The 4th estate & its pretenders

Written By: - Date published: 10:59 am, October 19th, 2014 - 63 comments
Categories: Abuse of power, brand key, democracy under attack, journalism, newspapers, same old national, telecommunications, uk politics - Tags:

The ideal of the news media as fourth estate is to provide a means for democratic debate about issues of social and political importance.  It is a means through which journalists can hold those with power to account.  Some journalists continue to try to fulfill such an aim as much as they are able.  However, the transnational corporate media, and those with links to political power, these days work more often to stifle democratic debate.

newscorp harmful if swallowed

Among those aiming to practice journalism in a way that contributes to, and enables democratic debate, while also very often speaking truth to power, are the following journalists: Nicky Hager, author of The Hollow Men: A study in the politics of deception (2006) and its sequel, Dirty Politics: How attack politics is poisoning New Zealand’s political environment (2014) ; Nick Davies of the Guardian newspaper, who broke the story of illegal hacking by Murdoch journalists in the UK, as outlined in his book Hack Attack: The inside story of how the truth caught up with Rupert Murdoch; and, as indicated in today’s Sunday Star Times, economic journalist, Rod Oram.

As the investigation into the Murdoch “hacking scandal” unfolded, we learned of the complicity between many powerful people working in Rupert Murdoch’s organisation, some members of the police force, and people in successive UK governments.

Hack Attack Nick Davies

A Guardian review of Davies’ book says this:

This book is important … because it is, … the best account we have of the phone-hacking scandal and the attendant police corruption and cover-ups. It is, as well, the story of modern Britain and how its standards and politics have been degraded by one man’s ruthless acquisition of power.

However, the aftermath to the Davies brilliant fourth estate investigation, is sobering.  As stated in the New York Times:

Still, Mr. Davies did not get the Hollywood ending he clearly wanted. … But despite his best efforts, Mr. Davies was unable to prove complicity within the highest echelons of Mr. Murdoch’s empire. Mr. Coulson was convicted, along with reporters and midlevel editors, but Rebekah Brooks, the most senior member of News International to be charged, was acquitted. Mr. Murdoch’s son James once at the center of the scandal, was never charged.

This is pretty much what Davies says in his interview in the latest Listening Post programme on Al Jazeera.  Davies says that while the phone hacking has stopped, Murdoch and his style of news journalism, along with the abuse of power, and corruption of the democratic ideal, has not been defeated.

Davies also explains why the police were initially reluctant to investigate the alleged phone hacking.  He says that is was lower level police officers who took bribes from the Murdoch journalists.  The top brass in the police did not take money bribes not to investigate.  However, their failure to investigate was quite often due to,

a desire not to get into a nasty fight with this very very powerful news organisation. And if you look at that fear – it’s the same where government is concerned, as where the police is concerned – part of it is individual fear, that this newspaper might come in and expose the sex lives of the senior officers.  And then apart from that there’s is an organisational fear, that if these newspapers turn against us they can make every day a crisis, they can just destabilise us…

Davies calls the combination of this fear mongering results in “passive power”, whereby people don’t need to say to the police to back off.  The police preempt this, and don’t attempt to take on such power.

Something like such “passive power” could explain why police have been relatively quick to do an extensive search of Nicky Hager’s home, while failing to do anything like that in response to Cameron Slater’s use of the illegally obtained hard drive of Blomfield (see Russell Brown’s post on this).  As outlined in Dirty Politics, the Slater-Lusk-Ede smear machine used threats of disclosures of people’s private activities and sexual lives to get them to do their bidding.

Key-Slater-Farrar

Rod Oram, in today’s Sunday Star Times explains how such “Dirty Politics” adds to the already suppressive nature of reporting in a small society like that of NZ. Oram begins:

Is free and rigorous debate increasingly suppressed in New Zealand?

No, says, John Roughan, John Key’s biographer and a New Zealand Herald editorial writer, in his article available at http://bit.ly/Roughan

Yes, says, Nicky Hager, investigative journalist. He laid out chapter and verse in a recent article in the UK’s Guardian (http://bit.ly/Hager), as he did in his book Dirty Politics. His piece triggered Roughan’s blistering response.

I say yes.  Suppression of evidence, ideas and debate, in ways subtle and now increasingly brutal, is my experience as a business journalist in New Zealand. It is no consolation we are just a micro example of an accelerating trend worldwide.

Oram gives to examples from his work last week, in which, what was in the past, the

 ruthless exercise of power by a few to create a self-serving orthodoxy, has mutated into a virulent attack on trust, respect and social cohesion – for even greater self-benefit.

The examples have to do with health professionals being viciously attacked by the likes of Cameron Slater and Carrick Graham.  Oram ends his column with a refusal to be deterred from critical journalism by those who would undermine democratic debate and honest investigations:

Rod-Oram

 I’m not giving up on any of that…ever.

I say to the Slaters, Grahams, Odgers, Farrars, Edes, Lusks, Williamses, Collinses and all their ilk, you are destroying some good people and good society.

 

63 comments on “The 4th estate & its pretenders ”

  1. Tautoko Mangō Mata 1

    Excellent post, Karol. Decisions which are good for NZ and NZers need to be made using ALL of the evidence available. We have excellent scientists and academics doing research. We have, unfortunately, a government which has an agenda to enrich its voting base immediately regardless of the future environmental or social damage caused by its policies. Because of the short term thinking, future generations are going to be left with the costs of dealing with the environmental, health and social problems.
    This is robbing the kids piggybank. Since much of the research inconveniently points out these future pitfalls, National deliberately uses their second tier henchmen to close down debate.
    We must fight tooth and nail against this.
    National Government- short term asset strippers, long term disaster

  2. blue leopard 2

    This really shows the problem with basing the entire society on the drive of self interest and the drive for profit.

    So many important issues are falling through the large and gaping holes created by this erroneous principle.

    Nothing matters anymore other than profit.

    Out of profit being the only thing that is important, there is so much moral hazard occurring, being unethical has become the norm.

  3. cogito 3

    Latest re Jason Ede: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10634251/Political-influence-denied-in-Edes-work

    Quote:
    National’s former “black ops” specialist Jason Ede has resurfaced working for a listed telecommunications company with strong personal links to senior National Party figures.
    Teamtalk managing director David Ware confirmed Ede, a central figure in Nicky Hager’s book Dirty Politics, had been hired as a contractor, but denied any political influence in the move.

    “We don’t do politics. We sell telecommunications services,” Ware said. “I am perfectly comfortable using him. I think he’s a great guy.”

    Ware’s wife Belinda Milnes is an adviser to Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett, having quit this week as Families Commissioner, and her sister is Communications Minister Amy Adams.

    Former National deputy leader Roger Sowry is the independent chair of Teamtalk. Prime Minister John Key’s Official Information Act gatekeeper Sarah Boyle, who worked alongside Ede, is listed as holding shares in Teamtalk worth about $300,000. Ware said she was trustee of his family trust and also godmother to Ware and Milne’s daughters.
    …………
    Ware said the move to hire Ede was not political. “The decision to hire him was mine and mine alone – or to contract him I should say. I can 100 per cent tell you it was not a political decision.”
    End quote.

    Pull the other one!

  4. Alternatively you could visit sites such as mine and Ben Vidgen’s Postman facebook page for some much needed counterweight to the MSM crap.

    • Manuka - Ancient Order of Rawsharks 4.1

      Thanks! 2014 – the year I find that we in NZ have our own homegrown news & discussion sites. Used to think we had to look o/s to such as Common Dreams, AlterNet, and The Guardian’s cif.

  5. The Dirty Politics Hager exposed was to do with using social media back channels to the fuel attacks on the opposition via the Corporate Media Monopoly.
    It, like the other examples you refer to have exposed the CMM as beyond redemption.
    Those who suppress freedom of speech will not change. They can be exposed and condemned but they will not stop. And we certainly shouldn’t expect nor invite the state to stop them, or that the CMM can be reformed. They all have a stake in perpetuating the rotten capitalist system.
    The CMM is the reflex of capitalis in crisis to suppress all political opposition as its inequality and oppression becomes indefensible. What some US writers call ‘full spectrum dominance’.
    The Left has to outflank the right and boycott the CMM (which doesn’t stop us congratulating it when justified) and build an alternative, independent media.
    The Corporate Media Monopoly has to be broken.
    The voices of people like Oram and de Boni in the local media are effectively tokenised unless backed up by a healthy independent media.
    Its obvious that the political site that carries most weight with political activists today is the internet (indynet) as the platform for social media.
    This is why the Left was fooled by Key into accepting his narrative that Dirty Politics was a ‘left conspiracy led by Dotcom’ as a diversion from the election.
    It should have made that THE election issue.
    I would like to see our positive energy going into building and defending freedom of speech in an alternate, independent media.

  6. Tracey 6

    Thanks for this Karol.

    It is a modern world form of propaganda. Too many people think propaganda is just used by evil regimes, likening it to the iron curtain soviet union and Hitler etc. By its nature it is a secret action and so hard to pin down and easier to veil.

    The Institute for Propaganda Analysis, inspired by Harold Lasswell” defined propaganda as “the expression of opinions or actions carried out deliberately by individuals or groups with a view to influencing the opinions or actions of other individuals or groups for predetermined ends and through psychological manipulations”

    In fact propaganda is a strategy used extensively in the business world and its more overt personna is “marketing” where the “hot buttons” etc are used to create a want for something not needed and never before desired with a certain end in mind (increased consumption and profit). So demand is created.

    The West, and the USA in particular, have been proponents of slick propaganda for some time. McCartyism was an example but there have become more subtle ways to use this device inmore recent decades.

    Jaques Ellul wrote in the 60’s, in his Formation of Men’s Attitudes” of the way it is used and works. The book contains Ellul’s theories about the nature of propaganda to adapt the individual to a society, to a living standard and to an activity aiming to make the individual serve and conform. The work concerns propaganda as an inner control over an individual by a social force.

    ” The aim of modern propaganda is no longer to modify ideas, but to provoke action. It is no longer to change adherence to a doctrine, but to make the individual cling irrationally to a process of action. It is no longer to transform an opinion but to arouse an active and mythical belief.” j Ellul

    And for those who say the boardroom stays out of the editorial room consider this (below) and ask yourself why anything would have changed?

    “Rupert Murdoch reportedly instructed his editors to “kill Whitlam” before the fall of the Labor government in 1975.

    Fairfax media has reported that the News Corporation chief’s directive regarding former Labor leader Gough Whitlam is revealed in a 1975 diplomatic report from the US.

    The telegram from the US consul-general in Melbourne, Robert Brand, reported to the state department that “Rupert Murdoch has issued [a] confidential instruction to editors of newspapers he controls to ‘Kill Whitlam’ “.

    Brand made it clear that the words “kill Whitlam” were used in a political context and not as a physical threat, Fairfax says.

    Brand noted that Murdoch had previously supported Whitlam’s election but his publishing empire turned against the leader.

    “If Murdoch attack directed against Whitlam personally this could presage hard times for prime minister; but if against Labor government would be dire news for party,” the telegram reportedly said.

    The directive came 10 months before Whitlam’s dismissal by the governor general.

    Comment was being sought from News Corp Australia.”

    Jaques Ellulmakes many observations which I believe hold equally true today, including

    “”Differences in political regimes matter little; differences in social levels are more important; and most important is national self-awareness. Propaganda is a good deal less the political weapon of a regime (it is that also) than the effect of a technological society that embraces the entire man and tends to be a completely integrated society. Propaganda stops man from feeling that things in society are oppressive and persuades him to submit with good grace.

    “Political Propaganda involves techniques of influence employed by a government, a party, an administration, or a pressure group with the intention of changing the behavior of the public. The themes and objectives of this type of propaganda are of a political nature. The goals are determined by the government, party, administration, or pressure group. The methods of political propaganda are calculated in a precise manner and its main criteria is to disseminate an ideology for the very purpose of making various political acts acceptable to the people.[12] There are two forms of political propaganda, tactical and strategic. Tactical political propaganda seeks to obtain immediate results within a given framework. Strategic political propaganda is not concerned with speed but rather it establishes the general line, the array of arguments, and the staging of campaigns.”

    • karol 6.1

      Thanks for these reports, Tracey.

      I’m not sure why you don’t put in links to the articles you quote.

      This is the one for the Whitlam article, which is indeed, food for thought.

    • Colonial Rawshark 6.2

      Thank you very much for this Tracey. The simple truth is – anglosaxon countries are amongst the most propagandised in the world. And western liberal intellectuals are a prime target for propaganda. Buying into wars, buying into neoliberalism, buying into financialisation, etc. And indeed, often arguing for all of these things eloquently and persuasively.

      And this process has been going on for a very long time.

      Consider the book “Public Opinion” by Walter Lippmann, source of the famous phrase “manufacturing consent”:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Opinion_(book)#The_manufacture_of_consent

      The political élite are members of the class of people who are incapable of accurately understanding, by themselves, the complex “unseen environment” wherein the public affairs of the modern state occur; thus, Lippmann proposes that a professional, “specialized class” collect and analyze data, and present their conclusions to the society’s decision makers, who, in their turn, use the “art of persuasion” to inform the public about the decisions and circumstances affecting them.[1]

      • Tracey 6.2.1

        cv

        ellul makes the comment that academics and well educated are great for propaganda cos they hoover up info and then cant wait to share it…

        readin ritin rithmetic very important in propaganda.

        I have read a bit of chomsky too… thanks to you and sword for the reference.

        • karol 6.2.1.1

          The academic world have been subjected to “neoliberal” forces like everywhere else. It’s a highly competitive arena, with its ‘publish or perish’ ethos.

          However, some within that world do remain highly critical in their approach – Chomsky, for instance.

          The corporate ethos has captured politics and the media. It’s seen in their use of propaganda techniques in both business and political marketing – and in the tie up between the Slaters and Carrick Grahams of this world.

          • greywarshark 6.2.1.1.1

            Wayne Brittenden Counterpoint 17 min this morning on Radionz on academics and being muzzled – academic freedom.
            http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20153947

            • Rodel 6.2.1.1.1.1

              greywarshark- Wayne Brittenden this morning was brilliant.
              I’m getting a bit edgy about John Keys scientific advisory puppy Gluckman…
              Is he part of a plan to restrict academic freedom?
              All power to Canterbury uni’s Professor Hineman (not sure of the spelling) for his stance.

              People who would have been stifled if academic freedom had been curtailed as it seems it may be in NZ if Peter Gluckman has his way include Einstein, Linus Pauling and Noam Chomsky and last but not least Mike joy in NZ.
              The sloganistic “Scientific excellence “ is a nonsense .
              John Key in some interview somewhere cheerfully claiming that he could find plenty of scientists who disagreed with Mike Joy showed a pitiful misunderstanding of the concept of science and academic freedom. I suspect the 47%ers who voted National wouldn’t grasp the concept either.

              Mind you I think NZ university academics have been wimps for the last decade or so, afraid to speak out because they effectively have CEO corporate types managing their budgets and their futures.

              • greywarshark

                Rodel
                It’s an effective way of silencing people, if they think their jobs and lives are likely to be compromised. One might be staunch, but two or more with combined interests means reluctance to risk that.

            • Ergo Robertina 6.2.1.1.1.2

              The Brittenden package was excellent, and complements what Oram said about NZ’s lack of a contest of ideas. The code of conduct for scientists is a dodgy concept in itself, but particularly dangerous in NZ because of the size of the academic community and vulnerability to ideological thuggery.

          • Tracey 6.2.1.1.2

            the point was that academics gobble up information and disseminate it. being highly literate enables propaganda.

            national use blogs like slater and farrars to manipulate the reader… to spread their disinformation … and to deliberately deceive.

            red alert seemed to be set up to provide a bridge between lp and readers.

            quite different MO

            once the media buy into the illegitimate strategy of slater et al… wittingly or unwittingly they become the master disseminators. circle complete.

    • swordfish 7.1

      Yep, what the dear old NZ MSM do best: (1) Mindless Infotainment, (2) Selling readers/viewers to advertisers and (3) holding the Opposition to account.

      One detects just a slight whiff of One Party State now and then.

    • karol 7.2

      I think it’s no coincidence that those guys have risen in prominence under Key’s watch, while the last remnants of public service broadcasting have been gradually whittled away.

  7. swordfish 8

    Here are the basics of the Manufacturing Consent thesis put forward by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman (just the Wikipedia overview):

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent

  8. small thing 9

    “I say to the Slaters, Grahams, Odgers, Farrars, Edes, Lusks, Williamses, Collinses and all their ilk, you are destroying some good people and good society”. quote-Rod Oram

    You could add our PM to that as well
    Sad to realize that this PM is making sure that those who have any age on him become as powerless as possible to affect his position of arrogant self entitlement and being no.1 and if they try they will have his jackals and hyenas on their tail
    Thankfully he will not be able to escape the inevitable that all who indulge absolute power get in the end -exposed-
    The thing is for all good people be prepared to do what will have to be done
    Get a moral compass that works and like all partnerships recognise when a divorce is the only way out and get some laws that stop politicians being able to do what has been done this year
    Money does not save everyone
    We all DIE eventually and the destruction of the values that many good people have fought and worked to uphold have been shockingly abused and destroyed by this useless govt that has only served the privileged in the last six years and fooled us into thinking that we are progressing
    Have a really good look at what we have lost, theres fuckin heaps
    that will never get back
    Key is a treasonist arsehole like Douglas Prebble Banks Bolger Shipley Brash and the mother of all mutha fuckers Richardson and thats just in the last 30yrs
    Fives EYES or 50 thousands lies their both the same

    • whateva next? 9.1

      “Money does not save everyone” and is the root of all evil. Hear Hear to all of the posts above and reassured we can keep raising people’s consciousness, so they know we do not have to live like this.
      Cheers Karol and Rod Oram today, and all the others who are raising these questions for all of us.

      • Tracey 9.1.1

        the LOVE of money is the root of all evil

        • whateva next? 9.1.1.1

          stand corrected

        • Extract from 1 Timothy 6 (ESV):

          But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.

          • Colonial Rawshark 9.1.1.2.1

            yep the love of money instead of the love of people.

            • JonL 9.1.1.2.1.1

              “I say to the Slaters, Grahams, Odgers, Farrars, Edes, Lusks, Williamses, Collinses and all their ilk, you are destroying some good people and good society.”
              The worrying thing is – they don’t care. I would say they get a perverse pleasure out of the whole exercise, running crap for their masters.

    • Paul 9.2

      I think Oram wrote ‘and their ilk’ to cover Key.

  9. OK Karol.

    Let’s say that everything you have said is true and that the institutions by which regular people are supposed to hold power to account no longer do so.

    Now what?

    There’s no use complaining, since complaints do nothing. What are people supposed to do when the institutions that hold power to account have been subordinated by those in power?

    • Colonial Rawshark 10.1

      It is very difficult. However there are plenty of examples overseas of what can be done, from both historical and very recent examples.

      • Tom Jackson 10.1.1

        OK. Can you point some out?

        • Colonial Rawshark 10.1.1.1

          Just look at Occupy HK. Look at the protestors who have been arrested in Pennsylvania Avenue last few years. Look at the the whistleblowers who are being persecuted.

          I mean, just open your eyes and look.

    • karol 10.2

      We keep pointing it out. We also keep trying to provide alternative analysis and critiques where and when we can. We highlight when journalists or media organisations do fulfill the fourth estate ideal.

      And we keep asking politicians for a renewed public service media.

      It’s in the policies for Labour and the Greens.

      • Tom Jackson 10.2.1

        We keep pointing it out. We also keep trying to provide alternative analysis and critiques where and when we can. We highlight when journalists or media organisations do fulfill the fourth estate ideal.

        And given that the means of disseminating such information to the public (i.e. the popular media) are entirely controlled by the opposition, this is supposed to work how?

        Look Karol, I like reading your posts and you seem like a really nice and smart person, but what you suggest appears to me to be flogging a dead horse. Can you think of any other alternatives?

        • karol 10.2.1.1

          The options are limited. Why not you come up with some ideas? Why leave it to everyone else?

          The Campaign for Better Broadcasting has been campaigning, The Daily Blog has tried to cross over to get more visibility. Scoop aims to present more info etc.

          There were community TV and radio options but they have been gradually taken away from us.

          So what do you want? That we just give up because there is no brilliant option readily available?

        • Occupy HK, Occupy Wall St, Arab Spring are all about giving a voice to the voiceless and downtrodden.

          Some formerly homeless blokes have started an inner city radio station for the homeless.

          Many churches continue to speak for the poor and weak, in the face of relentless prejudice and vilification.

          There is a huge global shift away from monolithic MSM media sources into more fragmented online and community based services.

          Most people ignore political news and avoid advertising. Eventually all lies will be exposed. The truth will set us free.

          • karol 10.2.1.2.1

            Some good points there, ropata.

            Getting cut through into the MSM in any concerted and regular way would take financial backing and a team with diverse skills time to commit to it full time.

            And even then, the corporate media will not allow any treat to its infotainment dominance.

            The MSM are also stretched these days to enable the kind of in-depth research and presentation required of a truly critical media.

            For us amateurs, there may be some gain in diverse small initiatives supporting and promoting each other – the strength in the collective.

            • ropata mako shark 10.2.1.2.1.1

              Agreed Karol. I think most Kiwis are good people, but have been suckered by Key (the wall street wolf in sheep’s clothing) and his chummy persona.

              It can’t last forever.

          • Tom Jackson 10.2.1.2.2

            There is a huge global shift away from monolithic MSM media sources into more fragmented online and community based services.

            Yes there is, but the right seem way ahead of everyone else when it comes to utilising such media.

          • Tom Jackson 10.2.1.2.3

            Occupy Wall St is an example of uselessness. It didn’t really go anywhere because the protestors had no leverage. A large union winning a strike does infinitely more to increase the power of the left than pitching tents in a public park.

            Example: National seems hell bent on going after the teachers, who have the most powerful union in NZ (after all, they are responsible for the majority of childcare, without which many people could not work). If the teachers can not only win the dispute but humiliate the government, it would be a start.

            • ropata mako shark 10.2.1.2.3.1

              I am beginning to think that the only “example of uselessness” around here is your defeatist attitude.

              • One Anonymous Bloke

                There’s nothing defeatist about calling for a demonstration of people power, and let’s face it, unions have a track record and Occupy has a mumble mumble what’s that smell?

                • whateva next?

                  “It’s easy to become cynical, he says: “But I have identified cynicism as our greatest enemy, so I do my best to curb it . . . we all get bitter and angry about what happens. But you’ve got to guard against it, because that’s what Rupert Murdoch wants . . . [he] wants us to think badly of everyone else.”
                  As Billy Bragg reminds us

        • Colonial Rawshark 10.2.1.3

          You’re sounding like a merchant of hopelessness. Mate, perhaps you should just rejoin the ranks of the establishment, maybe you’re not really cut out to be operating outside the corporate power structure.

  10. Saarbo 11

    Thanks Karol.

    Oram is in a class of his own in NZ print journalism…

  11. nogodsnomasters 12

    Tom Jackson raises perfectly reasonable points around ‘our’ failures.

    The media in NZ is clearly sycophantic, but is that really as much of a problem as you think it is? Everyone who has ever had a job understands the hierarchical class divided nature of society because it is reflected perfectly at work. The tone ’round here’ borders on elitist a little too often imo. The working class dont need preaching to about who to vote for – we’ve been doing it for a hundred years – didnt get fuck all done. Any and all gains workers have been won at the front lines of the class struggle. The ballot box just handed away our power to others to write down our wins so they can start taking them back off of us. Remember Lange?

    Also what makes all you leftists (antagonism intended) think the state has a choice in what it does? e.g. ‘a government which has an agenda to enrich its voting base ‘ – Karol. Everyone round here are clearly good people great intentions. But I feel you fail to understand what the state is, it first and foremost exists to facilitate capitalism, it will defend the system to its death (or ours – as evidenced by countless workers lives lost struggling for freedom). Even if we elected the most radical progressive green whatever party – it would still have to put the needs of the economy ahead of human life, and as capital struggles to find sources of profit your super party would sell out the working class and environment to find an injection of value to keep the system alive exactly the same as any far right party you would.

    Dirty politics is just a symptom of the disease not the disease its self. The state will never set us free because it was created to maintain our slavery – this is where the media/propaganda comes in. If or when this fails, the more heavy handed repressive apparatus of the ruling class comes out, with guns if need be. There is nothing the state wont do, it’s the most violent institution in history.

    So what is the alternative? A class based movement to re-organise society to meet the needs of all sounds good, also sounds crazy and maybe it will never happen. In which case maybe there is no alternative? Maybe capital will bury us all.

  12. greywarshark 13

    Great analysis, but the downside becomes more of a possibility the more that possible positive outcomes could talked down. So think about ways to get people voting and get people educating themselves on the problems and taking the country’s economic and social health to their hearts.

    There is more than one version of capitalism. It could work for us, but we need to make change in our political workers, and make sure that they accept they are workers for the polity. Government have to steer the capitalist vehicle the way it wants it to go, not just let the world take over. The route we are taking is away from our comfort zone to a totally unsatisfactory place.

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    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    7 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    7 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    8 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    11 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    12 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    12 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    12 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    13 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    14 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    16 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
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