Get ready for an almighty surge of patriotism.
We are likely to win the America’s Cup.
It’s the grand alliance of media, corporates and government on an even more intense scale than Rugby World Cup.
This, together with the Convention Centre build starting late 2014, has a good chance of tilting the Auckland electorates harder towards National. Key will surf this.
The left needs to start debating how to counter this.
Aren’t Labour in favour of increasing R&D in order to stimulate NZ businesses? Squealing about the cost now; when the investment looks like paying off, seems to be inadvisable. It’s a better spend than the smelter deal – that’s for sure.
If Team NZ does win the cup then that’ll mean a need to prepare for the challenge in a few years time. The left needs to develop a plan for improving the transport infrastructure in Auckland to cope with that (remember the RWC chaos). Labour may be busy with the Leadership contest at the moment, but this should be a priority for the winner.
I’m not disputing that $1b figure Populexicle – but since you’ve put it forward, could you give details as to where, when and how that $1b is arrived at?
I fully support it as well. It may well support billionaires, but it also supports highly skilled tradies who could easily otherwise have become bog standard chippies and panelbeaters earning $30 an hour rather than $80.
But can Labour look straight into a tv camera and find a way of praising the America’s Cup in a manner strikingly different to National?
The new Labour leader has until Monday morning to find out.
but it also supports highly skilled tradies who could easily otherwise have become bog standard chippies and panelbeaters earning $30 an hour rather than $80.
Whatever makes you think that chippies and panlebeaters aren’t highly skilled?
Im no Mallard fan, but this $40m falls into economic development rather than expenditure on elite sport and I suspect if Labour had not put the money in from the start, then Team NZ wouldn’t have got off the ground.
On balance this is money well spent, yes the rich pricks get to party but Im sure that this will be a good investment for our boat building industry, which is a good employer and seems to be one of our few strengths. I havent seen any analysis but my guess: Money well spent on growing kiwi jobs.
i can’t see either figuring much come November 2014, concrete block edifices such as the convention center are hardly going to figure in the minds of the wider Auckland electorate, house affordability and availability will be more to the fore and if the audience for ‘the vote’ was an indicative cross section of voters the other night then i would suggest that National are in big big trouble on that issue,
Wrong year for the boat race too i would suggest, the hoopla will have died down from the win by November next year and it will be back to sleep until the next one which might give whoever is the Government at 2017 some brownie point from the feel good factor,
Lolz, the ‘Cup’ has even got me succumbing to turning on the tv at 8 in the morning, it looks like the Yanks have spent 200 million on a lemon and the crew aren’t quite up to it either,
New Zealand has the faster boat in the bigger air and the better crew in the lighter stuff when it comes down to a ‘tacking duel’, plus 1 for kiwi-engineering…
Unfortunately the media don’t give a flying fig about the huddled masses of the wider Auckland electorate.
The media care about their sponsors, and about turning everything, including politics, into a competitive sport. We can weep about that, or figure it out.
The narrow question is how to penetrate the mdeia cycle when now so much of airtime especially newstime will be given over to corporate-sport concerns.
There are wider policy and policy-retail questions to answer, but that’s the big one coming up.
Doesn’t matter if you think it’s the wrong year for anything; it’s happening.
The left have the policies, what they’ve needed is a leader that is capable of communicating them with conviction. Norman, Turei, and Harawira have stepped up to fill the vacuum left by Shearer in the last 20 months. After this weekend, I hope that Labour will be back in the contest with Cunliffe at the helm as leader of the opposition.
So against his ministers advice John Key just picked up the phone and promised Sandeep Biswas the CEO of Pacific smelter ltd $30 million of taxpayers money? No wonder the queen, who after all is the major shareholder of Rio Tinto which owns the smelter, invites John Key to Balmoral. He’s been a very good boy!
It seems the centre-left across the Anglosphere is moving away from third way politics and back to the politics of redistribution, and for similar reasons.
Oh and I support funding the America’s cup for three reasons:
1/ The feel good factor. What price on feeling pleased with ourselves?
2/ A new narrative of a New Zealand that is a first world with high technology industries that create high paying jobs instead of being a bunch of inoffensive and cuddly hobbits in a bucolic shire here to serve our visitors in low paying service sector jobs is well over due.
3/ If the government contribution is of the order of $40-50 millions then the economic return will exceed that easily.
lol @ “inoffensive and cuddly hobbits in a bucolic shire here to serve our visitors in low paying service sector jobs” although it seems reasonably accurate
don’t forget our 100% pure environment and crime free, peaceful non racist society
Jordan Williams was campaign manager for (Jim Mora’s good friend) Stephen Franks when the latter was National Party candidate for Wellington Central in the 2008 general election. That was the first time Grant Robertson stood for Labour in that seat. Their paths would have crossed a few times since in this city, and I expect Jordan has a grudging respect for him.
Grant Robertson’s point of imposing rent controls in Christchurch was a bit of an eye opener for many showing that when faced with the evidence of the rack-renting of the wrecks down there He most certainly would intervene in the market,
With the abysmal Brownlee and the equally abysmal National in control of Christchurch at the moment the name of the game is ‘Opportunity’,
Christchurch should have been declared a special economic zone with a Commission put in place to ensure that all business activity was conducted within the bounds of fair market prices,
The State with all the resources it has, should have by now had a factory built in Christchurch capable of prefabricating multiple houses weekly, National of course will rebuild the State housing estate from within the confines of Rolleston Prison, all good for teaching prisoners some skills, but, creating a huge shortage of affordable rentals in Christchurch for the foreseeable future…
Oh I know! I was told one year ago that I needed a filling, pronto, but other living expenses have gone on the credit card. What started out as a minimum $250 quote is now probably a whole lot more.
One thing to add to the incredibly long wish list of health policy in NZ is universal dental care. But I digress………….Got to get Key booted out and Labour under Cunliffe in first up. Socialised dental care would be at the bottom of the “TO DO” list. A project for another time perhaps.
Nice idea Phillip. I agree it may be do-able but I also wonder about the expectations placed upon a new government given the mess we find ourselves in. Mind you, if the goal of a new govt is for the citizens right to a healthy happy life, maybe it wouldn’t be a low priority. I have a vague memory of Jim Anderton saying we need universal dental care in NZ. I could likely be wrong. It was ages ago if he did say it.
Maybe dentistry services could be part of a review of all health services, investigating what areas need attention and resources. I would add to the wish list suicide prevention, elder care and housing, increased funding for medical research, returning free accessible health services to all especially those who live in smaller towns and rural areas who have lost their services in recent years.I’d also add a free counselling service for people of all ages. Introducing free counselling, as well as helping to restore peace of mind may prevent further stress related illness such as heart problems, digestive problems, anxiety and depression to name a few, therefore reducing the need for more expensive and invasive treatment at a later date. There’s so much to do to expand the services within our public health sector, just IMO.
Big ups to the amazing health professionals who do do an amazing job of looking after us with diminishing resources.
Jim Anderton campaigned actively on this for several elections and it has been Labour policy in the past. Not sure about the last election though. It would make a big difference to the dental health of many adults who currently can’t afford dental care.
Bad dental condition seems to be implicated in bad health for the individual overall. I don’t know the sources to refer to but I have heard or read this in a source that I considered reliable.
I don’t have a link to the essence of your statement either Greywarbler but I have seen the topic discussed on a doco and have heard it directly from my dentist. A chronic infection in the tooth or jaw bone can suppress the immune system as well as create problems for the heart. I had a chronic infection in my jaw for a couple of years, knew something was wrong but couldn’t afford to attend to it. During that time I was diagnosed with glandular fever. The dentist said that it was most likely that my slow recovery was due to the untreated infected jaw.
Might see if I can find a link to back that up…………….
I agree with DTB that socialised dental care should be started immediately. However it ain’t gonna happen under this government and I have my reservations about the likelihood if it happening under a new government. I’d like to be proven wrong.
Thanks Rosie and Murray and Pasupial (Hope Masupial recovered in quick time – though the disappointment at having the wrong one done wouldn’t help.) It could be a good idea to have a little map with arrows and a statement of what has to be done pinned to your shoulder. Just make sure that the map/plan shows exactly where it is as your right and the dentist/surgeon’s right are on opposite sides.
I know the teeth are a major source of infections. Before any transplant or semi-major surgery, they like you to get your mouth looked at. This mainly seems to empty the wallet.
Down in Dunedin we do have the option of the Dental School – which is cheaper, though you do have to wait a while (months when not in term-time) if it’s not agonisingly urgent. But then, last time Masupial went in for a wisdom tooth extraction they did end up ripping out the wrong (healthy) tooth…
Rosie, thanks for the concern. But the supervisor caught it before it had been out of her mouth for 10 minutes, and hopefully the re-insertion will take. If not, they said they’d do her a free implant (though we’re yet to get that in writing). She didn’t enjoy the root canal they had to give her though!
@ Rosie and others …re TEETH…….look up Xylitol ( very good preventative dentistry? ) on the internet…you can buy it from a health shop in expensive tablets or cheaply by the bag in sugar form from Whangarei…(Xylitol Products)…may help?…I use it last thing at night after cleaning teeth… ( by the quarter teaspoon).
Whilst “we” (NZ as represented by some corporate rich pricks and foreign corporate sponsors in a boat) happily jump and celebrate like marionettes on the medias strings for beating “them” (the USA as represented by some corporate rich pricks and foreign corporate sponsors in a boat)….bad things happen.
In effect some NZ corporate farm interests featuring some now very rich people have sold off a chunk of NZ to foreign owners. The new owners will take title, and keep farming as a corporate farm, and send profits offshore. We slip into the latifundia system of ancient Rome, the hacienda system of Spanish America where slaves and serfs man the fields, and the profit goes to the centre of Empire. What a sad and easily hoodwinked little crowd we really are.
NZ was built on land speculation since the first. The early settlers had to be restrained in their understandable hunger to get land and a living. My gt-gt-grandfather made a deal and paid Auckland Maori then had to go to court to get some back which he then paid for again. It was probably his fault as there was an attempt by the early colonial government to get some money to provide amenities and that was to come off a land tax which gt gt Gr circumvented. Many people landed around NZ with solemn promises of land ready and available in their ears and found they had been scammed.
Now the disgraceful thing of Maori losing access to what they should have as their proprietary or control right on a lovely Whangarei spring. An irrigation company has been given maximum rights of 35 years to use this and regard it as their right to not have to apply every 10 years so they can build businesses on its use, any attempt to control it is taking Their Rights away. Maori would probably agree to limited use and to continue supplying some water to Whangarei city.
Water controls should have been introduced decades ago, the central governments have not faced up to this difficult situation with its vocal demanding lobbyists, and the demand has just ballooned. It is very bad policy. We’re being sucked dry, the country will change beyond just having less obvious water in the rivers.
True P – and these maps show the loss in Te Ika a Maui. But it only tells a bit of the story really because along with the loss of the land was the loss of so much else, such as economic ability, social organisation, cultural practices and so on. It would be interesting to extrapolate from today into the future and factor in all of those losses too – probably wouldn’t recognise the place after 173 years.
Pasupial, you make a strong point there. You may be very prescient in your comment that the tangata whenua experience will be echoed in that of all NZers.
Perhaps when we become the blend that is simply NZers, and all of us are tangata whenua , we can all be serfs together. We will have allowed yet another version of colonisation to occur, with the same old imperial drivers of extracting wealth from the subservient subdued colonised locals. Or perhaps we could show the unity of common cause.
Completely agree. It is an absolute unadulterated disgrace.. Dollars to donuts that the media won’t make a big deal out of this as they can’t spin it into some bullshit anti-Asian xenophobia…
This opinion piece by Putin is a rather interesting read. I especially liked this bit at the end:
My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.
Don’t forget Putin’s last, brilliant sentiment in the op-ed. We are all equal in the eyes of God. Brilliant framing for the US political establishment.
dobro pozhalovat (welcome) to the new arrivals in Christchurch, the godwits all the way from Russia. Aren’t they amazing.
Hundreds of Godwits return about this time every year after a journey of 11,000km.
One way I think they fly all the way without a stop. But I can’t believe I have got that right actually.
Godwit chatter – It’s nice to go to the South Pacific for their summer isn’t it? Sqawk in Russian was the reply.
The Russian connection of following DTB’s comment is entirely coincidental – strange that.
It is apparently the case. They go north in stages from New Zealand to Alaska, stopping to feed along the way in New Guinea, Korea and Russia. They obviusly don’t like Korea or Russia very much and go on to greet Sarah Palin in Alaska (there – isn’t she a horrible memory?)
Their return is apparently a direct flight from Alaska to New Zealand, the longest non-stop flight of any bird.
There is a map of the route at http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/map/9184/bar-tailed-godwits-migration-route
Amazing isn’t it?
Yes they are amazing birds – the journey down from the yukon takes 8 – whatever days, no stopping, no sleeping, no eating, if blown off course they come back to the same sky trail. Kuaka are beautiful too especially just before they go, when they often have a brick red breeding plumage on their breast. I’m pleased we don’t eat them anymore – they are pretty fat just before they fly off and they mainly eat worms of various sorts in our wonderful wetland areas.
Over on the “Bryce Edwards need to find a clue” post Bryce Edwards is taken to task for misrepresenting the partisanship of TS blogger comrade X.
The comments are closed so I’m posting this on Open Mike.
Edward’s attack on TS blogger comrade X is really just to fuel his very superficial view of the internal dissension inside Labour. He reduces it to personalities and media bullshit.
For a Marxist Edwards skates over the surface lightly, more than once…
Here is a real Marxist analysis.
There is a contradiction inside Labour between working class membership and its bureaucratic leadership promoting a neo-liberal lite capitalist program. The right fears the left taking control back from the ABC hacks, and their champion comrade Y, and dumping their centrist program. It is this contradiction that has surfaced for the first time since 1989 when the left went into the wilderness behind comrade A. The media didnt make it up they just smelled it out.
With its nose firmly sunk in the mire of blood and muck the media fears that if the left wins, behind its champion comrade Z, the working class will once again have some honest faithful representation in parliament, and that the corporate media acting like mogul muppets will no longer be able to profit from pushing its crap down our unwilling throats.
Whether comrade Z wins or not the class contradiction in the Labour Party is out in the open for all to see. Let’s not mistake this for personality clashes and media promotions. The global crisis and NZ’s slide to bankruptcy has forced all the old shit to the surface.
There you go, a couple of hundred words is enough, and no links to all the left-right-centre unintelligentsia necessary. One doesnt even have to mention personalities.
Still annoyed. It’s a pity comments have been closed on the Edwards post, because his Herald article is still claiming that the Standard is now behind Cunliffe*.
There is always a diversity of opinion here, but I challenge Edwards to find a single day since Goff’s departure when the majority of bloggers and commenters here didn’t favour Cunliffe. It’s got something to do with this being a left wing site. If he can’t find a single day that supports his hypothesis he should withdraw and apologise.
But it suits his purpose to claim that we are suddenly changing our collective tune. He has repeatedly misrepresented us to suit his pet theories.
I doubt he will read this. Anyone who reads his column knows that when he comes here it is to just to quickly skim and cherry-pick “evidence” that fit with his beliefs. If he actually read the Standard he would be embarassed by his regular public errors, and (surely) as an academic feel obliged to write the truth.
*Still not wild about Cunliffe, myself. Just the best of a bad bunch as far as I’m concerned, and the only one of the three who might, possibly, actually have some leftish leanings. Time will tell.
I hope R0b got an apology for that defamatory rave that was removed.
Don’t confuse Cunliffe’s fearless analysis and will to intervene with actual Labour policy. That set of contradictions has yet to play out. There Will Be Blood, as of Sunday 2pm.
No matter how conciliatory the new leader (whomever) appears to be.
Nor presume there’s a black-wite distinction between a so-called proletariat membership and comprador-bourgeiosie caucus. Too sad.
And if you think there’s another glorious crisis that will revive the Deep Left from its torpor, well, exhibit A: 9/11. Exhibit B: GFC. Exhibit C: Arab Spring.
“Don’t confuse Cunliffe’s fearless analysis and will to intervene with actual Labour policy. That set of contradictions has yet to play out. There Will Be Blood, as of Sunday 2pm.”
“No matter how conciliatory the new leader (whomever) appears to be.”
As I said comrade Z is propelled by much stronger forces than courage, will or diplomacy. Although these personal attributes are necessary in a leader.
“Nor presume there’s a black-wite distinction between a so-called proletariat membership and comprador-bourgeiosie caucus. Too sad.”
As a dialectician I abhor “black-wite distinctions”. I call the proletariat by its correct name, consisting of those who live by selling their labour power to a capitalist employer. That is the big majority of NZers.
I do not distinguish the proletariat from the “comprador-bourgeiosie caucus”. For one thing the caucus majority called ABC is not bourgeois but bureaucratic. These are not the same. The Labour Party is the party of the labour bureaucracy which is inside the proletariat not part of the bourgeoisie. It mediates between these two classes since it shares the bourgeois ideology that classes are historical aberrations and can be legislated out of existence. Historically the Labour Party sought to reconcile the proletariat with working farmers in a political compact with NZ manufacturers protected within an economic nationalist polity. This was its rationale against the National Party and its forerunners that stood for the dominant bourgeois fraction of bankers, importers and farmers.
“And if you think there’s another glorious crisis that will revive the Deep Left from its torpor, well, exhibit A: 9/11. Exhibit B: GFC. Exhibit C: Arab Spring.” “Catastrophic non-revivals for progressive memes.”
Here I think you are expressing you own deep pessimism about the prospects of the proletariat organising to take on and defeat capitalism.
You see 9/11, GFC and the Arab Spring as “catastrophic non-revivals” of the “deep left”.
Dialectically speaking these are not revivals of the ‘deep left’, if you mean the revolutionary left, but they are revivals of the wider left, meaning the proletariat in general, resisting all the repressive forces of capitalism. The forms of resistance will change as the proletariat develops its consciousness and capacity.
In the context of a global crisis of capitalism kicked off by the GCF they signify the failure of capitalism to regenerate itself by means of neo-liberalism, by victory over “communism”, by wars and occupations of oppressed countries, and by almost total surveillance and social repression against the masses resisting austerity.
Far from being “catastrophic” for the left, these are expressions of the “catastrophe” of capitalism entering its terminal destructive phase in which it will destroy humanity and nature unless stopped.
As we say in the business, for the proletariat to live capitalism must die!
In Aotearoa, once the proletariat wakes up to a Labour Party that responds to its needs, then it is at least on its feet and prepared for battle.
But that is only the start of the battle. Let’s see which side you are on.
@ McFlock….kool-aid never!….too much wine a possibility
I am an optimist about Labour with Cunliffe leading!……I expect great things with Labour now and the Greens in partnership ….and Winnie as Minister of Foreign Affairs….brilliant!!!!!!
Personally, I think that Parliament is better off with Winston in it. Hopefully as a sitting party come 2014, they will also get a much better class of list candidate this time around. They need it.
The NATs have no vision or purpose left. And Winston will be legacy shopping. There is a strong chance that the 2014-2017 term will be his last or second to last (he’ll be 72 at its conclusion).
Labour/Greens can get Peters excited about projects and ideas that National would never entertain.
It’s probably the difference between you being a Labour voter and me being a GP voter, but given how Labour have treated the GP in the past when Peters is in the picture, I don’t see him as the asset to NZ politics that you do. I also don’t trust him, at all. I don’t really trust Labour either in this regard, so can understand why the GP are going after two ticks wherever they can.
“Labour/Greens can get Peters excited about projects and ideas that National would never entertain.”
Good morgan good morgan good morgan New Zealand, and a happy friday the thirteenth to all our wee tory brothers and sisters.
Today in history we recall that the last time Labour couldn’t be ignored by the media – the Goffy blip – the same thing happened. And if only an astute Standard commenter who promoted a joint leadership/primary had been heeded, the same effect may have been enjoyed for the past twelve months and more.
And let’s recall too that old “left-wing intellectual’ darling of the kiwibog sump, Brycie Edwards: the young man who brought us “the EPMU runs the standard” and went on to become a herald scribe: currently running saturation coverage and repetition of today’s classic, “Division Left” with the customary few fibby wibbies thrown in.
But enough from your old auntie with such a warm red glow shining up our back passages this glorious spring day, let’s recall and bask in that other historic lesson that we must all never forget and learn from, and play that old favourite from 1999, “When Helen hugged Jim”.
And I see slippery is worried about the coverage the Labour leadership contest has been getting, so he’s aiming to be in the House Tuesday, so he can slip his hand onto the new Labour leader’s cup when it is awarded – and get a 3-way handshake photo op?
Mr Key announced plans to travel to Britain at his press conference on Monday, saying he had ensured his travel schedule would allow him to face the new Labour leader at their first parliamentary question time next Tuesday.
We would point out that his schedule, circulated to journalists on August 12, showed he wasn’t leaving New Zealand till late Tuesday, well after question time ends. Former Labour leader David Shearer didn’t resign until August 22.
@ak
Are you channelling Aunt Daisy or Dame Edna or both? Thinking about Aunt Daisy, Labour could develop a recipe for Labour Party biscuits that could be sold from door to door, along with printed information around the biscuits of Labour’s hopes and visions for the everybodies. So what about it – has Aunt Daisy got something special, with a red tinge (raspberry jelly crystals) in her recipe book?
On second thoughts the food n.z.s in local government would probably find a way to stop selling biscuits. They seem to have tightened up on the way that ordinary folks can make money for themselves or raise it for others, on the basis of local by-laws the prissy stinkers. It used to be recognised that few bugs would be hiding out in biscuits, cakes, pickles etc. I think that the commercial bakers want a monopoly. They don’t want people to have any way of helping themselves using good old hard work and personal initiative.
Oh gawsh! (Tree Newz tunoit). Willie is traumatised and emotional about the plight of Rhinos in some place called A freak Ah!
Apprently they should have learned (had learnings) about how at risk they are – perhaps a talking point for a shyster trying to impress a Liz.
Fair enough! It’s just a shame that the same concern doesn’t the worry the Willie – nor a shyster that’s about to lead an enterage soon to try and impress Her (in doors) Mejistee.
They’ll soon be wondering why another Republic emerges from a Britissss Empire.
Bloody Hell, gawsh and rhubarb – how utterly stupid it was give those bloody slanty-eyed chinks back the Korng Horng what!
And don’t get me started on those damnable Ghanaians!
Why for Gawds sake! they’ve even got cheaper cellphone charges than out own bloody savages
Much rapture about Jones connecting with Labours true base.
David Cunliffe’s version of unity has been to double down on the policies that have been unsuccessful in the last two elections in the hope that a more assertive defense of them will convince more people to support Labour.
What Jones is doing is more interesting. He says if Labour is unpopular it’s because we are not being true to our values. Voters actually like our values and our principle that anyone no matter what family you’re born into, should have access to the same opportunities. Labour is only unpopular when it takes entrenched positions that are unfaithful to its core principles.
[…]
Cunliffe buckled under the pressure and fired her, indicating that he thinks unity is achieved by silence rather than argument
Jones called Claire Curren out.
So no mention of Jones own heterosexism or misogyny then?
Go Josie! Good to see she knows how to spell Labour MPs’ names too.
The fact Josie Pagani apparently has no fucking idea what policies Labour put forward in the previous two elections, no why Labour lost, are just more straws on top of the poor overburdened camel named “reasons no one should give a fuck what Josie Pagani thinks about anything”.
So no mention of Jones own heterosexism or misogyny then?
Add to that his obscene inferences. She doesn’t regard that as distasteful in a leader? Can you imagine her horror if it had been Cunliffe who had exhibited such traits.
From the link:
Cunliffe buckled under the pressure and fired her, indicating that he thinks unity is achieved by silence rather than argument.
She has exposed her own political illiteracy by interpreting Cunliffe’s action in such a way.
And finally we have this:
if Labour is to appeal to middle New Zealand, then it can’t say ‘we want your vote but not your values.’
To all those commentators who sneered at Shane’s style, who do they think the Labour party represents? If the party is not appealing to those in the RSAs, marae, pubs and to those browsing in Mitre 10 at the weekend, it isn’t a Labour party.
Well that reads like a contradiction in terms. She’s talking gobbledygook.
Definitely conflicting values – a muddle. On the one hand she defends Jenny Michie as not being homophobic, therefore should still be on Cunliffe’s team. Then she talks about Jones’ values as solid Labour ones.
BTW, I have been known to visit RSAs, pubs, marae and Mitre 10. What does that make me?
“BTW, I have been known to visit RSAs, pubs, marae and Mitre 10. What does that make me?”
An outlier? Confusing for her, Karol. She can only read people as market segments.
Deeply conflicted as well, in her statement “he thinks unity is achieved by silence rather than argument”… Rightly or wrongly, this is exactly what the ABCers demanded not too many months ago.
I won’t read anything she writes on the otherwise awesome pundit.
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Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
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 ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
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Get ready for an almighty surge of patriotism.
We are likely to win the America’s Cup.
It’s the grand alliance of media, corporates and government on an even more intense scale than Rugby World Cup.
This, together with the Convention Centre build starting late 2014, has a good chance of tilting the Auckland electorates harder towards National. Key will surf this.
The left needs to start debating how to counter this.
party pooper.
$40 million(nz.govt contribution) was a good investment in our boatbuilding industry, waterfront development, and tourism.
not to mention that the racing is very popular so it would be political stupidity to oppose it.
Excellent illustration of the Left’s bind.
The point is to win with greatly decreased media oxygen to grow.
How?
Remember, America’s Cup parade likely to be down Auckland’s Queen Street within10 days.
The game just shifted, esp for ak electorate.
Aren’t Labour in favour of increasing R&D in order to stimulate NZ businesses? Squealing about the cost now; when the investment looks like paying off, seems to be inadvisable. It’s a better spend than the smelter deal – that’s for sure.
If Team NZ does win the cup then that’ll mean a need to prepare for the challenge in a few years time. The left needs to develop a plan for improving the transport infrastructure in Auckland to cope with that (remember the RWC chaos). Labour may be busy with the Leadership contest at the moment, but this should be a priority for the winner.
The campaign should really begin now, because next week the flag wavers will be out in full voice.
No more taxpayers money for a billionaires piss-up on the water.
If is going to bring in so much money let the arsehole rich pricks pay for it.
Ya reckon that’s going to be a popular policy?
Do you support $40M being spent on this sham of a sport?
Given our boat building industry is worth about $1 billion, hell yes I do. Don’t be such a wowser.
I’m not disputing that $1b figure Populexicle – but since you’ve put it forward, could you give details as to where, when and how that $1b is arrived at?
I fully support it as well. It may well support billionaires, but it also supports highly skilled tradies who could easily otherwise have become bog standard chippies and panelbeaters earning $30 an hour rather than $80.
But can Labour look straight into a tv camera and find a way of praising the America’s Cup in a manner strikingly different to National?
The new Labour leader has until Monday morning to find out.
Whatever makes you think that chippies and panlebeaters aren’t highly skilled?
I’m sure Trevor is hatching a cunning plan.
Im no Mallard fan, but this $40m falls into economic development rather than expenditure on elite sport and I suspect if Labour had not put the money in from the start, then Team NZ wouldn’t have got off the ground.
On balance this is money well spent, yes the rich pricks get to party but Im sure that this will be a good investment for our boat building industry, which is a good employer and seems to be one of our few strengths. I havent seen any analysis but my guess: Money well spent on growing kiwi jobs.
i can’t see either figuring much come November 2014, concrete block edifices such as the convention center are hardly going to figure in the minds of the wider Auckland electorate, house affordability and availability will be more to the fore and if the audience for ‘the vote’ was an indicative cross section of voters the other night then i would suggest that National are in big big trouble on that issue,
Wrong year for the boat race too i would suggest, the hoopla will have died down from the win by November next year and it will be back to sleep until the next one which might give whoever is the Government at 2017 some brownie point from the feel good factor,
Lolz, the ‘Cup’ has even got me succumbing to turning on the tv at 8 in the morning, it looks like the Yanks have spent 200 million on a lemon and the crew aren’t quite up to it either,
New Zealand has the faster boat in the bigger air and the better crew in the lighter stuff when it comes down to a ‘tacking duel’, plus 1 for kiwi-engineering…
Unfortunately the media don’t give a flying fig about the huddled masses of the wider Auckland electorate.
The media care about their sponsors, and about turning everything, including politics, into a competitive sport. We can weep about that, or figure it out.
The narrow question is how to penetrate the mdeia cycle when now so much of airtime especially newstime will be given over to corporate-sport concerns.
There are wider policy and policy-retail questions to answer, but that’s the big one coming up.
Doesn’t matter if you think it’s the wrong year for anything; it’s happening.
“The left needs to start debating how to counter this.” Be appealing to the voter, have policies that people want to vote for.
Blue
The left have the policies, what they’ve needed is a leader that is capable of communicating them with conviction. Norman, Turei, and Harawira have stepped up to fill the vacuum left by Shearer in the last 20 months. After this weekend, I hope that Labour will be back in the contest with Cunliffe at the helm as leader of the opposition.
And also stop moralising to the working classes and indulging in negative bitchy politics.
So against his ministers advice John Key just picked up the phone and promised Sandeep Biswas the CEO of Pacific smelter ltd $30 million of taxpayers money? No wonder the queen, who after all is the major shareholder of Rio Tinto which owns the smelter, invites John Key to Balmoral. He’s been a very good boy!
A great article on the rise of a new, more economically focused left in the USA
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/12/the-rise-of-the-new-new-left.html
It seems the centre-left across the Anglosphere is moving away from third way politics and back to the politics of redistribution, and for similar reasons.
Oh and I support funding the America’s cup for three reasons:
1/ The feel good factor. What price on feeling pleased with ourselves?
2/ A new narrative of a New Zealand that is a first world with high technology industries that create high paying jobs instead of being a bunch of inoffensive and cuddly hobbits in a bucolic shire here to serve our visitors in low paying service sector jobs is well over due.
3/ If the government contribution is of the order of $40-50 millions then the economic return will exceed that easily.
lol @ “inoffensive and cuddly hobbits in a bucolic shire here to serve our visitors in low paying service sector jobs” although it seems reasonably accurate
don’t forget our 100% pure environment and crime free, peaceful non racist society
+1,
and this success will be justification to up the tax rates on the top tax brackets.
Jordan williams on the panel yesterday described robertson as his very good friend. Was his tongue in his ckeek?
i would have suggested His tongue was firmly wedged in another orifice, but, it is Friday the 13th and i might get bit if i did…
One of those ‘open relationships’ then huh?
Rimmington Rand – I was so impressed – I bought the company!
Jordan Williams was campaign manager for (Jim Mora’s good friend) Stephen Franks when the latter was National Party candidate for Wellington Central in the 2008 general election. That was the first time Grant Robertson stood for Labour in that seat. Their paths would have crossed a few times since in this city, and I expect Jordan has a grudging respect for him.
Lol
Grant Robertson’s point of imposing rent controls in Christchurch was a bit of an eye opener for many showing that when faced with the evidence of the rack-renting of the wrecks down there He most certainly would intervene in the market,
With the abysmal Brownlee and the equally abysmal National in control of Christchurch at the moment the name of the game is ‘Opportunity’,
Christchurch should have been declared a special economic zone with a Commission put in place to ensure that all business activity was conducted within the bounds of fair market prices,
The State with all the resources it has, should have by now had a factory built in Christchurch capable of prefabricating multiple houses weekly, National of course will rebuild the State housing estate from within the confines of Rolleston Prison, all good for teaching prisoners some skills, but, creating a huge shortage of affordable rentals in Christchurch for the foreseeable future…
Yep bad12, free market rules, but only for those at the bottom end of town.
Those at the top end of town get their inner city property values backed by government intervention.
Fucking arseholes
Whoah! That new image for Open Mike reminds me I’m waaay over due to go to the dentist.
🙂 Certainly eye catching! And don’t get me started on affordability of dental treatment in NZ.
Oh I know! I was told one year ago that I needed a filling, pronto, but other living expenses have gone on the credit card. What started out as a minimum $250 quote is now probably a whole lot more.
One thing to add to the incredibly long wish list of health policy in NZ is universal dental care. But I digress………….Got to get Key booted out and Labour under Cunliffe in first up. Socialised dental care would be at the bottom of the “TO DO” list. A project for another time perhaps.
“..Socialised dental care would be at the bottom of the “TO DO” list. ..”
..i think this would be do-able..especially starting with those least able to afford dental-care..
..why not develop a plan to subsidise the last couple of yrs of a dental-students’ expenses..
..in return for a promise from them to bond for a set period of time..to work in clinics focusing on fixing this major-problem..
..(the new stigma/’mark’ of the (often working) poor..is the gap-toothed smile..eh..? …)
..and in any serious program to fix what has ailed us for the last three decades..
..surely we could/should have removing that stigmata much much higher on that ‘to-do’ list..?
..eh..?
..and (i would emphasise)..starting with those most in need being the highest priority in any such program..
..phillip ure..
Nice idea Phillip. I agree it may be do-able but I also wonder about the expectations placed upon a new government given the mess we find ourselves in. Mind you, if the goal of a new govt is for the citizens right to a healthy happy life, maybe it wouldn’t be a low priority. I have a vague memory of Jim Anderton saying we need universal dental care in NZ. I could likely be wrong. It was ages ago if he did say it.
Maybe dentistry services could be part of a review of all health services, investigating what areas need attention and resources. I would add to the wish list suicide prevention, elder care and housing, increased funding for medical research, returning free accessible health services to all especially those who live in smaller towns and rural areas who have lost their services in recent years.I’d also add a free counselling service for people of all ages. Introducing free counselling, as well as helping to restore peace of mind may prevent further stress related illness such as heart problems, digestive problems, anxiety and depression to name a few, therefore reducing the need for more expensive and invasive treatment at a later date. There’s so much to do to expand the services within our public health sector, just IMO.
Big ups to the amazing health professionals who do do an amazing job of looking after us with diminishing resources.
Jim Anderton campaigned actively on this for several elections and it has been Labour policy in the past. Not sure about the last election though. It would make a big difference to the dental health of many adults who currently can’t afford dental care.
Nope, something that needs to be started immediately. It’d take time to get it up and running fully but it needs to be started now.
Bad dental condition seems to be implicated in bad health for the individual overall. I don’t know the sources to refer to but I have heard or read this in a source that I considered reliable.
I don’t have a link to the essence of your statement either Greywarbler but I have seen the topic discussed on a doco and have heard it directly from my dentist. A chronic infection in the tooth or jaw bone can suppress the immune system as well as create problems for the heart. I had a chronic infection in my jaw for a couple of years, knew something was wrong but couldn’t afford to attend to it. During that time I was diagnosed with glandular fever. The dentist said that it was most likely that my slow recovery was due to the untreated infected jaw.
Might see if I can find a link to back that up…………….
I agree with DTB that socialised dental care should be started immediately. However it ain’t gonna happen under this government and I have my reservations about the likelihood if it happening under a new government. I’d like to be proven wrong.
Fourth search in on Google, the link between over all health and poor dental health.
http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/features/oral-health-the-mouth-body-connection
Thanks Rosie and Murray and Pasupial (Hope Masupial recovered in quick time – though the disappointment at having the wrong one done wouldn’t help.) It could be a good idea to have a little map with arrows and a statement of what has to be done pinned to your shoulder. Just make sure that the map/plan shows exactly where it is as your right and the dentist/surgeon’s right are on opposite sides.
I know the teeth are a major source of infections. Before any transplant or semi-major surgery, they like you to get your mouth looked at. This mainly seems to empty the wallet.
Down in Dunedin we do have the option of the Dental School – which is cheaper, though you do have to wait a while (months when not in term-time) if it’s not agonisingly urgent. But then, last time Masupial went in for a wisdom tooth extraction they did end up ripping out the wrong (healthy) tooth…
Great that you have access to that service Pasupial but er, sorry about the incorrect extraction………
Rosie, thanks for the concern. But the supervisor caught it before it had been out of her mouth for 10 minutes, and hopefully the re-insertion will take. If not, they said they’d do her a free implant (though we’re yet to get that in writing). She didn’t enjoy the root canal they had to give her though!
that new logo brings to mind one tony ryall..(photoshop..!..plse..!..)
..phillip ure
@ Rosie and others …re TEETH…….look up Xylitol ( very good preventative dentistry? ) on the internet…you can buy it from a health shop in expensive tablets or cheaply by the bag in sugar form from Whangarei…(Xylitol Products)…may help?…I use it last thing at night after cleaning teeth… ( by the quarter teaspoon).
Now, down to business ..
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/business/energy-environment/in-a-natural-gas-glut-big-winners-and-losers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=3&.
.. after the boom in natural gas
http://grist.org/news/frackers-struggle-while-financiers-make-millions-sounds-familiar/
http://shalebubble.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/SWS-report-FINAL.pdf
And this benefits who ?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/9161499/US-investors-snap-up-large-Canterbury-farm
High capital values benefit nobody but banks and people opting out of society.
Useless
Business as usual for the Overseas Investment Office – http://www.linz.govt.nz/overseas-investment/decisions/
We need to ban foreign ownership of anything in NZ as it really is turning us back into serfs.
Whilst “we” (NZ as represented by some corporate rich pricks and foreign corporate sponsors in a boat) happily jump and celebrate like marionettes on the medias strings for beating “them” (the USA as represented by some corporate rich pricks and foreign corporate sponsors in a boat)….bad things happen.
During our distraction, as we reveled in faux nationalism our nations wealth got further plundered. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/9161499/US-investors-snap-up-large-Canterbury-farm
In effect some NZ corporate farm interests featuring some now very rich people have sold off a chunk of NZ to foreign owners. The new owners will take title, and keep farming as a corporate farm, and send profits offshore. We slip into the latifundia system of ancient Rome, the hacienda system of Spanish America where slaves and serfs man the fields, and the profit goes to the centre of Empire. What a sad and easily hoodwinked little crowd we really are.
Ennui
Maori have had 173 years of that shit already. If you want to see your descendent’s future just look at the tangata whenua of Aotearoa today.
NZ was built on land speculation since the first. The early settlers had to be restrained in their understandable hunger to get land and a living. My gt-gt-grandfather made a deal and paid Auckland Maori then had to go to court to get some back which he then paid for again. It was probably his fault as there was an attempt by the early colonial government to get some money to provide amenities and that was to come off a land tax which gt gt Gr circumvented. Many people landed around NZ with solemn promises of land ready and available in their ears and found they had been scammed.
Now the disgraceful thing of Maori losing access to what they should have as their proprietary or control right on a lovely Whangarei spring. An irrigation company has been given maximum rights of 35 years to use this and regard it as their right to not have to apply every 10 years so they can build businesses on its use, any attempt to control it is taking Their Rights away. Maori would probably agree to limited use and to continue supplying some water to Whangarei city.
Water controls should have been introduced decades ago, the central governments have not faced up to this difficult situation with its vocal demanding lobbyists, and the demand has just ballooned. It is very bad policy. We’re being sucked dry, the country will change beyond just having less obvious water in the rivers.
True P – and these maps show the loss in Te Ika a Maui. But it only tells a bit of the story really because along with the loss of the land was the loss of so much else, such as economic ability, social organisation, cultural practices and so on. It would be interesting to extrapolate from today into the future and factor in all of those losses too – probably wouldn’t recognise the place after 173 years.
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/interactive/maori-land-1860-2000
Pasupial, you make a strong point there. You may be very prescient in your comment that the tangata whenua experience will be echoed in that of all NZers.
Perhaps when we become the blend that is simply NZers, and all of us are tangata whenua , we can all be serfs together. We will have allowed yet another version of colonisation to occur, with the same old imperial drivers of extracting wealth from the subservient subdued colonised locals. Or perhaps we could show the unity of common cause.
“and all of us are tangata whenua”
Do you mean we are all Māori?
I thought this research was interesting and echos our whānau experience but we’re from the deep south so not really a surprise when you’ve lived it.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9126070/Maori-and-Pakeha-united-through-love
Exactly and yet people fail to see that simple reality.
Completely agree. It is an absolute unadulterated disgrace.. Dollars to donuts that the media won’t make a big deal out of this as they can’t spin it into some bullshit anti-Asian xenophobia…
+1
Bokke by 17 tomorrow night
Cunners in a canter
This opinion piece by Putin is a rather interesting read. I especially liked this bit at the end:
My bold.
Great PR.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/ketchum-placed-controversial-putin-op-ed
http://www.propublica.org/article/from-russia-with-pr-ketchum-cnbc
Don’t forget Putin’s last, brilliant sentiment in the op-ed. We are all equal in the eyes of God. Brilliant framing for the US political establishment.
The Daily Blog had a great way of putting it yesterday …
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/09/12/obama-vs-putin/
@ CV…..and the Jewish
Written while standing with one boot on Obama’s throat.
Putin the great internationalist, with global moral sentiment on his side.
Pity Obama is paying for the sins of both Bush presidencies.
Then again, someone had to.
dobro pozhalovat (welcome) to the new arrivals in Christchurch, the godwits all the way from Russia. Aren’t they amazing.
Hundreds of Godwits return about this time every year after a journey of 11,000km.
One way I think they fly all the way without a stop. But I can’t believe I have got that right actually.
Godwit chatter – It’s nice to go to the South Pacific for their summer isn’t it? Sqawk in Russian was the reply.
The Russian connection of following DTB’s comment is entirely coincidental – strange that.
It is apparently the case. They go north in stages from New Zealand to Alaska, stopping to feed along the way in New Guinea, Korea and Russia. They obviusly don’t like Korea or Russia very much and go on to greet Sarah Palin in Alaska (there – isn’t she a horrible memory?)
Their return is apparently a direct flight from Alaska to New Zealand, the longest non-stop flight of any bird.
There is a map of the route at
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/map/9184/bar-tailed-godwits-migration-route
Amazing isn’t it?
Yes they are amazing birds – the journey down from the yukon takes 8 – whatever days, no stopping, no sleeping, no eating, if blown off course they come back to the same sky trail. Kuaka are beautiful too especially just before they go, when they often have a brick red breeding plumage on their breast. I’m pleased we don’t eat them anymore – they are pretty fat just before they fly off and they mainly eat worms of various sorts in our wonderful wetland areas.
Is there a reason why today’s Open mike stresses that today is Friday 13th?
Is Key’s government planning something extra bad, or is it actually a sign of good fortune for all?
Why Karol surely you know it’s Black Friday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1ZV4Mx7tw8
I like having an excuse to make a day a little different. Well worth the little change-up pic to get a link to some very good music too!
Over on the “Bryce Edwards need to find a clue” post Bryce Edwards is taken to task for misrepresenting the partisanship of TS blogger comrade X.
The comments are closed so I’m posting this on Open Mike.
Edward’s attack on TS blogger comrade X is really just to fuel his very superficial view of the internal dissension inside Labour. He reduces it to personalities and media bullshit.
For a Marxist Edwards skates over the surface lightly, more than once…
Here is a real Marxist analysis.
There is a contradiction inside Labour between working class membership and its bureaucratic leadership promoting a neo-liberal lite capitalist program. The right fears the left taking control back from the ABC hacks, and their champion comrade Y, and dumping their centrist program. It is this contradiction that has surfaced for the first time since 1989 when the left went into the wilderness behind comrade A. The media didnt make it up they just smelled it out.
With its nose firmly sunk in the mire of blood and muck the media fears that if the left wins, behind its champion comrade Z, the working class will once again have some honest faithful representation in parliament, and that the corporate media acting like mogul muppets will no longer be able to profit from pushing its crap down our unwilling throats.
Whether comrade Z wins or not the class contradiction in the Labour Party is out in the open for all to see. Let’s not mistake this for personality clashes and media promotions. The global crisis and NZ’s slide to bankruptcy has forced all the old shit to the surface.
There you go, a couple of hundred words is enough, and no links to all the left-right-centre unintelligentsia necessary. One doesnt even have to mention personalities.
‘
Bravo!
Well done.
You can replace that bloke for that job at university.
+1
Still annoyed. It’s a pity comments have been closed on the Edwards post, because his Herald article is still claiming that the Standard is now behind Cunliffe*.
There is always a diversity of opinion here, but I challenge Edwards to find a single day since Goff’s departure when the majority of bloggers and commenters here didn’t favour Cunliffe. It’s got something to do with this being a left wing site. If he can’t find a single day that supports his hypothesis he should withdraw and apologise.
But it suits his purpose to claim that we are suddenly changing our collective tune. He has repeatedly misrepresented us to suit his pet theories.
I doubt he will read this. Anyone who reads his column knows that when he comes here it is to just to quickly skim and cherry-pick “evidence” that fit with his beliefs. If he actually read the Standard he would be embarassed by his regular public errors, and (surely) as an academic feel obliged to write the truth.
*Still not wild about Cunliffe, myself. Just the best of a bad bunch as far as I’m concerned, and the only one of the three who might, possibly, actually have some leftish leanings. Time will tell.
I hope R0b got an apology for that defamatory rave that was removed.
Don’t confuse Cunliffe’s fearless analysis and will to intervene with actual Labour policy. That set of contradictions has yet to play out. There Will Be Blood, as of Sunday 2pm.
No matter how conciliatory the new leader (whomever) appears to be.
Nor presume there’s a black-wite distinction between a so-called proletariat membership and comprador-bourgeiosie caucus. Too sad.
And if you think there’s another glorious crisis that will revive the Deep Left from its torpor, well, exhibit A: 9/11. Exhibit B: GFC. Exhibit C: Arab Spring.
Catastrophic non-revivals for progressive memes.
Give it another go pal you’re not even close.
@Ad
“Don’t confuse Cunliffe’s fearless analysis and will to intervene with actual Labour policy. That set of contradictions has yet to play out. There Will Be Blood, as of Sunday 2pm.”
“No matter how conciliatory the new leader (whomever) appears to be.”
As I said comrade Z is propelled by much stronger forces than courage, will or diplomacy. Although these personal attributes are necessary in a leader.
“Nor presume there’s a black-wite distinction between a so-called proletariat membership and comprador-bourgeiosie caucus. Too sad.”
As a dialectician I abhor “black-wite distinctions”. I call the proletariat by its correct name, consisting of those who live by selling their labour power to a capitalist employer. That is the big majority of NZers.
I do not distinguish the proletariat from the “comprador-bourgeiosie caucus”. For one thing the caucus majority called ABC is not bourgeois but bureaucratic. These are not the same. The Labour Party is the party of the labour bureaucracy which is inside the proletariat not part of the bourgeoisie. It mediates between these two classes since it shares the bourgeois ideology that classes are historical aberrations and can be legislated out of existence. Historically the Labour Party sought to reconcile the proletariat with working farmers in a political compact with NZ manufacturers protected within an economic nationalist polity. This was its rationale against the National Party and its forerunners that stood for the dominant bourgeois fraction of bankers, importers and farmers.
“And if you think there’s another glorious crisis that will revive the Deep Left from its torpor, well, exhibit A: 9/11. Exhibit B: GFC. Exhibit C: Arab Spring.” “Catastrophic non-revivals for progressive memes.”
Here I think you are expressing you own deep pessimism about the prospects of the proletariat organising to take on and defeat capitalism.
You see 9/11, GFC and the Arab Spring as “catastrophic non-revivals” of the “deep left”.
Dialectically speaking these are not revivals of the ‘deep left’, if you mean the revolutionary left, but they are revivals of the wider left, meaning the proletariat in general, resisting all the repressive forces of capitalism. The forms of resistance will change as the proletariat develops its consciousness and capacity.
In the context of a global crisis of capitalism kicked off by the GCF they signify the failure of capitalism to regenerate itself by means of neo-liberalism, by victory over “communism”, by wars and occupations of oppressed countries, and by almost total surveillance and social repression against the masses resisting austerity.
Far from being “catastrophic” for the left, these are expressions of the “catastrophe” of capitalism entering its terminal destructive phase in which it will destroy humanity and nature unless stopped.
As we say in the business, for the proletariat to live capitalism must die!
In Aotearoa, once the proletariat wakes up to a Labour Party that responds to its needs, then it is at least on its feet and prepared for battle.
But that is only the start of the battle. Let’s see which side you are on.
Fresh poll:
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/5167-new-zealand-voting-intention-september-13-2013-201309130404
Latest Roy Morgan is out.
The Greens are up to 15% and Labour is up to 47.5%.
National is down to 41%.
Good trend …
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/5167-new-zealand-voting-intention-september-13-2013-201309130404
EDIT: Pb bet me by a whisker!
lol
Labour’s up to 32, LABGRN is 47.5% 🙂
getting me hopes up, there…
Oops I was obviously thinking of a post leadership contest poll …
😀
@ McFlock….give it time with Cunliffe as Leader….and the people get used to a new Labour Party
A labgrn vote approaching 60-65%?
It would be great, but I think you’ve been drinking the kool-aid. No MMP coalition has broken the mid-fifties, as far as I can see.
@ McFlock….kool-aid never!….too much wine a possibility
I am an optimist about Labour with Cunliffe leading!……I expect great things with Labour now and the Greens in partnership ….and Winnie as Minister of Foreign Affairs….brilliant!!!!!!
….(stone cold sober)
lol Winnie as MoF again. That was pretty embarrassing the first time.
Well, you will piss around with commentary. 😉
And I stuffed it up 😀
“If a National Election were held now the latest NZ Roy Morgan Poll shows that a Labour/ Greens alliance would win easily.”
I haven’t done the MMP maths, but it looks like NACT/NZF/MP have a higher percentage than L/GP/Mana
Fact of the matter is Labour has to be prepared to deal with NZ1 and MP.
Unless we get really lucky and NZF doesn’t make 5%
Personally, I think that Parliament is better off with Winston in it. Hopefully as a sitting party come 2014, they will also get a much better class of list candidate this time around. They need it.
CV+1 to Winston, he is a fighter …..and getting a “much better class of list candidate this time around”
How do you see a govt being formed if NZF get over the threshhold?
The NATs have no vision or purpose left. And Winston will be legacy shopping. There is a strong chance that the 2014-2017 term will be his last or second to last (he’ll be 72 at its conclusion).
Labour/Greens can get Peters excited about projects and ideas that National would never entertain.
It’s probably the difference between you being a Labour voter and me being a GP voter, but given how Labour have treated the GP in the past when Peters is in the picture, I don’t see him as the asset to NZ politics that you do. I also don’t trust him, at all. I don’t really trust Labour either in this regard, so can understand why the GP are going after two ticks wherever they can.
“Labour/Greens can get Peters excited about projects and ideas that National would never entertain.”
I’m not sure that answers my question exactly.
@ Weka….if he gets in he could be lured with Minister of Foreign Affairs?…He would probably ignore the Greens if given that post.?….and vice versa
I guess. Still don’t trust him (and ignoring a coaltion partner is not GP style). Or Labour until the deal is done.
Good morgan good morgan good morgan New Zealand, and a happy friday the thirteenth to all our wee tory brothers and sisters.
Today in history we recall that the last time Labour couldn’t be ignored by the media – the Goffy blip – the same thing happened. And if only an astute Standard commenter who promoted a joint leadership/primary had been heeded, the same effect may have been enjoyed for the past twelve months and more.
And let’s recall too that old “left-wing intellectual’ darling of the kiwibog sump, Brycie Edwards: the young man who brought us “the EPMU runs the standard” and went on to become a herald scribe: currently running saturation coverage and repetition of today’s classic, “Division Left” with the customary few fibby wibbies thrown in.
But enough from your old auntie with such a warm red glow shining up our back passages this glorious spring day, let’s recall and bask in that other historic lesson that we must all never forget and learn from, and play that old favourite from 1999, “When Helen hugged Jim”.
……..sorry listeners….just when you’re ready David
And I see slippery is worried about the coverage the Labour leadership contest has been getting, so he’s aiming to be in the House Tuesday, so he can slip his hand onto the new Labour leader’s cup when it is awarded – and get a 3-way handshake photo op?
Nah he’s lying about that as well. his schedule was published before Shearer stepped down and it always had him leaving after QT.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9154622/Today-in-politics-Thursday-September-12
Mr Key announced plans to travel to Britain at his press conference on Monday, saying he had ensured his travel schedule would allow him to face the new Labour leader at their first parliamentary question time next Tuesday.
We would point out that his schedule, circulated to journalists on August 12, showed he wasn’t leaving New Zealand till late Tuesday, well after question time ends. Former Labour leader David Shearer didn’t resign until August 22.
Really.
He just cannot help himself.
John Key is simply an untrustworthy compulsive liar.
liar
liar
liar
‘
Oooh . . . missed that one. Link to travel plan prior to Shearer’s resignation, plox.
I dunno “circulated to journalists on August 12”.
is there a diary on line somewhere?
https://fyi.org.nz/
Make an OIA request.
@ak
Are you channelling Aunt Daisy or Dame Edna or both? Thinking about Aunt Daisy, Labour could develop a recipe for Labour Party biscuits that could be sold from door to door, along with printed information around the biscuits of Labour’s hopes and visions for the everybodies. So what about it – has Aunt Daisy got something special, with a red tinge (raspberry jelly crystals) in her recipe book?
On second thoughts the food n.z.s in local government would probably find a way to stop selling biscuits. They seem to have tightened up on the way that ordinary folks can make money for themselves or raise it for others, on the basis of local by-laws the prissy stinkers. It used to be recognised that few bugs would be hiding out in biscuits, cakes, pickles etc. I think that the commercial bakers want a monopoly. They don’t want people to have any way of helping themselves using good old hard work and personal initiative.
Oh gawsh! (Tree Newz tunoit). Willie is traumatised and emotional about the plight of Rhinos in some place called A freak Ah!
Apprently they should have learned (had learnings) about how at risk they are – perhaps a talking point for a shyster trying to impress a Liz.
Fair enough! It’s just a shame that the same concern doesn’t the worry the Willie – nor a shyster that’s about to lead an enterage soon to try and impress Her (in doors) Mejistee.
They’ll soon be wondering why another Republic emerges from a Britissss Empire.
Bloody Hell, gawsh and rhubarb – how utterly stupid it was give those bloody slanty-eyed chinks back the Korng Horng what!
And don’t get me started on those damnable Ghanaians!
Why for Gawds sake! they’ve even got cheaper cellphone charges than out own bloody savages
Josie Pagani: Why I voted Shane Jones……
Much rapture about Jones connecting with Labours true base.
So no mention of Jones own heterosexism or misogyny then?
Go Josie! Good to see she knows how to spell Labour MPs’ names too.
Josie’s second-round gift to Cunliffe’s cumulative total. I like thick voters.
The fact Josie Pagani apparently has no fucking idea what policies Labour put forward in the previous two elections, no why Labour lost, are just more straws on top of the poor overburdened camel named “reasons no one should give a fuck what Josie Pagani thinks about anything”.
Apparently, according to the MSM, she is an excellent, representative, left-wing commentator.
Add to that his obscene inferences. She doesn’t regard that as distasteful in a leader? Can you imagine her horror if it had been Cunliffe who had exhibited such traits.
From the link:
She has exposed her own political illiteracy by interpreting Cunliffe’s action in such a way.
And finally we have this:
Well that reads like a contradiction in terms. She’s talking gobbledygook.
Definitely conflicting values – a muddle. On the one hand she defends Jenny Michie as not being homophobic, therefore should still be on Cunliffe’s team. Then she talks about Jones’ values as solid Labour ones.
BTW, I have been known to visit RSAs, pubs, marae and Mitre 10. What does that make me?
Very cosmopolitan?
I fucking love going to Mitre 10.
Bunnings creams them for service and price.
“BTW, I have been known to visit RSAs, pubs, marae and Mitre 10. What does that make me?”
An outlier? Confusing for her, Karol. She can only read people as market segments.
Deeply conflicted as well, in her statement “he thinks unity is achieved by silence rather than argument”… Rightly or wrongly, this is exactly what the ABCers demanded not too many months ago.
I won’t read anything she writes on the otherwise awesome pundit.
Oh my Gizzle why has David Cunliffe failed to win over the Mitre 10 crowd. Paddy Gower get down there quick and poll the hell out of then!
This article is interesting not so much for the poll results but the telling comments from disgruntled red necks.
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/18915617/labour-greens-would-win-election-poll/
Jesus those teeth are awful.
Sable…….you mean the Unctuous Fuck’s down to 41% ? Interesting.