Yesterday the government agreed to commit $1.7 billion tax dollars in a 50-50 share of a fully electric urban rail extension in Auckland.
On the same day, government-owned Kiwirail signaled that it’s likely it will retire its 35-year old electric trains and go back to diesel, with only the promise that it will keep the electric wires operational.
Now of course, Kiwirail is a ridiculously subsidized tax money sinkhole, and has made one bad decision after another in its procurement. So it’s pretty hard to have any sympathy for them.
I would simply prefer a government that had a transport policy that made sense.
What’s incoherent is investing in commuter electric rail on the one hand, and preparing to disinvest in electric rail on the other.
Yep, it’s kinda ridiculous. I suspect it has to do with our delusional money system that makes it appear cheaper to destroy resources (burn diesel) than not use them at all (use renewable electricity).
Underfund and run down the rail, and government supports the trucks. 35 yr old trains need upgrade. The majority of the juggernaut trucks look spanking new. It’s a bit like comparing the starving poor and the obese rich.
Easy to electrify the whole main trunk and get new rail stock (could even be built here), then could even have more commuter rail eg Wellington – Palmerston North, Hamilton- Auckland etc. Would be a lot cheaper than all the current monster road building (even without the shonky steel which will have to be replaced soon), and also much more accessible to the whole population including those who don’t drive or can’t afford cars. Could fix up Wellington- Gisborne line as well. Only takes a bit of government commitment and confronting the power of the road lobby and the traditional hatred of rail by the National Party.
Electrifying the entire main trunk line is not easy.
You would have to electrify the whole of the south island tracks. That would be a Think Big scale project.
I’m not suggesting this government walk away from cars entirely and make commuter rail the preferred choice across the entire country. They are committed to the private vehicle – with some promotion of electric cars – and I guess good luck to them.
And I know I am being slightly unfair comparing urban commuter public transport investment with freight investment.
But with a few hundred million and some new electric trains, Auckland’s rail could be electrified to Hamilton and Tauranga. That would take more than half of New Zealand’s freight onto an electric system.
It would make a whole bunch of sense for at least the North Island rail network to be run on one mode.
You would have to electrify the whole of the south island tracks. That would be a Think Big scale project.
And your problem with that would be?
The only problem with Think Big was how it was financed which was by borrowing offshore. Muldoon should have created the money and then we wouldn’t have been in the dire straights that we were in when the 4th Labour government set about totally destroying our economy.
My only problem is political reality. We have a state with far, far fewer of the executive instruments than in Muldoon’s day. I don’t live in the world of ideals any more.
I live in the world of what is able to be done in any one term.
I know you don’t, and you’re perfectly entitled to that.
It’s not usually possible to build anything big in infrastructure in the course of any three year term. Mostly because it takes too long to get the money together.
Housing, however – there I think an alternative government has a good shot at making a visible difference. If I were part of an alternative government, I’d give every member a toolbelt and put them to work. Would do them good.
It would be nice if Labour still put practical minded blue collar workers, tradies and miners in as MPs but those days are long gone. Lawyers and pol sci grads are the order of the day.
Hey CV, you forgot, school teachers that get into PR, cant bear too say the whole word sorry. 🙂
And about Labour having time to deal with shite Nat,s policy, they seemed happy to leave a few of Ruthanasia in place, and no doubt the next chance they get at Gov’t, eg: 90 day,victimising beneficiaries partners etc.
Theirs many more but it does my head in.
Third way Labour can go to…
A while, I think. It’s the National government’s policy to normalise these events as some sort of unavoidable consequence of economic growth. Rightwing people have no moral compass and perversely to them it’s a good problem to have because it shows NZ is successful.
We have been incredibly fortuitous as a country to have the China market growing so fast throughout the GFC that hit Europe and the US, and through the mining collapse in Australia. So yeah, agree.
Would still prefer to see no “unprocessed logs” leaving the country let alone to China. But that’s for a different kind of government, possibly a different kind of country.
I know right, he really should just go tell these countries what they’re doing wrong and how it should be done because it never turns out bad when the leader of first world, predominantly white, English speaking country does that
By that logic you’d be happy for a full and immediate withdrawal by western states from the middle east. You must also be against peoples’ struggle for democratic rights and representation the world over wherever that might be.
Puckish – Keys wants us to join China’s political landscape – more corruption, more censorship, more spying, less human rights, more rights for those that know/donate to the ‘right political parties’, control of the media and public servants… list goes on and on. He just wants to ‘be at the table’ with the US too so a bit of a clusterfuck there with that approach, but logic never a strong suit.
It’s not going to end well for the National supporters too when you a tenant on planet Key.
Key will go eventually but the damage to our country and economy might be irreversible.
Tell that to the homeless, middle class and working poor, Ad.
The only reason Kiwis are doing ok is because of immigration which was great boost to NZ at the time of the GFC, but now becoming a big problem. Bit like taking out a lovely loan and feeling great because you are still getting by, but then you have to pay it back with interest in social services – housing, medical, superannuation, transport… You then borrow more and more to fund it, now it’s a ponzi scheme.
Of course if the government had targeted migrants in the new economy that set up businesses that were non polluting and employed Kiwis at good rates, different story. Nope the government did not target those migrants..
Students, Fruit pickers, Chefs, drivers, property and farm investor migrants…
On September 15th 1916, at 6.20am in the morning, men of the New Zealand Division’s 2nd brigade climbed from their trenches near Caterpillar Valley and advanced up the slope to seize the German switch line. Then at 7.02am, the follow up brigades attacked down the other side of the slope and into the valley to capture the villages of Flers and Courcelette as well.
If like me you’ve been lucky enough to visit the site of this attack, and walk from Caterpillar valley to Flers via the NZ Memorial, you’ll see what an an extraordinary victory it was in the context of the Great War. This is a doubly important date in the history of the 20th century as the New Zealanders used a new weapon that day for the first time ever in history – tanks. There wereFour Mk.I tanks with the NZers that day, and they were from D Tank Company, D8, D10, D11 and D12.
670 New Zealanders were killed and 1200 wounded in the attack.
I’ve been to the NZ Memorial and also saw the newly erected Irish memorial close by- a round tower with beautiful verse-inscripted stones. The tower had been built by youth from both sides of the Protestant/Catholic divide, in cooperation. The Memorial is known as a Peace Park.
The NZ memorial had its power with, of course, its national associations and the simple message “From the uttermost corners of the earth” attesting to the universality of our human race and the need to help others beyond our borders- that, at least, is something that can be taken from four years of insanity.
The ground around the memorials was a slope which I envisaged the divisions attacking uphill, into machine-gun and shell fire. One of the German pill boxes remained down the slope.
At Gallipoli I was extremely moved by the inscription on the Turkish memorial at Anzac Cove- such generosity, and simple forgiveness- repeated on our Wellington coast.
As a long term pacifist, battlefields still hold a strange fascination for me which I cannot explain. History, sacrifice, (in)humanity?
Agriculture is undermining many ecosystem services
Just last week the Committee on Climate Change released a major report on the impact that different categories of land use provide for energy, food, biodiversity, etc. But again, agriculture – here, arable and horticulture – undermines many of the services we rely on the natural environment to provide.
So, farming isn’t just a problem in NZ.
This is really a simple fact that we need to recognise and do something about. NZ is in a good position about farming in that we can easily reduce the amount of land in agriculture significantly and still produce enough to feed ourselves. The people thus freed up from farming could then be utilised in more important areas such as health and/or R&D.
It’s time we started doing economics rather than finance because the finance is killing us.
Kiwi journalist and activist Suzie Dawson has been extensively targeted by Western intelligence agencies and their contractors. In the wake of several overt attempts on her life, she had to leave her home in New Zealand to live in exile in Europe. In her unique new documentary “Diary Of A Person Of Interest” Suzie details in a clear, concise and credible way what it is really like to be a target of the Five Eyes; why she was targeted, who she was targeted by, how they targeted her, what their end game is and how to try to counter it.
Yes well that’s what I thought too, the name ‘The Standard’ being the first clue.
The second clue are the types of stories presented, in The Standard today…
“Right-wing mayor candidates try to kneecap themselves”
“Labour Organizing”
“Beware, creepy men of the right: Rawshark returns (briefly)”
“Optimism, determination and, above all, unity” (about UK Labour)
“India’s general strike”
The third clue being their own description of themselves…
“The Standard newspaper – from where our masthead comes – was founded by labour movement activists in the 1930s. They used it as a vehicle to share their views with a broader audience – a perspective they felt the mainstream media was representing poorly. We think the same is true today.
What’s your political ‘angle’?
We come from a variety of backgrounds and our political views don’t always match up but it’d be fair to say that all of us share a commitment to the values and principles that underpin the broad labour movement and we hope that perspective will come through strongly as you read the blog.” https://thestandard.org.nz/about/
Yet Siobhan, yesterday was insulted verbally and kicked off for two weeks for this comment on the story “India’s general strike”….
“Then again, here we are on a so-called left wing site…and its taken 2 days to get 6 comments. That says something not very good about our attitudes towards the value of different groups struggles don’t you think??” https://thestandard.org.nz/indias-general-strike/#comments
She was called a nutter, a moron, a gormless idiot, lazy and stupid by the moderator, I mean, what the hell is gong on here? doesn’t anyone care that this abuse is coming from the actual moderator? or is everyone scared of being kicked off themselves, so won’t say anything? or are people here fine with this type of abuse? maybe a bit of stockholm syndrome going on here?
I think lprent is totally out of control, co opting the name The Standard from our rich Labour heritage, and then abusing people like this, all under the cover of that proud banner of the Labour movement is absolutely outrageous.
This abuse has got to stop.
[lprent: Agreed. Trying to attack the site has to stop. Only a idiot would attack a site that they were freely commenting on when they provide absolutely now work or effort to maintain it. In short – a freeloader. ]
I read the story about India general strike. But felt did not know enough to comment on it. I was going to say +1 because I thought it was a nice post. So just because a post does not get huge comments does not mean it is not read or important. In fact when people agree with the post I think it gets less comments than when the left disagree.
It’s the left disagreement that gets the most comments!!!
As for the rant against Siobhan, I think that was totally over the top!!! Maybe a bad day????
If it was only one bad day, I wouldn’t have brought it up. this abuse is the modus operandi of lprent, and it has got to stop.
People on this site have got to stand up to this type of abusive behavior.
Firstly it is not the rules I am talking about it it is the unfettered verbal abuse that is being disgustingly spread about by the moderator.
Secondly I am also saying the The Standard by their own words have co opted the name The Standard from our Labour history, so can’t now claim that this site is not tied to the Left ( and by that definition Labour) in the public’s perception.
This being the case, there needs to be better moderation of the moderators behavior, or are you quite happy at being yourself, or seeing other people being abused in this manner?
Are you are also fine with the Lefts most well known New Zealand internet presence be known as a place where this type of abusive behavior is tolerated by it’s members?
Just to return the judgement. I’d point out that there are a lot of people who really don’t bother pulling their head out of their own self-referential arse. You appear to be one of them. Try reading the about and the policy and then thinking how your critic stupidity looks from the side of the workers actually maintaining this site.
Banned for a weeks to give you time to open the dictionary in your attempt to understand it. But frankly I suspect that you are way too rigid to bend your mind far enough to understand someone being productive. ]
I vote right because I have certain views and one of them is whoever owns something gets to decide (within the framework of NZ law of course) what and how they run it
The bosses of TV3 decided they couldn’t sustain the dwindling audience of John Campbell so he was fired because they decide what is shown on their channel and I’m ok with that
The moderators of this blog decided how they moderate and they decide what can and can’t be posted because its their blog and I’m ok with that
If you’re not ok with it go start your own blog, its really that simple
The more dwindling audience of Paul Henry National cheerleader TV3 bosses could stand of course. And of course the corporate welfare…
from wiki
“In 2011, MediaWorks received a $43 million loan guarantee for the Government to renew its licenses until 2030.[2] The deal went against official advice, and then Communications Minister Steven Joyce was accused of having a conflict of interest as the past managing director of the company’s RadioWorks division[3] The loan was described by AUT’s Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy as a form of corporate welfare,[4] and was criticised by blogger Sarah Miles as a case of Government interference in the media.[5] Radio Bay of Plenty secured commercial loans, The Radio Network covered its own costs, and Rhema Broadcasting Group covered the cost with no interest loans.[6]”
MediaWorks’ subsidiary RadioWorks has repaid the $32.28 million outstanding on a ‘loan’ signed off by former Communications Minister Steven Joyce that allowed the media group to defer payments to the Crown for radio spectrum licences.
The balance of $32.28 million of principal plus interest was paid yesterday – almost two years ahead of schedule, current minister Amy Adams said in a statement.
@Puckish Rogue, You see I can understand someone on the right like you defending this abusive behavior, of course you do, that goes with out saying…it’s part of your political ideology. True to form I like it.
It is when people on the Left defend this, that is when I get uptight.
Ive raised this a few times [TRP came back to me on it] – some of the comments have gotten down right disgusting. Including telling people to go hang themselves.
In the end – I came to the conclusion that it reflected on the poster more than the blog, but in time people will come here and read stuff – they will come to their own views – but honestly, it is getting worse – in the end the blog will be the worse for it.
@Puckish Rogue, defending privilege, yes of course you do, like I have said already, you are operating true to form, but you can’t help that, it is a core part your ideology after all.
Therefore he does rather control the whip hand and tends to use it often, so getting the occasional lashing is part and parcel of posting on the standard.
If that bothers you either go else where or learn to avoid raising topics that bring out the whip.
Very sad to see that you all find this outrageous behavior so funny, no wonder that the Left is so dysfunctional in New Zealand when we see no problems with abusive of power in own own ranks.
Adrian as you can probably tell from the response to your observation, there is lack of care factor or a fear factor..possibly both
I’ve taken a look at the response to Siobhan and compared it to some other mod comments, the form is largely the same
Looking through archives the moderating has had a clear impact on the tone of threads which is essentially censorship, and could be handled more thoughtfully in some instances. Certainly the name calling and abuse is unnecessary, especially where moderating in involved
On one hand the Rules state “What we’re not prepared to accept are pointless personal attacks, or tone or language that has the effect of excluding others.”
On the other hand we have lprent calling Siobhan “a liar, a nutter, an authoritarian moron, a gormless idiot, frigging lazy, stupid liar (again)”, and then banning her for two weeks, for having the temerity to suggest that TS is a “left-wing site”, when according to the About “all of us share a commitment to the values and principles that underpin the broad labour movement “.
I think you’re onto something Adrian!
[lprent: Tell me – does it say anywhere in the policy that moderators are subject to those limits? Doesn’t the policy rather explicitly state that moderators are expressing their limits to the types of things that are described. But doesn’t state anything else including that we are have any limits except what is in the policy?
Banned for a week for trying to redefine our rules – something that is explicitly against our policy. I’d ban you for a another week for being a stupid lawyer. However I suspect you can’t help that level of incompetence – it is probably genetic. ]
Thanks, I thought I fighting a solo rear guard action here, thank goodness there are a few sane people left.
I mean how can these people really be defending abusive behavior? and more importantly why would they want want to?
It is all quite sad, disappointing and baffling to me.
Here I was thinking that we were part of a progressive movement, helping with the evolution of humans, unfortunately this type of behavior only drags us backward as far as I can see.
Agree with you Adrian, it’s not right. I’m gradually coming to the conclusion that nothing in life is perfect either no matter how much you want it to be.
Yes of course the World isn’t perfect, but to accept something that is in our sphere that is plainly wrong and do nothing, that is the point, do something, anything, say something, anything, but whatever you do, don’t do nothing.
That all these commenters come on here to defend this abusive behavior is incredible to me.
It’s like that case with the Crusaders and the stripper, you know there where other people in that garden bar who watched that woman get abused by those thugs, but none of them said a mumbling word to defend her…why, because those rugby players have a perceived place and power in our society, the stripper who’s she?
That is where these attitudes ultimately lead to, where else can this type of thinking take you in the end? In my opinion, It is really this simple.
And I also think that anyone who can’t put this simple piece of logic together themselves…. well they probably need to take a long hard look at themselves.
A word that hasn’t been used to describe the behaviour is bullying.
I regard this as a left leaning site and as such some of the left save their vitriol for others on the left because … well I just don’t know.
I am truly grateful for this site, the posts, and comments however I find some of the langauge from some moderators to be excessively abbrassive and antagonistic.
Yes I really do appreciate this site too.
I know that it could reach out to so many more people, especially Woman and young people, if they could only say enough is enough… but no, here they all are defending this behavior….why?
[lprent: The moderating behaviour is to allow the maintenance of robust debate on the site when we have the potential to be overwhelmed with unthinking yobbos acting as trolls. Have a look back in the archive to early 2008 to see what that means. Since strong obnoxious moderation was put in to deal with the unthinking fuckwits of the net, the percentage of female readers has grown from less than 10% to just under 30%. The number of female writers has increased markedly as well.
Similarly the age range has shifted from overwhelmingly being in the 25-35 age group to being wide across the whole age demographic.
You really don’t think things through do you? Why do you think we have moderation? It is to increase the diversity on the site. ]
I could almost understand your reply if this were a radical right wing site. However to think you or anyone would defend this type of abusive behavior on a left site is beyond disappointing.
Look I absolutely respect the amount of work, time and effort that must go into this site, but that does not in any way give anyone one the right to abuse another person, or do you think it does?
Because if you do, then you just start to extrapolate that logic and see what path it takes you down very quickly.
Is this a left wing forum, news site?
I am interested to know peoples view on this question.
It’s a blog, and it serves whatever purpose the people putting the time and money into running it want it to serve. If you find that it doesn’t serve the purpose you, an idle reader and commenter like me, would like to see served, you’re free to go and start your own one and run it as you see fit. No-one running The Standard is accountable to you for anything.
Firstly, as I am sure you are aware, this site is now more than a private blog, it is, rightly or wrongly regarded, and is without doubt the main New Zealand left news site/forum.
I also assume that by using the name The Standard, and stating in their own preamble…
“The Standard newspaper – from where our masthead comes – was founded by labour movement activists in the 1930s. They used it as a vehicle to share their views with a broader audience – a perspective they felt the mainstream media was representing poorly. We think the same is true today.”
…that the resulting public perception of this site was not unintentional.
I believe people are accountable for their actions, and when those actions take the form of abuse, all while under the banner of an organization with it’s roots firmly planted in the New Zealand Labour party’s story and history, even more so.
Finally I find it ironic that you are using the Crass logo on your avatar, and would defend open verbal abuse of people who are respectfully expressing their progressive view’s on a left forum.
Crass, you know that band that was perhaps one of the staunchest and most uncompromising defenders of freedom of expression that cut a side of vinyl, not a band that defended unquestioned power…if I remember rightly.
Irony? If you’d turned up and told Crass how they were doing it wrong and you felt they needed to be accountable to you and make appropriate changes to the way the band worked, you’d have got an earful that would make Lprent look mild-mannered. That was one of the things I liked about them so much – they were excellent at telling people fuck.
Yes well as I am pretty sure that Crass would never have co opted an important piece of UK Labour phraseology and historical reference as a banner in which to organize under, I don’t think that would have ever been an issue, do you?
So that logic doesn’t work in this debate, sorry.
Just take a concrete pill and harden up, you choose to be offended To argue it’s all love and roses on the left is delusional Sibonan obviously hit a sore point with LPrent who is not my cup a tea but he gave her a spray, so what, move on, I’m sure he has and at least she now not in two minds about his view
nah, it’s still a private blog run by volunteers and funded by a trust.
As to how “left” you think the people who contribute are, that description is problematic because some contributors might be staunch proponents of the labour movement but not regard themselves as “left”. Some because they might think that label today involves issues beyond just labour and capital issues, others because “left” and “right” are just extremes on an obsolete continuum.
Some contributors here support free trade agreements with greater or lesser equivocation, while supporting improved powers for workers. Others are more keynesian, while others still recycle Social Credit in various guises and with differing extremes.
As to your comment about a mod’s abrasiveness, well – each to their own. Maybe they argue about it on the backend, maybe the consensus of authos/mods is that it’s just good to have an angry dog in reserve every so often, because kind words don’t always work.
It’s called the standard, there is a red flag displayed as the icon, and the main disagreement with Adrian seems to be along private property lines, man that is sad.
Maybe lprent could trademark that flag might be worth a fortune.
And hey yeah, let’s every one on the left just start our own blog, we can have an audience of 1 and talk to ourselves.
I agree with Adrian, and notice that all arguments against his position never mention the history or symbolism appropriated by this “private” site.
Well how about this perspective then: those who created the trust, worked to develop the website and established the process for its content creation, who maintain the servers, write the content and spend time moderating the worst of the internet out of the comments, how about those workers have control over the means and fruits of production?
How about this perspective, those people who founded our Labour party, that built a Labour Party of Men and Woman, who pushed and battled with their bodies and split blood to gain all the rights and privileges that we are fighting to maintain now, they would be appalled to see their own comrades bullied and verbally abused under the name one of their proud banners, The Standard.
I will say this one more time, The Standards own preamble links it directly to the Labour movement, the name The Standard links it irrevocably to the labour movement, that is just a fact.
Because this site has chosen to be linked so closely with our Labour movement, it has therefore surly obliged itself to operate at a level of normal public decency, is that to much to ask?
To spell it out for you, no, many of the founders and stalwarts of the labour movement would have considered the moderation here to be pretty tame stuff.
I gave you one easily googleable case in point above.
No, not “labour did it too”. A specific refutation that our predecessors in the labour movement were anything other than normal people, with normal behaviours. Some of the Fabians and Quakers were courteous and nice to all, no doubt. But we’ve always had our share of fighters and belligerents, too. There’s always been sectional, political and personal conflict in the labour movement. That’s what gives me hope – that they were regular people who made those achievements, not lionised saints.
The polite ones who used manners and doilies were often the ones who owned the sweatshops.
McFlock, interesting point. The great Michael Joseph Savage understood the rather conservative mindset of New Zealanders, even when he and his party won the 1935 general election in a landslide victory, he still had to assure New Zealanders that having a Labour government was nothing for them to be afraid of. Labour then, like now, has always had to be cautious, and I think that’s what some people, like the vehemently critical John A Lee, and others today, failed to understand.
Yeah, rereading about the ructions within Lab1 (just to make sure I had the gist of it right) it reminded me that the more things change, the more they stay the same…
How about this perspective, those people who founded our Labour party, that built a Labour Party of Men and Woman, who pushed and battled with their bodies and split blood to gain all the rights and privileges that we are fighting to maintain now, they would be appalled to see their own comrades bullied and verbally abused under the name one of their proud banners, The Standard.
It’s a matter of opinion. Personally, I think they’d be appalled to see members of a worker’s cooperative berated by someone who’d contributed no time or effort to it but wants to tell the cooperative how they should run things, effectively on the basis of a claim to superior left-wingedness. Because it is appalling.
@McFlock & Psycho, all I can say is, well done boys, in passionately defending your right to bully and abuse people, nice work.
I have learned a couple of things in this sad exchange, the main one being, this has helped in taking the guess work out of wondering who the guards would be.
You have some answers to the questions you posed. Unsettling isn’t it?
In some ways the comments section on the Standard has always reminded me of Fight Club. On the mezzanine floor above the ring are the moderators who keep redefining the rules of engagement, which keeps things interesting.
The first rule of fight club is, you don’t talk about fight club:
We are strongly independent of any organisation because it allows us to argue how we want to. These days we don’t even run advertising because we neither need to (peoples occasional donations pay our minimal operating costs), nor do we have the time to organize it.
We strongly favour moderators and authors – because they are the people who keep the site running with starter content and effort.
What do you think? That we should favour people who freeload on the comments section? Some of them we will and do listen to. But they tend to be the people who invest effort and intelligence in their comments. Not something that I have noticed with Siobhan or Adrian.
@ Adrian
Careful. It’s a well known tactic of bullies to cry foul and accuse others of doing the bullying. Good example: Cameron Slater. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to acquire a similar reputation to him.
lprent has a tactic too – born out of experience. Come down hard on trolls and derailers in the hope they will cease their bad habits. It usually works and for those who choose to ignore… it’s the sin bin for a while or a permanent ban. Take it or leave it Adrian. If you don’t like the way TS is run I suggest you run away and start your own blog.
Edit: I see others have already suggested it so off you go and do let us know what it is called…
PM, no-ones telling anyone how to run things, they’re asking for a reasonable “standard” of discourse free of personal abuse, a la the “Policy”. Question, Psycho Milt, do you think calling a commenter “a liar, a nutter, an authoritarian moron, a gormless idiot, frigging lazy” for an innocuous (imo) comment meets that test?
[lprent: It wasn’t an innocuous comment.
In the last 9 years, it is exactly the type of comment that has prefaced about half of the attacks on this site from the right, the left, and the nutters.
I always ban fools who use it because it is completely stupid and idiotic to abuse people on their own site.
If you want to set the rules for a site – then start your own. If you want to continue in this vein, then I will give you ample time to do it without the distractions of commenting here. ]
I think it’s not up to me or any other outsiders to tell moderators how to moderate their own blog, unless they ask me. Especially not when there’s a comments policy specifically warning against doing that.
In my personal opinion, it must be extremely annoying for the people who do the work involved in running this blog to have commenters implying some moral failing on their part, based on what hasn’t been written about, or insufficiently written about in the commenter’s opinion. If I were to imply moral failing on the part of participants here, it may be that it seemed innocuous to me, but it also may be that the moderator’s seen a great many of these sanctimonious, passive-aggressive attacks over the years and has no interest in dealing with them politely. I find that not implying moral failings on the part of moderators helps avoid such incidents.
To Psycho Milt @ 10.49 a.m. (no reply button) – what you say is correct, and would be relevant if we were talking about moderation, but we’re talking about abuse. Moderation good (great!), abuse bad.
Have you actually read Siobhan’s OP? There’s no way you can find an “implication of moral failing” or a “sanctimonious passive aggressive attack” in that.
Then again, here we are on a so-called left wing site…and its taken 2 days to get 6 comments. That says something not very good about our attitudes towards the value of different groups struggles don’t you think??
Seems pretty sanctimonious to me. Shades of the old “you don’t care as much or as broadly as I care, so you’re not really ‘left wing'” bs.
That’s fine, in your opinion it wasn’t an innocuous comment, I accept that. Whether you were “abused”, arguable.
That you descended to personal abuse in contravention of the Policy (“pointless personal attacks, or tone or language that has the effect of excluding others), that’s indisputable.
My opinion when I am moderating is the only one that counts.
I have already pointed out further up how you should read the policy. It limits moderation techniques, but does not constrain them. In my case I tend to find that people remember moderation against themselves when they are accompanied with some personal observations. This reduces my future work load.
My opinion when I am moderating is the only one that counts. I’d listen to authors, but seldom with commentators. After all it is our site
I have already pointed out further up how you should read the policy. It limits moderation techniques, but does not constrain them. In my case I tend to find that people remember moderation against themselves when they are accompanied with some personal observations. This reduces my future work load.
…”Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) was not satisfied with the two redacted documents, demanding full access to the investigation from Herring.
“We decide what’s relevant – not the Department of Justice, not the FBI,” Chaffetz said during Monday’s hearing. “It’s unclear to me how the FBI can prevent a member of Congress from seeing what we’re already allowed to see by law, yet here they have done so.”
“That’s the way a banana republic acts, not the way the United States of America acts,” Chaffetz added.
“I don’t expect to have to issue a subpoena to see unclassified information.”…
Although the US has historically been instrumental in the setting up and maintenance of Banana Republics…which sometimes literally grew bananas for US based corporations
…and now this …money talks you into becoming an Ambassador for USA (irony)…where are the career highly trained ambassadors?…they are obviously being sidelined in this ‘democracy’….which IS looking more and more like a banana republic
‘How much for ambassador? Hacked DNC files reveal plum posts for big donors’
“Hacker ‘Guccifer 2.0’ has offered support for allegations that Democrats rewarded big donors and fund-raisers with plum diplomatic posts, by releasing a donor list from November 2008, when current VP candidate Tim Kaine chaired the DNC.
Among the 500 megabytes of data released Tuesday was the document titled “11-26-08 NFC Members Raised,” listing the names and addresses of some 100,000 Democratic National Committee donors. Cross-referencing the top donors’ names revealed that they were later appointed to ambassador posts and other government jobs…
…The documents cover a period between 2009 and 2011, when the DNC was chaired by Tim Kaine, currently Hillary Clinton’s running mate on the presidential ticket….
No wonder people can’t get work. You just pay now to get a role. Qualifications are irrelevant just the size of your donation and knowing the right people.
New Zealand is joining the United States and 11 other countries in negotiating with the World Trade Organisation to ban harmful fishery subsidies, particularly those that contribute to overfishing and overcapacity in the sector or are linked to illegal fishing, they said today.
Although I agree with the action is the government doing anything to end the unsustainable practices that occur here in NZ?
Good God! They really are a pack of wet willies these Nats. NZ is rapidly becoming a police state and the soon they are gone and the oppression removed the better.
“Key emerges from this whole episode with very little honour. Such craven compromising is a very long way from the extraordinarily bold behaviour of the John Key who took up the Opposition leader’s role in 2007. That John Key would have weighed the Greens’ 13 percent of the Party Vote against the Maori Party’s 2 percent and adjusted his strategy accordingly.”
People are making less real wages than 18 years ago, Trump says in Ohio. "Me, I’m working harder also so I don’t feel sorry for any of you."— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) September 14, 2016
A new poll showing Donald Trump leading Hillary Clinton by 4 points in Ohio set the media buzzing, but a look at the polling data reveals that CNN under polled younger voters.
[…]
Update: It turns out that CNN did poll voters under 50, but the reason why their crosstabs showed no data was because they polled too few younger voters. Younger voters have made up 44%-51% of those who voted in the last three election cycles. CNN’s sample was made of 18% younger voters. In essence, CNN cut the number of younger voters in Ohio in half.
Donald Trump will definitely win Ohio if no one under the age of 50 comes out to vote, but that is not going to happen. It may just be an error, but if CNN shaped their numbers to get a newsworthy headline, it would serve as a perfect example how news networks use their polling to make the news instead of reporting on it.
Its like the last election where it got to the point where you almost started to feel sorry for Labour, like watching the All Blacks play Scotland, you know Scotland are going to lose and you know they’re trying their best but you know theirs a hiding coming up soon…
I’ve said it before but in the same way that plucky Scotland will never beat the All Blacks it now seems obvious that Labour will never be the government again. Despite MMP making it hard to obtain a majority it seems obvious that as long as John Key is the leader then National are unbeatable. 2017,2020 and 2023 are all probable National wins. The wealth of talent that entered Parliament in 2014 will be promoted soon. My pick for Premier at 2026 is Chris Bishop who has scared Trevor Mallard from even standing next time.
Your wish for collapse is not shared by the 67,000 people who have flocked to live in New Zealand in the last 12 months unlike the many thousands who were leaving during the dark ages of the last ever Labour government.
Does anyone else think the Spinoff has become a type of Sky magazine with sponsored articles? I first thought is was going to be Herald for younger audience, but it’s kinda of worse than that in terms of shallowness.
While I would normally congratulate anyone trying to push a new media platform in NZ away from MSM, but the Spinoff is all that is bad about the media under a new and less improved and even less informed news (is that even possible, yes with Spinoff) click bait tactic.
Had just started looking at it for the Dotcom coverage. But really… I mean meaningless, content free, awful and trivialising is an understatement. If this is an example of journalism covering a man’s freedom here and a test case for extradition – it’s written like The bachelor but from someone who sends the 10 year olds out to court to cover the case for a school project.
If Spinoff is an example of the future of journalism in NZ, I really hope not!!
extract Dotcom case…
Friday September 9: Day 10 of the hearing, Day 8 of the livestream
Hm.
Thursday September 8: Day 9 of the hearing, Day 7 of the livestream
Yeah.
Mockery , injustice and shallowness made into entertainment – seems more like The Hunger Games.
The numerical value published of 66bn may be of interest to certain folk
Mergers are an undersized life raft at best for the companies involed
Chemical poisons/toxins and the companies/industry that peddle them are on the way out, its over for these entities now and this merger signals as much
This is the final through of the dice for both companies
Too many are aware of what is going on and the momentum can’t be stopped on the march towards good health through natural nutrition and healing
Chiropractors don’t treat diabetes lol. Also, remind me what the scientific intellectual west’s track record with diabetes has been over the last 50 years? Incidence going sky high right? More cases and more early deaths than ever, right?
You rational materialists are no where as clever as you are narrow minded.
In the 1950s, about one in five people died within 20 years after a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. One in three people died within 25 years of diagnosis.
About one in four people developed kidney failure within 25 years of a type 1 diabetes diagnosis. Doctors could not detect early kidney disease and had no tools for slowing its progression to kidney failure. Survival after kidney failure was poor, with one of 10 patients dying each year.
About 90 percent of people with type 1 diabetes developed diabetic retinopathy within 25 years of diagnosis. Blindness from diabetic retinopathy was responsible for about 12 percent of new cases of blindness between the ages of 45 and 74.
Studies had not proven the value of laser surgery in reducing blindness.
Major birth defects in the offspring of mothers with type 1 diabetes were three times higher than in the general population.
Patients relied on injections of animal-derived insulin. The insulin pump would soon be introduced but would not become widely used for years.
Studies had not yet shown the need for intensive glucose control to delay or prevent the debilitating eye, nerve, kidney, heart, and blood vessel complications of diabetes. Also, the importance of blood pressure control in preventing complications had not been established yet.
Patients monitored their glucose levels with urine tests, which recognized high but not dangerously low glucose levels and reflected past, not current, glucose levels. More reliable methods for testing glucose levels in the blood had not been developed yet.
Researchers had just discovered autoimmunity as the underlying cause of type 1 diabetes. However, they couldn’t assess an individual’s level of risk for developing type 1 diabetes, and they didn’t know enough to even consider ways to prevent type 1 diabetes.
TODAY
The long-term survival of those with type 1 diabetes has dramatically improved in the last 30 years. For people born between 1975 and 1980, about 3.5 percent die within 20 years of diagnosis, and 7 percent die within 25 years of diagnosis. These death rates are much lower than those of patients born in the 1950s, but are still significantly increased compared to the general population.
After 20 years of annual increases from 5 to 10 percent, rates for new kidney failure cases have leveled off. The most encouraging trend is in diabetes, where rates for new cases in whites under age 40 are the lowest in 20 years. Improved control of glucose and blood pressure and the use of specific antihypertensive drugs prevent or delay the progression of kidney disease to kidney failure.
Annual eye exams are recommended because, with timely laser surgery and appropriate follow-up care, people with advanced diabetic retinopathy can reduce their risk of blindness by 90 percent. A new study shows that vision loss that is often associated with laser therapy can be reduced when the drug ranibizumab is used in combination with laser.
For expectant mothers with type 1 diabetes, tight control of glucose that begins before conception lowers the risk of birth defects, miscarriage, and newborn death to a range that is close to that of the general population.
Patients use genetically engineered human insulin in a variety of formulations, e.g., rapid-acting, intermediate acting, and long-acting insulin, to control their blood glucose. Insulin pumps are widely used.
A major clinical trial, the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT; http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/control), showed that intensive glucose control dramatically delays or prevents the eye, nerve, and kidney complications of type 1 diabetes. A paradigm shift in the way type 1 diabetes is controlled was based on this finding. As researchers continued to follow study participants, they found that tight glucose control also reduces cardiovascular complications, such as heart attack and stroke. This research has contributed to greatly improved health outcomes for patients.
Patients can regularly monitor their blood glucose with precise, less painful methods, including a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). Technology pairing a CGM with an insulin pump is also available and was found to help patients achieve better blood glucose control with fewer episodes of dangerously low blood glucose compared to standard insulin injection therapy.
The widely used HbA1c test shows average blood glucose over the past 3 months. The HbA1c Standardization Program enabled the translation of tight blood glucose control into common practice.
Scientists have identified a key gene region that contributes nearly half the increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes, and have also learned a great deal about the underlying biology of autoimmune diabetes. They have used this knowledge to develop accurate genetic and antibody tests to predict who is at high, moderate, and low risk for developing type 1 diabetes. This knowledge and recent advances in immunology have enabled researchers to design and conduct studies that seek to prevent type 1 diabetes and to preserve insulin production in newly diagnosed patients. This new understanding has prevented life-threatening complications in clinical trial participants at risk for developing diabetes.
Scientists have identified nearly 50 genes or gene regions associated with type 1 diabetes.
Many people who received islet transplants for poorly controlled type 1 diabetes are free of the need for insulin administration a year later, and episodes of dangerously low blood glucose are greatly reduced for as long as 5 years after transplant. But, the function of transplanted islets is lost over time, and patients have side effects from immunosuppressive drugs.
The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study (www.searchfordiabetes.org/) provided the first national data on prevalence of diabetes in youth: 1 of every 523 youth had physician diagnosed diabetes in 2001 (this number included both type 1 and type 2 diabetes). SEARCH also found that about 15,000 youth are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes each year.
lol…well more on the medical theme…did you know Big Pharma killed Prince! ? ( its all here and why Big Pharma doesnt like marijuana…its free competition…which kills their profits as well as people)
‘New McCarthyism & the Marijuana Manifesto w/ Jesse Ventura (E316)’
“On this episode of “Watching the Hawks,” Tyrel Ventura & Tabetha Wallace sit down with Jesse Ventura to talk about the latest spate of red-baiting politics in America, as well as his new book, the Marijuana Manifesto.
Also, Nick Schou joins Tyrel for a discussion about the CIA’s nefarious links to Hollywood and journalists, and Tabetha and Tyrel are joined by John F. O’Donnell of Redacted Tonight to preview this week’s newest episode!”
well if Prince had been taking medicinal cannabis for pain he wouldnt have been overdosing on Big Pharma’s fentanyl
…this is former Governor of Minnesota and congressman Jesse Ventura’s argument…that BIG PHARMA killed Prince…because Big Pharma does not want to see a medicinal cannabis legalised for pain relief because it is in competition with Big Pharma profits
There’s a subliminal preference for those we identify with. This results in Maori/Polynesian/down-and-out-whites being given XXX and the rich white boys being given X for no other reason obviously than they’re rich white boys. In front a rich white boy/girl.
I gotta chuckle when I hear QCs saying no problem, quite normal. One lawyer from Dunedin shrieking that it was “outrageous” that anyone should comment. Normal my arse. We all know it’s not FFS. This unlucky female officer’s prior attacker got 30 months so I’m told today by a sergeant of police. Brown boy up there in court for this ? Forget about checking the Home D address bro’……
It’s not normal that at least four aggravating factors, in a nasty combination, with significant physical and medical consequence, will result in a sentence three pegs below a generous starting point of imprisonment for 18 months. What factors mitigated the offending so as to wipe out prison, and Home D, and Community Detention, and wipe out 100 hours of the maximum of 400 hours Community Work available to the court – only 300 hours were ordered. How do we get to the 4th point down the heirarchy of sentencing ?
I hope the Police appeal. And the High Court registers a severe slap to this classist, subliminally racist, nonsense of a sentencing.
…not to mention “sexist”…he whacked a female probably smaller than himself….bet the gutless bully wonder would not have whacked a BIG POLYNESIAN COP! ( or he would have been flattened)
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
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Let me know when this sounds ironic.
Yesterday the government agreed to commit $1.7 billion tax dollars in a 50-50 share of a fully electric urban rail extension in Auckland.
On the same day, government-owned Kiwirail signaled that it’s likely it will retire its 35-year old electric trains and go back to diesel, with only the promise that it will keep the electric wires operational.
Now of course, Kiwirail is a ridiculously subsidized tax money sinkhole, and has made one bad decision after another in its procurement. So it’s pretty hard to have any sympathy for them.
I would simply prefer a government that had a transport policy that made sense.
Makes sense if you’re beholden to the road lobby.
Strangely this one isn’t about government spending on motorways instead of roads. They are certainly doing both.
What’s incoherent is investing in commuter electric rail on the one hand, and preparing to disinvest in electric rail on the other.
Yep, it’s kinda ridiculous. I suspect it has to do with our delusional money system that makes it appear cheaper to destroy resources (burn diesel) than not use them at all (use renewable electricity).
If we had a proper climate change policy, this type of nonsense would cease.
If we had a proper economic system then this type of nonsense would stop. A proper climate change policy would be part of that of course.
Link?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/313372/kiwirail-may-shunt-electric-for-diesel-on-ni-main-trunk-line
Underfund and run down the rail, and government supports the trucks. 35 yr old trains need upgrade. The majority of the juggernaut trucks look spanking new. It’s a bit like comparing the starving poor and the obese rich.
+10
Garrett talking for sensible sentencing trust in tv – I feel sick and need a wash after seeing and hearing the shit spilling from that bullshitter.
Easy to electrify the whole main trunk and get new rail stock (could even be built here), then could even have more commuter rail eg Wellington – Palmerston North, Hamilton- Auckland etc. Would be a lot cheaper than all the current monster road building (even without the shonky steel which will have to be replaced soon), and also much more accessible to the whole population including those who don’t drive or can’t afford cars. Could fix up Wellington- Gisborne line as well. Only takes a bit of government commitment and confronting the power of the road lobby and the traditional hatred of rail by the National Party.
Electrifying the entire main trunk line is not easy.
You would have to electrify the whole of the south island tracks. That would be a Think Big scale project.
I’m not suggesting this government walk away from cars entirely and make commuter rail the preferred choice across the entire country. They are committed to the private vehicle – with some promotion of electric cars – and I guess good luck to them.
And I know I am being slightly unfair comparing urban commuter public transport investment with freight investment.
But with a few hundred million and some new electric trains, Auckland’s rail could be electrified to Hamilton and Tauranga. That would take more than half of New Zealand’s freight onto an electric system.
It would make a whole bunch of sense for at least the North Island rail network to be run on one mode.
And your problem with that would be?
The only problem with Think Big was how it was financed which was by borrowing offshore. Muldoon should have created the money and then we wouldn’t have been in the dire straights that we were in when the 4th Labour government set about totally destroying our economy.
My only problem is political reality. We have a state with far, far fewer of the executive instruments than in Muldoon’s day. I don’t live in the world of ideals any more.
I live in the world of what is able to be done in any one term.
I know you don’t, and you’re perfectly entitled to that.
I want to change the system from one where we whinge that it can’t be done to one where we get stuck in and do it.
You can’t do anything in a single Labour term. You can try, but it can always be killed within the first 3 months of the next Tory term.
It’s not usually possible to build anything big in infrastructure in the course of any three year term. Mostly because it takes too long to get the money together.
Housing, however – there I think an alternative government has a good shot at making a visible difference. If I were part of an alternative government, I’d give every member a toolbelt and put them to work. Would do them good.
It would be nice if Labour still put practical minded blue collar workers, tradies and miners in as MPs but those days are long gone. Lawyers and pol sci grads are the order of the day.
Hey CV, you forgot, school teachers that get into PR, cant bear too say the whole word sorry. 🙂
And about Labour having time to deal with shite Nat,s policy, they seemed happy to leave a few of Ruthanasia in place, and no doubt the next chance they get at Gov’t, eg: 90 day,victimising beneficiaries partners etc.
Theirs many more but it does my head in.
Third way Labour can go to…
CV 12.01 pm, one term?, have you have lost your faith?, if so join the club. No membership fee, supply your own hankies.
Well, I think zero terms are more likely, myself
Yet another example of government sanctioned corruption…they are truly fucking this country
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201816217/migrant-workers-found-to-have-been-scammed-thousands
John Key’s brighter future is generating some headlines. A lot around previously denied but now documented increases in crime and homelessness.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11710082
Perhaps this poor guy was on the cusp of something special?
So this year we’ve had homeless people die in parks, recycling depots and now this. I wonder how long middle nz will keep ignoring it for.
A while, I think. It’s the National government’s policy to normalise these events as some sort of unavoidable consequence of economic growth. Rightwing people have no moral compass and perversely to them it’s a good problem to have because it shows NZ is successful.
As long as their property values keep rising, ignorance will be bliss.
Well done to Labour for starting this and well done National for continuing it
http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/imports_and_exports/trade-china-tripled-decade.aspx
We have been incredibly fortuitous as a country to have the China market growing so fast throughout the GFC that hit Europe and the US, and through the mining collapse in Australia. So yeah, agree.
Would still prefer to see no “unprocessed logs” leaving the country let alone to China. But that’s for a different kind of government, possibly a different kind of country.
Political and labour reform in China would also be good. This would level the playing field for NZ industry unable to compete with cheap labour.
As big a fan of John Key as I am I don’t think even he could overhaul Chinas political landscape
China would be a stretch – he’s too scared even to stand up to Frank Bainimarama.
I know right, he really should just go tell these countries what they’re doing wrong and how it should be done because it never turns out bad when the leader of first world, predominantly white, English speaking country does that
By that logic you’d be happy for a full and immediate withdrawal by western states from the middle east. You must also be against peoples’ struggle for democratic rights and representation the world over wherever that might be.
🙂 Nice one but no you can’t compare the two
How convenient for you.
Puckish – Keys wants us to join China’s political landscape – more corruption, more censorship, more spying, less human rights, more rights for those that know/donate to the ‘right political parties’, control of the media and public servants… list goes on and on. He just wants to ‘be at the table’ with the US too so a bit of a clusterfuck there with that approach, but logic never a strong suit.
It’s not going to end well for the National supporters too when you a tenant on planet Key.
Key will go eventually but the damage to our country and economy might be irreversible.
That’s nice dear
gawd not you too
Yeah sorry about that, at least I didn’t use lol or +1 or something
+100 save nz…jonkey will go where the money is…just follow the money…and corruption..it leaves a comet tail
+10
I just think that when you look at the choices the USA are facing and you look at the options NZ have then it puts it all into perspective
I mean in NZ we have better options then Trump v Clinton, in case anyone was wondering 🙂
Tell that to the homeless, middle class and working poor, Ad.
The only reason Kiwis are doing ok is because of immigration which was great boost to NZ at the time of the GFC, but now becoming a big problem. Bit like taking out a lovely loan and feeling great because you are still getting by, but then you have to pay it back with interest in social services – housing, medical, superannuation, transport… You then borrow more and more to fund it, now it’s a ponzi scheme.
Of course if the government had targeted migrants in the new economy that set up businesses that were non polluting and employed Kiwis at good rates, different story. Nope the government did not target those migrants..
Students, Fruit pickers, Chefs, drivers, property and farm investor migrants…
…and brothel owners…come restaurateurs
Yes both Labour and National would cheer at our free trade results with China. Now about those Auckland house purchases…
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/312/563/05d.jpg
New Zealand values are not all about money…surprising as it may seem to some
Labour’s been presenting itself as a gift to National for over 30 years now. And still going strong.
https://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2016/sep/14/lessons-from-finland-helping-homeless-housing-model-homes?CMP=fb_gu
An article from The Guardian about how Finland cares for its homeless. First, house them. Then deal with any underlying causes.
“That just makes good sense” says Mrs Mac1.
+1
So true Mac. Should be the same here.
@ mac1 (8) .. yes that’s what a caring, civilized nation does, takes care of its less fortunate and vulnerable. Meanwhile in NZ …
On September 15th 1916, at 6.20am in the morning, men of the New Zealand Division’s 2nd brigade climbed from their trenches near Caterpillar Valley and advanced up the slope to seize the German switch line. Then at 7.02am, the follow up brigades attacked down the other side of the slope and into the valley to capture the villages of Flers and Courcelette as well.
If like me you’ve been lucky enough to visit the site of this attack, and walk from Caterpillar valley to Flers via the NZ Memorial, you’ll see what an an extraordinary victory it was in the context of the Great War. This is a doubly important date in the history of the 20th century as the New Zealanders used a new weapon that day for the first time ever in history – tanks. There wereFour Mk.I tanks with the NZers that day, and they were from D Tank Company, D8, D10, D11 and D12.
670 New Zealanders were killed and 1200 wounded in the attack.
I’ve been to the NZ Memorial and also saw the newly erected Irish memorial close by- a round tower with beautiful verse-inscripted stones. The tower had been built by youth from both sides of the Protestant/Catholic divide, in cooperation. The Memorial is known as a Peace Park.
The NZ memorial had its power with, of course, its national associations and the simple message “From the uttermost corners of the earth” attesting to the universality of our human race and the need to help others beyond our borders- that, at least, is something that can be taken from four years of insanity.
The ground around the memorials was a slope which I envisaged the divisions attacking uphill, into machine-gun and shell fire. One of the German pill boxes remained down the slope.
At Gallipoli I was extremely moved by the inscription on the Turkish memorial at Anzac Cove- such generosity, and simple forgiveness- repeated on our Wellington coast.
As a long term pacifist, battlefields still hold a strange fascination for me which I cannot explain. History, sacrifice, (in)humanity?
The common culprit behind so many environmental problems
So, farming isn’t just a problem in NZ.
This is really a simple fact that we need to recognise and do something about. NZ is in a good position about farming in that we can easily reduce the amount of land in agriculture significantly and still produce enough to feed ourselves. The people thus freed up from farming could then be utilised in more important areas such as health and/or R&D.
It’s time we started doing economics rather than finance because the finance is killing us.
Diary of a Person of Interest – by Kiwi journalist Suzie Dawson
DTB +100 … that is explosive …Wow what a brave young journalist…!!!
Every Labour Party supporter and voter should watch this!
… as well as every Maori Party supporter!
…and all activists and ALL New Zealanders who value their democracy and human rights should watch this!
….reasons NOT to collude with jonkey Nactional on the Spy Bill
….LEGITIMISING foreigners and foreign countries to SPY on New Zealanders
….hence violating OUR democracy , OUR democratic rights , OUR sovereignty and OUR HUMAN RIGHTS !
..i see there a a lot irrelevant diversions below from this very important Suzie Dawson article on spying on activists
Is this a left wing forum, news site?
I am interested to know peoples view on this question.
@Adrian – in my view it is, because the ‘left’ voice is pretty diverse.
Yes well that’s what I thought too, the name ‘The Standard’ being the first clue.
The second clue are the types of stories presented, in The Standard today…
“Right-wing mayor candidates try to kneecap themselves”
“Labour Organizing”
“Beware, creepy men of the right: Rawshark returns (briefly)”
“Optimism, determination and, above all, unity” (about UK Labour)
“India’s general strike”
The third clue being their own description of themselves…
“The Standard newspaper – from where our masthead comes – was founded by labour movement activists in the 1930s. They used it as a vehicle to share their views with a broader audience – a perspective they felt the mainstream media was representing poorly. We think the same is true today.
What’s your political ‘angle’?
We come from a variety of backgrounds and our political views don’t always match up but it’d be fair to say that all of us share a commitment to the values and principles that underpin the broad labour movement and we hope that perspective will come through strongly as you read the blog.”
https://thestandard.org.nz/about/
Yet Siobhan, yesterday was insulted verbally and kicked off for two weeks for this comment on the story “India’s general strike”….
“Then again, here we are on a so-called left wing site…and its taken 2 days to get 6 comments. That says something not very good about our attitudes towards the value of different groups struggles don’t you think??”
https://thestandard.org.nz/indias-general-strike/#comments
She was called a nutter, a moron, a gormless idiot, lazy and stupid by the moderator, I mean, what the hell is gong on here? doesn’t anyone care that this abuse is coming from the actual moderator? or is everyone scared of being kicked off themselves, so won’t say anything? or are people here fine with this type of abuse? maybe a bit of stockholm syndrome going on here?
I think lprent is totally out of control, co opting the name The Standard from our rich Labour heritage, and then abusing people like this, all under the cover of that proud banner of the Labour movement is absolutely outrageous.
This abuse has got to stop.
[lprent: Agreed. Trying to attack the site has to stop. Only a idiot would attack a site that they were freely commenting on when they provide absolutely now work or effort to maintain it. In short – a freeloader. ]
I read the story about India general strike. But felt did not know enough to comment on it. I was going to say +1 because I thought it was a nice post. So just because a post does not get huge comments does not mean it is not read or important. In fact when people agree with the post I think it gets less comments than when the left disagree.
It’s the left disagreement that gets the most comments!!!
As for the rant against Siobhan, I think that was totally over the top!!! Maybe a bad day????
If it was only one bad day, I wouldn’t have brought it up. this abuse is the modus operandi of lprent, and it has got to stop.
People on this site have got to stand up to this type of abusive behavior.
A someone that gets banned periodically I have to say that if you don’t like the rules then start your own blog with your own rules
Firstly it is not the rules I am talking about it it is the unfettered verbal abuse that is being disgustingly spread about by the moderator.
Secondly I am also saying the The Standard by their own words have co opted the name The Standard from our Labour history, so can’t now claim that this site is not tied to the Left ( and by that definition Labour) in the public’s perception.
This being the case, there needs to be better moderation of the moderators behavior, or are you quite happy at being yourself, or seeing other people being abused in this manner?
Are you are also fine with the Lefts most well known New Zealand internet presence be known as a place where this type of abusive behavior is tolerated by it’s members?
[lprent: Read the last section of the about.
Just to return the judgement. I’d point out that there are a lot of people who really don’t bother pulling their head out of their own self-referential arse. You appear to be one of them. Try reading the about and the policy and then thinking how your critic stupidity looks from the side of the workers actually maintaining this site.
Banned for a weeks to give you time to open the dictionary in your attempt to understand it. But frankly I suspect that you are way too rigid to bend your mind far enough to understand someone being productive. ]
Bold font coming in 5,4, 3…………………………….
I’m surprised the hammer hasn’t come down already, the moderators must be getting soft 😉
I vote right because I have certain views and one of them is whoever owns something gets to decide (within the framework of NZ law of course) what and how they run it
The bosses of TV3 decided they couldn’t sustain the dwindling audience of John Campbell so he was fired because they decide what is shown on their channel and I’m ok with that
The moderators of this blog decided how they moderate and they decide what can and can’t be posted because its their blog and I’m ok with that
If you’re not ok with it go start your own blog, its really that simple
The more dwindling audience of Paul Henry National cheerleader TV3 bosses could stand of course. And of course the corporate welfare…
from wiki
“In 2011, MediaWorks received a $43 million loan guarantee for the Government to renew its licenses until 2030.[2] The deal went against official advice, and then Communications Minister Steven Joyce was accused of having a conflict of interest as the past managing director of the company’s RadioWorks division[3] The loan was described by AUT’s Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy as a form of corporate welfare,[4] and was criticised by blogger Sarah Miles as a case of Government interference in the media.[5] Radio Bay of Plenty secured commercial loans, The Radio Network covered its own costs, and Rhema Broadcasting Group covered the cost with no interest loans.[6]”
MediaWorks’ subsidiary RadioWorks has repaid the $32.28 million outstanding on a ‘loan’ signed off by former Communications Minister Steven Joyce that allowed the media group to defer payments to the Crown for radio spectrum licences.
The balance of $32.28 million of principal plus interest was paid yesterday – almost two years ahead of schedule, current minister Amy Adams said in a statement.
@Puckish Rogue, You see I can understand someone on the right like you defending this abusive behavior, of course you do, that goes with out saying…it’s part of your political ideology. True to form I like it.
It is when people on the Left defend this, that is when I get uptight.
I think you might have something mixed up, its a privilege to post on here not a right
I have to say i thought the goat comments of yesterday were lowering ‘the standard ‘ by a long way.
Ive raised this a few times [TRP came back to me on it] – some of the comments have gotten down right disgusting. Including telling people to go hang themselves.
In the end – I came to the conclusion that it reflected on the poster more than the blog, but in time people will come here and read stuff – they will come to their own views – but honestly, it is getting worse – in the end the blog will be the worse for it.
@Puckish Rogue, defending privilege, yes of course you do, like I have said already, you are operating true to form, but you can’t help that, it is a core part your ideology after all.
Without lprent there is no The Standard.
Therefore he does rather control the whip hand and tends to use it often, so getting the occasional lashing is part and parcel of posting on the standard.
If that bothers you either go else where or learn to avoid raising topics that bring out the whip.
Some people pay extra for that:
JEEZ
I agree with both BM and PR!!!
Don’t worry, its always hardest the first time but after that it becomes easier 🙂
lol
Lol, that was a good show.
Very sad to see that you all find this outrageous behavior so funny, no wonder that the Left is so dysfunctional in New Zealand when we see no problems with abusive of power in own own ranks.
Adrian as you can probably tell from the response to your observation, there is lack of care factor or a fear factor..possibly both
I’ve taken a look at the response to Siobhan and compared it to some other mod comments, the form is largely the same
Looking through archives the moderating has had a clear impact on the tone of threads which is essentially censorship, and could be handled more thoughtfully in some instances. Certainly the name calling and abuse is unnecessary, especially where moderating in involved
I think your observation is sound
Adrian as you can probably tell from the response to your observation, there is lack of care factor or a fear factor..possibly both
No, it’s about adapting to the current environment.
Something lefties tend to struggle with enormously.
On one hand the Rules state “What we’re not prepared to accept are pointless personal attacks, or tone or language that has the effect of excluding others.”
On the other hand we have lprent calling Siobhan “a liar, a nutter, an authoritarian moron, a gormless idiot, frigging lazy, stupid liar (again)”, and then banning her for two weeks, for having the temerity to suggest that TS is a “left-wing site”, when according to the About “all of us share a commitment to the values and principles that underpin the broad labour movement “.
I think you’re onto something Adrian!
[lprent: Tell me – does it say anywhere in the policy that moderators are subject to those limits? Doesn’t the policy rather explicitly state that moderators are expressing their limits to the types of things that are described. But doesn’t state anything else including that we are have any limits except what is in the policy?
Banned for a week for trying to redefine our rules – something that is explicitly against our policy. I’d ban you for a another week for being a stupid lawyer. However I suspect you can’t help that level of incompetence – it is probably genetic. ]
Thanks, I thought I fighting a solo rear guard action here, thank goodness there are a few sane people left.
I mean how can these people really be defending abusive behavior? and more importantly why would they want want to?
It is all quite sad, disappointing and baffling to me.
Here I was thinking that we were part of a progressive movement, helping with the evolution of humans, unfortunately this type of behavior only drags us backward as far as I can see.
In order to remove any uncertainty perhaps it should be renamed the Double Standard?
Agree with you Adrian, it’s not right. I’m gradually coming to the conclusion that nothing in life is perfect either no matter how much you want it to be.
Yes of course the World isn’t perfect, but to accept something that is in our sphere that is plainly wrong and do nothing, that is the point, do something, anything, say something, anything, but whatever you do, don’t do nothing.
That all these commenters come on here to defend this abusive behavior is incredible to me.
It’s like that case with the Crusaders and the stripper, you know there where other people in that garden bar who watched that woman get abused by those thugs, but none of them said a mumbling word to defend her…why, because those rugby players have a perceived place and power in our society, the stripper who’s she?
That is where these attitudes ultimately lead to, where else can this type of thinking take you in the end? In my opinion, It is really this simple.
And I also think that anyone who can’t put this simple piece of logic together themselves…. well they probably need to take a long hard look at themselves.
Hi adrian, gotten say I agree with yr stance.
A word that hasn’t been used to describe the behaviour is bullying.
I regard this as a left leaning site and as such some of the left save their vitriol for others on the left because … well I just don’t know.
I am truly grateful for this site, the posts, and comments however I find some of the langauge from some moderators to be excessively abbrassive and antagonistic.
Well done in starting this conversation.
I’ll stick my head up” doing a full 360%” All clear, largely agree gsays.
Yes I really do appreciate this site too.
I know that it could reach out to so many more people, especially Woman and young people, if they could only say enough is enough… but no, here they all are defending this behavior….why?
[lprent: The moderating behaviour is to allow the maintenance of robust debate on the site when we have the potential to be overwhelmed with unthinking yobbos acting as trolls. Have a look back in the archive to early 2008 to see what that means. Since strong obnoxious moderation was put in to deal with the unthinking fuckwits of the net, the percentage of female readers has grown from less than 10% to just under 30%. The number of female writers has increased markedly as well.
Similarly the age range has shifted from overwhelmingly being in the 25-35 age group to being wide across the whole age demographic.
You really don’t think things through do you? Why do you think we have moderation? It is to increase the diversity on the site. ]
+1 gsays
I could almost understand your reply if this were a radical right wing site. However to think you or anyone would defend this type of abusive behavior on a left site is beyond disappointing.
Look I absolutely respect the amount of work, time and effort that must go into this site, but that does not in any way give anyone one the right to abuse another person, or do you think it does?
Because if you do, then you just start to extrapolate that logic and see what path it takes you down very quickly.
Is this a left wing forum, news site?
I am interested to know peoples view on this question.
It’s a blog, and it serves whatever purpose the people putting the time and money into running it want it to serve. If you find that it doesn’t serve the purpose you, an idle reader and commenter like me, would like to see served, you’re free to go and start your own one and run it as you see fit. No-one running The Standard is accountable to you for anything.
Firstly, as I am sure you are aware, this site is now more than a private blog, it is, rightly or wrongly regarded, and is without doubt the main New Zealand left news site/forum.
I also assume that by using the name The Standard, and stating in their own preamble…
“The Standard newspaper – from where our masthead comes – was founded by labour movement activists in the 1930s. They used it as a vehicle to share their views with a broader audience – a perspective they felt the mainstream media was representing poorly. We think the same is true today.”
…that the resulting public perception of this site was not unintentional.
I believe people are accountable for their actions, and when those actions take the form of abuse, all while under the banner of an organization with it’s roots firmly planted in the New Zealand Labour party’s story and history, even more so.
Finally I find it ironic that you are using the Crass logo on your avatar, and would defend open verbal abuse of people who are respectfully expressing their progressive view’s on a left forum.
Crass, you know that band that was perhaps one of the staunchest and most uncompromising defenders of freedom of expression that cut a side of vinyl, not a band that defended unquestioned power…if I remember rightly.
Irony? If you’d turned up and told Crass how they were doing it wrong and you felt they needed to be accountable to you and make appropriate changes to the way the band worked, you’d have got an earful that would make Lprent look mild-mannered. That was one of the things I liked about them so much – they were excellent at telling people fuck.
Yes well as I am pretty sure that Crass would never have co opted an important piece of UK Labour phraseology and historical reference as a banner in which to organize under, I don’t think that would have ever been an issue, do you?
So that logic doesn’t work in this debate, sorry.
Just take a concrete pill and harden up, you choose to be offended To argue it’s all love and roses on the left is delusional Sibonan obviously hit a sore point with LPrent who is not my cup a tea but he gave her a spray, so what, move on, I’m sure he has and at least she now not in two minds about his view
Don’t you worry pal I am hard enough, of that you can be sure.
nah, it’s still a private blog run by volunteers and funded by a trust.
As to how “left” you think the people who contribute are, that description is problematic because some contributors might be staunch proponents of the labour movement but not regard themselves as “left”. Some because they might think that label today involves issues beyond just labour and capital issues, others because “left” and “right” are just extremes on an obsolete continuum.
Some contributors here support free trade agreements with greater or lesser equivocation, while supporting improved powers for workers. Others are more keynesian, while others still recycle Social Credit in various guises and with differing extremes.
As to your comment about a mod’s abrasiveness, well – each to their own. Maybe they argue about it on the backend, maybe the consensus of authos/mods is that it’s just good to have an angry dog in reserve every so often, because kind words don’t always work.
It’s called the standard, there is a red flag displayed as the icon, and the main disagreement with Adrian seems to be along private property lines, man that is sad.
Maybe lprent could trademark that flag might be worth a fortune.
And hey yeah, let’s every one on the left just start our own blog, we can have an audience of 1 and talk to ourselves.
I agree with Adrian, and notice that all arguments against his position never mention the history or symbolism appropriated by this “private” site.
Well how about this perspective then: those who created the trust, worked to develop the website and established the process for its content creation, who maintain the servers, write the content and spend time moderating the worst of the internet out of the comments, how about those workers have control over the means and fruits of production?
Seems fair to me.
How about this perspective, those people who founded our Labour party, that built a Labour Party of Men and Woman, who pushed and battled with their bodies and split blood to gain all the rights and privileges that we are fighting to maintain now, they would be appalled to see their own comrades bullied and verbally abused under the name one of their proud banners, The Standard.
I will say this one more time, The Standards own preamble links it directly to the Labour movement, the name The Standard links it irrevocably to the labour movement, that is just a fact.
Because this site has chosen to be linked so closely with our Labour movement, it has therefore surly obliged itself to operate at a level of normal public decency, is that to much to ask?
Seems very fair to me.
Lol
john a lee. When mjs was on his deathbed. How’s that for decent behaviour.
*Mic drop*
How about you pick up that mic and answer the question properly.
No no you must be correct. The stalwarts of the labour movement were all moonbeams and unicorn farts. /sarc
Like I said, how about you answer the question properly?
To spell it out for you, no, many of the founders and stalwarts of the labour movement would have considered the moderation here to be pretty tame stuff.
I gave you one easily googleable case in point above.
Hi mcflock, so…labour did it too?
I am not interested in a race to the bottom be it economically or behaviourly.
Too often it seems people get all worked up at their keyboards and type themselves into a corner. Usually over a pedantic point of order.
No, not “labour did it too”. A specific refutation that our predecessors in the labour movement were anything other than normal people, with normal behaviours. Some of the Fabians and Quakers were courteous and nice to all, no doubt. But we’ve always had our share of fighters and belligerents, too. There’s always been sectional, political and personal conflict in the labour movement. That’s what gives me hope – that they were regular people who made those achievements, not lionised saints.
The polite ones who used manners and doilies were often the ones who owned the sweatshops.
McFlock, interesting point. The great Michael Joseph Savage understood the rather conservative mindset of New Zealanders, even when he and his party won the 1935 general election in a landslide victory, he still had to assure New Zealanders that having a Labour government was nothing for them to be afraid of. Labour then, like now, has always had to be cautious, and I think that’s what some people, like the vehemently critical John A Lee, and others today, failed to understand.
Yeah, rereading about the ructions within Lab1 (just to make sure I had the gist of it right) it reminded me that the more things change, the more they stay the same…
+1 McFlock.
How about this perspective, those people who founded our Labour party, that built a Labour Party of Men and Woman, who pushed and battled with their bodies and split blood to gain all the rights and privileges that we are fighting to maintain now, they would be appalled to see their own comrades bullied and verbally abused under the name one of their proud banners, The Standard.
It’s a matter of opinion. Personally, I think they’d be appalled to see members of a worker’s cooperative berated by someone who’d contributed no time or effort to it but wants to tell the cooperative how they should run things, effectively on the basis of a claim to superior left-wingedness. Because it is appalling.
@McFlock & Psycho, all I can say is, well done boys, in passionately defending your right to bully and abuse people, nice work.
I have learned a couple of things in this sad exchange, the main one being, this has helped in taking the guess work out of wondering who the guards would be.
Well done Adrian for going where few dare to go.
You have some answers to the questions you posed. Unsettling isn’t it?
In some ways the comments section on the Standard has always reminded me of Fight Club. On the mezzanine floor above the ring are the moderators who keep redefining the rules of engagement, which keeps things interesting.
The first rule of fight club is, you don’t talk about fight club:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Yw9Yc1YmY
Bottom line, the playing field is deliberately designed to be uneven and this is an argument you can’t win.
Bottom line, the playing field is deliberately designed to be uneven and this is an argument you can’t win.
The about and policy makes that perfectly clear.
We are strongly independent of any organisation because it allows us to argue how we want to. These days we don’t even run advertising because we neither need to (peoples occasional donations pay our minimal operating costs), nor do we have the time to organize it.
We strongly favour moderators and authors – because they are the people who keep the site running with starter content and effort.
What do you think? That we should favour people who freeload on the comments section? Some of them we will and do listen to. But they tend to be the people who invest effort and intelligence in their comments. Not something that I have noticed with Siobhan or Adrian.
You and I don’t get to dictate how the site is run. The people who run it do.
I have no more power to comment than you do, which hardly makes me an effective “guard”.
@ Adrian
Careful. It’s a well known tactic of bullies to cry foul and accuse others of doing the bullying. Good example: Cameron Slater. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to acquire a similar reputation to him.
lprent has a tactic too – born out of experience. Come down hard on trolls and derailers in the hope they will cease their bad habits. It usually works and for those who choose to ignore… it’s the sin bin for a while or a permanent ban. Take it or leave it Adrian. If you don’t like the way TS is run I suggest you run away and start your own blog.
Edit: I see others have already suggested it so off you go and do let us know what it is called…
PM, no-ones telling anyone how to run things, they’re asking for a reasonable “standard” of discourse free of personal abuse, a la the “Policy”. Question, Psycho Milt, do you think calling a commenter “a liar, a nutter, an authoritarian moron, a gormless idiot, frigging lazy” for an innocuous (imo) comment meets that test?
[lprent: It wasn’t an innocuous comment.
In the last 9 years, it is exactly the type of comment that has prefaced about half of the attacks on this site from the right, the left, and the nutters.
I always ban fools who use it because it is completely stupid and idiotic to abuse people on their own site.
If you want to set the rules for a site – then start your own. If you want to continue in this vein, then I will give you ample time to do it without the distractions of commenting here. ]
I think it’s not up to me or any other outsiders to tell moderators how to moderate their own blog, unless they ask me. Especially not when there’s a comments policy specifically warning against doing that.
In my personal opinion, it must be extremely annoying for the people who do the work involved in running this blog to have commenters implying some moral failing on their part, based on what hasn’t been written about, or insufficiently written about in the commenter’s opinion. If I were to imply moral failing on the part of participants here, it may be that it seemed innocuous to me, but it also may be that the moderator’s seen a great many of these sanctimonious, passive-aggressive attacks over the years and has no interest in dealing with them politely. I find that not implying moral failings on the part of moderators helps avoid such incidents.
To Psycho Milt @ 10.49 a.m. (no reply button) – what you say is correct, and would be relevant if we were talking about moderation, but we’re talking about abuse. Moderation good (great!), abuse bad.
Have you actually read Siobhan’s OP? There’s no way you can find an “implication of moral failing” or a “sanctimonious passive aggressive attack” in that.
Seems pretty sanctimonious to me. Shades of the old “you don’t care as much or as broadly as I care, so you’re not really ‘left wing'” bs.
That’s fine, in your opinion it wasn’t an innocuous comment, I accept that. Whether you were “abused”, arguable.
That you descended to personal abuse in contravention of the Policy (“pointless personal attacks, or tone or language that has the effect of excluding others), that’s indisputable.
My opinion when I am moderating is the only one that counts.
I have already pointed out further up how you should read the policy. It limits moderation techniques, but does not constrain them. In my case I tend to find that people remember moderation against themselves when they are accompanied with some personal observations. This reduces my future work load.
My opinion when I am moderating is the only one that counts. I’d listen to authors, but seldom with commentators. After all it is our site
I have already pointed out further up how you should read the policy. It limits moderation techniques, but does not constrain them. In my case I tend to find that people remember moderation against themselves when they are accompanied with some personal observations. This reduces my future work load.
Other problems for Hillary Clinton:
‘FBI calls Clinton email probe ‘different’ as key witness ditches House hearing’
https://www.rt.com/usa/359229-congress-fbi-clinton-emails/
…”Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) was not satisfied with the two redacted documents, demanding full access to the investigation from Herring.
“We decide what’s relevant – not the Department of Justice, not the FBI,” Chaffetz said during Monday’s hearing. “It’s unclear to me how the FBI can prevent a member of Congress from seeing what we’re already allowed to see by law, yet here they have done so.”
“That’s the way a banana republic acts, not the way the United States of America acts,” Chaffetz added.
“I don’t expect to have to issue a subpoena to see unclassified information.”…
Although the US has historically been instrumental in the setting up and maintenance of Banana Republics…which sometimes literally grew bananas for US based corporations
…and now this …money talks you into becoming an Ambassador for USA (irony)…where are the career highly trained ambassadors?…they are obviously being sidelined in this ‘democracy’….which IS looking more and more like a banana republic
‘How much for ambassador? Hacked DNC files reveal plum posts for big donors’
https://www.rt.com/usa/359338-hacked-dnc-docs-ambassadors/
“Hacker ‘Guccifer 2.0’ has offered support for allegations that Democrats rewarded big donors and fund-raisers with plum diplomatic posts, by releasing a donor list from November 2008, when current VP candidate Tim Kaine chaired the DNC.
Among the 500 megabytes of data released Tuesday was the document titled “11-26-08 NFC Members Raised,” listing the names and addresses of some 100,000 Democratic National Committee donors. Cross-referencing the top donors’ names revealed that they were later appointed to ambassador posts and other government jobs…
…The documents cover a period between 2009 and 2011, when the DNC was chaired by Tim Kaine, currently Hillary Clinton’s running mate on the presidential ticket….
+1 Chooky.
No wonder people can’t get work. You just pay now to get a role. Qualifications are irrelevant just the size of your donation and knowing the right people.
…yet more problems with Hillary Clinton
Why Hillary Clinton must not become president
‘EXCLUSIVE: SECRET SERVICE UNLEASHES 80 MINUTES OF SCATHING TRUTH THAT WILL SHRED HILLARY CLINTON’
Y’all Queda’s Gary “fema camps” Franchi, really?.
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2010/meet-patriots
New Zealand begins WTO bid to ban harmful fishery subsidies
Although I agree with the action is the government doing anything to end the unsustainable practices that occur here in NZ?
Or are they, as per usual, still in denial?
Couldn’t decide on “respect mah authoritah!” or “protest is terrorism” as a comment but anyway…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/312885/protesters-at-sea-will-be-treated-as-terrorists,-mps-told
Good God! They really are a pack of wet willies these Nats. NZ is rapidly becoming a police state and the soon they are gone and the oppression removed the better.
Chris Trotter is superb today.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2016/09/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-fish.html
Agree.
Check it out.
superb; ? he must be fucking delusional if he thinks Hone would ever go with national.
@ b wag Your considered opinion is gratefully received (sarc)
Of course Hone will never go with National, he has far too much sense. But that is a tiny side issue to the main theme of the article.
just helping you get some clicks my bearded friend
@ Bearded Git…yes liked this
“Key emerges from this whole episode with very little honour. Such craven compromising is a very long way from the extraordinarily bold behaviour of the John Key who took up the Opposition leader’s role in 2007. That John Key would have weighed the Greens’ 13 percent of the Party Vote against the Maori Party’s 2 percent and adjusted his strategy accordingly.”
The Obama legacy: teens in impoverished inner cities selling their bodies in exchange for food.
This is happening in inner city areas with high proportions of Black and Latino households.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-14/desperately-poor-teens-americas-impoverished-inner-cities-are-trading-sex-food
There’s that empathy, again…..
/
He’s now up 5 points in Ohio, so they get what he is saying in that state even if you don’t.
Polls, huh.
A new poll showing Donald Trump leading Hillary Clinton by 4 points in Ohio set the media buzzing, but a look at the polling data reveals that CNN under polled younger voters.
[…]
Update: It turns out that CNN did poll voters under 50, but the reason why their crosstabs showed no data was because they polled too few younger voters. Younger voters have made up 44%-51% of those who voted in the last three election cycles. CNN’s sample was made of 18% younger voters. In essence, CNN cut the number of younger voters in Ohio in half.
Donald Trump will definitely win Ohio if no one under the age of 50 comes out to vote, but that is not going to happen. It may just be an error, but if CNN shaped their numbers to get a newsworthy headline, it would serve as a perfect example how news networks use their polling to make the news instead of reporting on it.
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/09/14/cnn-trump-lead-ohio-polling-50-years.html
heh
Gotta love sample bias…
http://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/2165492/83582279.jpg
Nice
Question time 1 Growth 3.6% 3rd highest in oecd
population increase 3.7%
🙂
Probably bogus growth 🙂
167,000 more National voters
have you polled them?…or did you just ask who they vote for?
Question 2 Turei quotes wrong document
Question 3 Robertson trying and failing to understand that increasing the denominator is a good thing.
Question 4 $209M for multiplicity of science research projects
Question 5 Hipkins flailing and failing -this is embarrassing.
Its like the last election where it got to the point where you almost started to feel sorry for Labour, like watching the All Blacks play Scotland, you know Scotland are going to lose and you know they’re trying their best but you know theirs a hiding coming up soon…
Almost
I’ve said it before but in the same way that plucky Scotland will never beat the All Blacks it now seems obvious that Labour will never be the government again. Despite MMP making it hard to obtain a majority it seems obvious that as long as John Key is the leader then National are unbeatable. 2017,2020 and 2023 are all probable National wins. The wealth of talent that entered Parliament in 2014 will be promoted soon. My pick for Premier at 2026 is Chris Bishop who has scared Trevor Mallard from even standing next time.
It’s not great comfort, but at least nazianal will get to own the collapse.
http://www.stats.govt.nz/tools_and_services/population_clock.aspx
Your wish for collapse is not shared by the 67,000 people who have flocked to live in New Zealand in the last 12 months unlike the many thousands who were leaving during the dark ages of the last ever Labour government.
Does anyone else think the Spinoff has become a type of Sky magazine with sponsored articles? I first thought is was going to be Herald for younger audience, but it’s kinda of worse than that in terms of shallowness.
While I would normally congratulate anyone trying to push a new media platform in NZ away from MSM, but the Spinoff is all that is bad about the media under a new and less improved and even less informed news (is that even possible, yes with Spinoff) click bait tactic.
Had just started looking at it for the Dotcom coverage. But really… I mean meaningless, content free, awful and trivialising is an understatement. If this is an example of journalism covering a man’s freedom here and a test case for extradition – it’s written like The bachelor but from someone who sends the 10 year olds out to court to cover the case for a school project.
If Spinoff is an example of the future of journalism in NZ, I really hope not!!
extract Dotcom case…
Friday September 9: Day 10 of the hearing, Day 8 of the livestream
Hm.
Thursday September 8: Day 9 of the hearing, Day 7 of the livestream
Yeah.
Mockery , injustice and shallowness made into entertainment – seems more like The Hunger Games.
Thanks Spinoff (sarc).
Tightening the noose.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/84296780/bayer-monsanto-in-us66b-deal-that-could-reshape-the-worlds-food-supply
Monsanto and its gmo crops are a sunset industry.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-the-monsanto-deal-doubts-about-the-gmo-revolution-1473880429
The numerical value published of 66bn may be of interest to certain folk
Mergers are an undersized life raft at best for the companies involed
Chemical poisons/toxins and the companies/industry that peddle them are on the way out, its over for these entities now and this merger signals as much
This is the final through of the dice for both companies
Too many are aware of what is going on and the momentum can’t be stopped on the march towards good health through natural nutrition and healing
Another brick from the wall
“Too many are aware of what is going on and the momentum can’t be stopped on the march towards good health through natural nutrition and healing”
Damn those medicines and vaccines, can I have a double serving of woo.
Nah, you can go wreck your kidneys and your liver with your toxic pharma drugs, the gift of WOO is not for rational materialists like you.
I need some chiropractic for my diabetes.
Chiropractors don’t treat diabetes lol. Also, remind me what the scientific intellectual west’s track record with diabetes has been over the last 50 years? Incidence going sky high right? More cases and more early deaths than ever, right?
You rational materialists are no where as clever as you are narrow minded.
Diabetes, Type 1
YESTERDAY
In the 1950s, about one in five people died within 20 years after a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. One in three people died within 25 years of diagnosis.
About one in four people developed kidney failure within 25 years of a type 1 diabetes diagnosis. Doctors could not detect early kidney disease and had no tools for slowing its progression to kidney failure. Survival after kidney failure was poor, with one of 10 patients dying each year.
About 90 percent of people with type 1 diabetes developed diabetic retinopathy within 25 years of diagnosis. Blindness from diabetic retinopathy was responsible for about 12 percent of new cases of blindness between the ages of 45 and 74.
Studies had not proven the value of laser surgery in reducing blindness.
Major birth defects in the offspring of mothers with type 1 diabetes were three times higher than in the general population.
Patients relied on injections of animal-derived insulin. The insulin pump would soon be introduced but would not become widely used for years.
Studies had not yet shown the need for intensive glucose control to delay or prevent the debilitating eye, nerve, kidney, heart, and blood vessel complications of diabetes. Also, the importance of blood pressure control in preventing complications had not been established yet.
Patients monitored their glucose levels with urine tests, which recognized high but not dangerously low glucose levels and reflected past, not current, glucose levels. More reliable methods for testing glucose levels in the blood had not been developed yet.
Researchers had just discovered autoimmunity as the underlying cause of type 1 diabetes. However, they couldn’t assess an individual’s level of risk for developing type 1 diabetes, and they didn’t know enough to even consider ways to prevent type 1 diabetes.
TODAY
The long-term survival of those with type 1 diabetes has dramatically improved in the last 30 years. For people born between 1975 and 1980, about 3.5 percent die within 20 years of diagnosis, and 7 percent die within 25 years of diagnosis. These death rates are much lower than those of patients born in the 1950s, but are still significantly increased compared to the general population.
After 20 years of annual increases from 5 to 10 percent, rates for new kidney failure cases have leveled off. The most encouraging trend is in diabetes, where rates for new cases in whites under age 40 are the lowest in 20 years. Improved control of glucose and blood pressure and the use of specific antihypertensive drugs prevent or delay the progression of kidney disease to kidney failure.
Annual eye exams are recommended because, with timely laser surgery and appropriate follow-up care, people with advanced diabetic retinopathy can reduce their risk of blindness by 90 percent. A new study shows that vision loss that is often associated with laser therapy can be reduced when the drug ranibizumab is used in combination with laser.
For expectant mothers with type 1 diabetes, tight control of glucose that begins before conception lowers the risk of birth defects, miscarriage, and newborn death to a range that is close to that of the general population.
Patients use genetically engineered human insulin in a variety of formulations, e.g., rapid-acting, intermediate acting, and long-acting insulin, to control their blood glucose. Insulin pumps are widely used.
A major clinical trial, the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT; http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/control), showed that intensive glucose control dramatically delays or prevents the eye, nerve, and kidney complications of type 1 diabetes. A paradigm shift in the way type 1 diabetes is controlled was based on this finding. As researchers continued to follow study participants, they found that tight glucose control also reduces cardiovascular complications, such as heart attack and stroke. This research has contributed to greatly improved health outcomes for patients.
Patients can regularly monitor their blood glucose with precise, less painful methods, including a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). Technology pairing a CGM with an insulin pump is also available and was found to help patients achieve better blood glucose control with fewer episodes of dangerously low blood glucose compared to standard insulin injection therapy.
The widely used HbA1c test shows average blood glucose over the past 3 months. The HbA1c Standardization Program enabled the translation of tight blood glucose control into common practice.
Scientists have identified a key gene region that contributes nearly half the increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes, and have also learned a great deal about the underlying biology of autoimmune diabetes. They have used this knowledge to develop accurate genetic and antibody tests to predict who is at high, moderate, and low risk for developing type 1 diabetes. This knowledge and recent advances in immunology have enabled researchers to design and conduct studies that seek to prevent type 1 diabetes and to preserve insulin production in newly diagnosed patients. This new understanding has prevented life-threatening complications in clinical trial participants at risk for developing diabetes.
Scientists have identified nearly 50 genes or gene regions associated with type 1 diabetes.
Many people who received islet transplants for poorly controlled type 1 diabetes are free of the need for insulin administration a year later, and episodes of dangerously low blood glucose are greatly reduced for as long as 5 years after transplant. But, the function of transplanted islets is lost over time, and patients have side effects from immunosuppressive drugs.
The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study (www.searchfordiabetes.org/) provided the first national data on prevalence of diabetes in youth: 1 of every 523 youth had physician diagnosed diabetes in 2001 (this number included both type 1 and type 2 diabetes). SEARCH also found that about 15,000 youth are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes each year.
https://report.nih.gov/nihfactsheets/viewfactsheet.aspx?csid=120
And the stats for Type II Diabetes, brain box?
lol…well more on the medical theme…did you know Big Pharma killed Prince! ? ( its all here and why Big Pharma doesnt like marijuana…its free competition…which kills their profits as well as people)
‘New McCarthyism & the Marijuana Manifesto w/ Jesse Ventura (E316)’
https://www.rt.com/shows/watching-the-hawks/358884-politics-america-marijuana-manifesto/
“On this episode of “Watching the Hawks,” Tyrel Ventura & Tabetha Wallace sit down with Jesse Ventura to talk about the latest spate of red-baiting politics in America, as well as his new book, the Marijuana Manifesto.
Also, Nick Schou joins Tyrel for a discussion about the CIA’s nefarious links to Hollywood and journalists, and Tabetha and Tyrel are joined by John F. O’Donnell of Redacted Tonight to preview this week’s newest episode!”
🙄
Really, and there was me thinking he was a garden junkie who gobbed too much fentanyl, as garden variety junkies often do.
//
well if Prince had been taking medicinal cannabis for pain he wouldnt have been overdosing on Big Pharma’s fentanyl
…this is former Governor of Minnesota and congressman Jesse Ventura’s argument…that BIG PHARMA killed Prince…because Big Pharma does not want to see a medicinal cannabis legalised for pain relief because it is in competition with Big Pharma profits
https://www.rt.com/shows/watching-the-hawks/358884-politics-america-marijuana-manifesto/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/09/if-pot-is-legal-we-dont-need-these-absurd-restrictions-commentary.html
Here you go Mr Lazy…
…
https://report.nih.gov/nihfactsheets/ViewFactSheet.aspx?csid=121&key=D#D
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11710644
There’s a subliminal preference for those we identify with. This results in Maori/Polynesian/down-and-out-whites being given XXX and the rich white boys being given X for no other reason obviously than they’re rich white boys. In front a rich white boy/girl.
I gotta chuckle when I hear QCs saying no problem, quite normal. One lawyer from Dunedin shrieking that it was “outrageous” that anyone should comment. Normal my arse. We all know it’s not FFS. This unlucky female officer’s prior attacker got 30 months so I’m told today by a sergeant of police. Brown boy up there in court for this ? Forget about checking the Home D address bro’……
It’s not normal that at least four aggravating factors, in a nasty combination, with significant physical and medical consequence, will result in a sentence three pegs below a generous starting point of imprisonment for 18 months. What factors mitigated the offending so as to wipe out prison, and Home D, and Community Detention, and wipe out 100 hours of the maximum of 400 hours Community Work available to the court – only 300 hours were ordered. How do we get to the 4th point down the heirarchy of sentencing ?
I hope the Police appeal. And the High Court registers a severe slap to this classist, subliminally racist, nonsense of a sentencing.
…not to mention “sexist”…he whacked a female probably smaller than himself….bet the gutless bully wonder would not have whacked a BIG POLYNESIAN COP! ( or he would have been flattened)