'no hurry for me', but you would have picked that up already.
Yea, aka "charity" . As in, cold as…
Also noted there, the old Victorians (Dickens "Oliver Twist")
Not for nothing were the nacts known as the "New Victorians" ( Ruthless Ruth Richardson, Don Brash etc; and ilk)
IMO Cold as charity…their eyes (and heart ) as hard as industrial diamonds
Why we must fight back now to keep their poisonous claws off NZ !
Unite against nact !!
Interest rates up.
Bank profits up.
But it wasn't long ago there were people on here claiming they "were not connected".
Exxon posted a $31 Billion profit, the highest in their 152-year history but apparently that's easily explained by “Biden made the gas prices higher.”
Interest rates down,increased liquidity,loose fiscal management,there was a time people said that this would not increase inflation.
It didn't.
It took reduced supply and supply chains failures along with excess profit taking to get inflation going again.
Previously inflation stubbornly failed to do what it was told, and rise.
Yes it did,the increased liquidity meant there was two much money chasing too few assets,the high asset appreciation created a wealth effect,with excess leverage expanding the debt markets.
Here the RBNZ increased its balance sheet by 50% over the last 2 years,
https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/statistics/series/reserve-bank/our-balance-sheet
and concomitant we saw housing jump through the roof,as leveraged asset inflation started and house values appreciate by 500b$ ,forced by both weak lending rules and policy changes.
https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/statistics/series/economic-indicators/housing
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/87961/adjusting-inflation-gains-house-prices-past-four-years-are-actually-nothing-special
Some of the highest annual rises were at times of veryhigh interest rates.
That was 2017 and the driver was immigration.
Not just then. Series goes back to the 60's.
Exactly. Deflation is regarded by many as bad as inflation, and governments were desperately trying to get 'a little' inflation back.
Comparing Musk to Trump, their talent is marketing and grift, not competence.
https://twitter.com/JessicaLBurbank/status/1586013006923603969?cxt=HBwWgoCl7aeb04IsAAAA&cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjcw%3D%3D&refsrc=email
So he profits from carbon credits!!all you need to know about the usefulness of carbon credits right there
Yeah I'd prefer a tax on carbon, one on carbon used in producing tradeable goods would "incentivise" a decarbonisation. The money going to fund renewables in the developing world.
https://twitter.com/danielpetty/status/1586037848636936194
https://www.propublica.org/article/senate-report-covid-19-origin-wuhan-lab
More than a million dead Americans and the partisan effort to divert from Trump and the Republican party's disastrous response continues.
But the findings published on Thursday, while interim, bore only Mr. Burr’s signature. And in relying largely on existing public evidence, rather than new or classified information, the report came as something of a letdown even to those who supported its conclusions.
“One can only conclude from the circumstances that they met an impasse,” said Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, referring to his disappointment that Republican and Democratic staff members working on the inquiry have not yet released a more complete, bipartisan report.
https://archive.ph/GBfDW (nyt)
With an unhealthy population America was going to be hit hard no matter who was in charge.
Early on, responses from blue states like New York seemed to be left wanting, and Trump was used to point the finger at. Hard to know how warranted that was.
The public health response was also led by high profile dem scientists, not Trump. If you are to blame Trump then you must also blame them.
got a tl;dr?
https://twitter.com/charlesornstein/status/1586039035432210432
A white guy who speaks a bit of Mandarin sitting in a dark office called the Bat Cave on the east coast of the US professes to understand a secret language which only the Chinese politburo uses.
Definitely a lab leak…
With an able assist from the former Human Services assistant secretary for preparedness and response under President Donald Trump.
Poland selects Westinghouse for Nuclear power project,6 reactors.
https://twitter.com/MorawieckiM/status/1586077189920854016
https://twitter.com/SecGranholm/status/1586082302534111232
How confident are you that it will be operational in 2033?
Well within the frame of similar builds in UAE,
https://www.enec.gov.ae/barakah-plant/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-toshiba-accounting-westinghouse-nucle-idUSKBN17Y0CQ
"Overwhelmed by the costs of construction, Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy on March 29, while its corporate parent, Japan’s Toshiba Corp, is close to financial ruin [L3N1HI4SD]. It has said that controls at Westinghouse were “insufficient.”
Still it will be operating by 2023,despite delays and overuns and the higher cost of electricity in the US will shorten the payback.
It would make a big difference to Poland emissions which at present is mostly coal for electricity and combined heat,and is the worst in Europe (followed now by czech,netherlands and germany as the sad 4 polluters)
Going on past performance of nuclear construction it is highly unlikely it will be operational by the initial projected date…the cost is also guaranteed to blow out….and it is unlikely to impact coal and lignite power peoduction in any meaningful or timely manner, but that is not a problem that Poland is alone in facing.
And then there is the problem of future energy demand for mitigation, Im of the opinion that nuclear is whole of life energy net negative
Yes and no,this time the US government is behind it,as is the canadian government with their small reactor programme which was announced this week.
Germany has spent 1/2 a trillion dollars replacing nuclear with solar,wind and biomass (which still emits co2 at a higher then coal rate) and now has significant issues with energy costs rising 42% and food 20% in the last 12 months.It has moved from a current account creditor to a debtor very fast,so all subsidies are now debt funded.
It will take (estimated) 10 trillion euro to replace gas and coal in Germany alone,as well as a significant investment in transmission,and problematic issues with getting peakload generation.
Nuclear is only a part of a solution,and it does provide good baseload,where in use.
No denying its base load capability, but it is slow and energy intensive to construct (not to mention highly technical, with a dearth of capability), maintain and with at best 70-80 year operational lifespan exceedingly energy intensive for decommission and mitigation…the fact the US gov is supportive solves none of those issues.
Quite the opener to a great read.
You fucked up real good, kiddo.
Twitter is a disaster clown car company that is successful despite itself, and there is no possible way to grow users and revenue without making a series of enormous compromises that will ultimately destroy your reputation and possibly cause grievous damage to your other companies.
I say this with utter confidence because the problems with Twitter are not engineering problems. They are political problems. Twitter, the company, makes very little interesting technology; the tech stack is not the valuable asset. The asset is the user base: hopelessly addicted politicians, reporters, celebrities, and other people who should know better but keep posting anyway. You! You, Elon Musk, are addicted to Twitter. You’re the asset. You just bought yourself for $44 billion dollars.
[…]
What I mean is that you are now the King of Twitter, and people think that you, personally, are responsible for everything that happens on Twitter now. It also turns out that absolute monarchs usually get murdered when shit goes sideways.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/28/23428132/elon-musk-twitter-acquisition-problems-speech-moderation
In the spirit of Ambrose Bierce,
ADVICE, n. The smallest current coin.
Andrew Mitrovica has some advice for that nice Mr Putin: Here’s what Putin needs to stop losing: A good columnist | Russia-Ukraine war | Al Jazeera