Archive for April, 2009
Where would you get that idea? 2
Written By: - Date published: 12:04 am, April 8th, 2009 - 21 comments
Well, Granny Herald breaks the news: “NZ’s murder rate halved in past 20 years”: New Zealand’s murder rate appears to have almost halved in the past 20 years despite an overwhelming public belief that crime has got worse An overwhelming overwhelming public belief that crime has got worse? Where would we the dumb old public […]
Higher education
Written By: - Date published: 4:40 pm, April 7th, 2009 - 32 comments
Turns out Richard Worth’s not the only one with a passion for flying. Tertiary Education Minister Anne Tolley has been joyriding in helicopters at the taxpayers’ expense.
Cullen leaving Parliament
Written By: - Date published: 1:58 pm, April 7th, 2009 - 67 comments
The press statement from Michael Cullen on his departure from Parliament is here. He will be missed, and probably not just by members of the Labour Party. He has been an outstanding Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister. His attention to looking forward to circumstances such as the current world economic chaos has left […]
Cullen to chair NZ Post and Kiwibank
Written By: - Date published: 12:59 pm, April 7th, 2009 - 10 comments
Trans-Tasman reports: the Government will offer former Deputy PM and Finance Minister Michael Cullen the post of Chairman of the Board of NZ Post and its subsidiary Kiwibank, succeeding Jim Bolger who is due to retire this month. Cullen is announcing his retirement from Parliament today. Good on him. UPDATE: Stuff reports Cullen will be […]
Key paralytic as ice melts
Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, April 7th, 2009 - 42 comments
John Key’s government is at the climate change talks in Bonn avoiding doing their part in combating more climate change in the future (along with Russia and the Ukraine). Meanwhile the British Antarctic Survey is reporting that the Wilkins ice shelf is likely to disappear shortly. A large part of the Wilkins Ice Shelf on […]
Yes, if Bill will let me
Written By: - Date published: 10:50 am, April 7th, 2009 - 6 comments
A wag emails us: So Key is keen on offering mortgage holidays like in Aussie. Any bets on how long before English overrules him?
Garrett lying to his own supporters
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, April 7th, 2009 - 25 comments
Not content with lying to the New Zealand public, ACT MP David Garrett has now been busted lying to his own supporters about his Three Strikes Bill. In the email to supporters last Friday: [Garrett] claimed that if the “three strikes” bill had been in place in May 2008, 78 lives wold have been saved, […]
Out of touch
Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, April 7th, 2009 - 32 comments
Vernon Small suggests that a further 60,000 workers may lose their jobs by next year. So it comes as a shock to read that John Key’s response to this latest news is to stick firmly to his: “optimistic and sunny” approach. It’s almost like he’s living in some alternative reality. While Bill is quietly crapping […]
Mt Albert nominations open for Labour
Written By: - Date published: 6:48 am, April 7th, 2009 - 19 comments
Normally I don’t put up press releases but this one is special to me. It is about my home electorate and where I moved to in 1964 to start primary school. Labour Party President Andrew Little is calling for nominations for the Mt Albert by-election, following the appointment of Rt Hon Helen Clark as Head […]
Why won’t Key sack his Minister?
Written By: - Date published: 10:02 pm, April 6th, 2009 - 23 comments
The Herald is now reporting that John Key won’t sack Richard Worth, despite new information coming to light that an associated company to WSD Global (in which Worth was director while a Minister) was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office: Mr Key said today he had spoken to Dr Worth on Saturday. “I believe he […]
New Left blog
Written By: - Date published: 8:29 pm, April 6th, 2009 - Comments Off on New Left blog
Loco Burro Politics.
Still stuck in the slow lane
Written By: - Date published: 5:42 pm, April 6th, 2009 - 44 comments
In the Dom Post today Tom Pullar-Strecker calls Steven Joyce’s recently announced broadband fibre plans: old wine in new bottles – a backdown on the ambitions sketched out by National before the election, which were arguably always too grandiose. Managing the expectations they raised during the campaign was always going to be a problem for […]
Messy play at Playcentre
Written By: - Date published: 3:52 pm, April 6th, 2009 - 20 comments
Playcentre was founded during the second world war as a way for families (mainly mothers) to support each other while providing quality child-centred pre-school education for their children. This the was era of the innovative educational ideas of Fraser and Beeby and the Playcentre concept was developed by Beatrice Beeby and her friends while Dr […]
Imagine
Written By: - Date published: 3:30 pm, April 6th, 2009 - 9 comments
I grew up in the long shadow of the Cuban Missile Crisis (you youngsters can go look it up). I have never quite shaken the feeling that, somehow or other, the world was due to end in nuclear fire. This is the reason that I am such a fervent supporter of our Nuclear Free policy, […]
Talleys: Corporate scum
Written By: - Date published: 2:14 pm, April 6th, 2009 - 41 comments
I’ve long been of the opinion that the Talley family, owners of the Talleys food empire, are a corrosive force in this country who have a complete contempt for their workforce, the public and our democratic institutions. Sure enough, they’re at it again. NZPA reports: The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) plans to call […]
It’s just not worth the risk
Written By: - Date published: 8:06 pm, April 5th, 2009 - 23 comments
From Bill Ralston’s latest column on the Richard Worth scandal: Key’s predecessor had no qualms about making ministers walk the plank if they failed to tell her everything. Unless he wants to appear weak and risk further embarrassment to his Government, Key will have to throw the hapless Worth overboard. Ralston’s right. Key should protect […]
English kicks cycleway to touch
Written By: - Date published: 7:41 pm, April 5th, 2009 - 22 comments
While John Key’s been bouncing from cloud to cloud, Bill English has been grinding away in the back room. He’s finally done the the numbers on Key’s cycleway, announcing today that: We won’t be spending $50 million on it this year or next year or the year after. With one swift stroke, he’s effectively killed […]
Your water footprint
Written By: - Date published: 6:42 pm, April 5th, 2009 - 10 comments
How big is your water footprint? Find out here.
Ominous Trickles before the Flood
Written By: - Date published: 5:35 pm, April 5th, 2009 - 13 comments
The attack on democratic local government is taking shape in the public domain. 1. Hide was not made the Minister of Local Govt for nothing. Radical changes are planned and National chose an ACT Party frontman to deflect public reaction. The Bill about to be introduced, and likely passed, to ‘cap rates at the rate […]
Compare and Contrast
Written By: - Date published: 4:32 pm, April 5th, 2009 - 4 comments
Prior to the last election our fearless MSM media uncritically repeated Key’s ‘NZ Sucks’ Crosby/Textor attack lines, framing an historically unremarkable rise in emigration, as evidence of Labour’s failure and general perfidy. Lots of examples abound, this being fairly typical. Of course since November emigration numbers peaked in January (and have fallen since in line […]
Who’s zooming who?
Written By: - Date published: 11:32 am, April 5th, 2009 - 27 comments
The Herald reports: Last week John Key used poor United States sales of the new BMW 7-series – 10 were sold in February, compared with more than 1500 in the same 2008 month – as an example of how much other countries were hurting in the economic crisis. But New Zealand… sales of the top-of-the-line […]
When are politicians like cats?
Written By: - Date published: 12:50 am, April 5th, 2009 - 6 comments
For some reason the convolutions in this video reminded me of the twin comedy act of Worth and Grosser this week. Not to mention Key doing a weak-kneed ‘bollocking’ in a direct contrast to his expectations of what Labour should have done last term. This video is one of the best (and earliest) funny cat […]
How to approach Auckland
Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, April 4th, 2009 - 12 comments
No Right Turn and David Farrar have written posts on the massive lack of proportionality in the suggested voting regime by the Royal Commission report on Auckland governance. Shades of a rotten borough of 18th century England, it seems to be designed to make some voters far more ‘equal’ than others. Unlike the evolution of […]
Meeting Joe Overton
Written By: - Date published: 12:03 pm, April 4th, 2009 - 17 comments
A little while ago we had some discussion here about the Sensible Sentencing Trust and their status as a charity. That’s not what this post is about. Rather, I’m going to write a little bit about the functional role groups like the SST play in the political process and how they are successful. The SST, […]
The spun praising the spinner
Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, April 4th, 2009 - 6 comments
Falling for a politician’s tricks – that’s gullibility Seeing those tricks for what they are – that’s nous Seeing them for what they are but falling for them anyway and praising the politician – what’s that? colin espiner 1 April – …the PM was overjoyed by the success of the Twitter story. It may have boomeranged, […]
One of these things is not like the other
Written By: - Date published: 4:30 pm, April 3rd, 2009 - 64 comments
One of these things is not like the other… One of these things is not quite the same. Can you guess which one is not like the other… Can you tell me before I finish the game?
DL Wellington next week
Written By: - Date published: 2:03 pm, April 3rd, 2009 - 2 comments
Metiria Turei is at Drinking Liberally next week. Thursday, April 9, 5:30 at Southern Cross. Nice new logo too. Meanwhile, here’s Andrew Little from last week.
Trillion Dollar Campaign
Written By: - Date published: 12:56 pm, April 3rd, 2009 - 4 comments
Read more about it here.
G20 outcomes
Written By: - Date published: 9:40 am, April 3rd, 2009 - 40 comments
Well the G20 process – which many said would “redesign capitalism” – has now finished. Various agreements were reached, which are predictably being touted as “historic”. Some of the main points from summaries here: Bankers’ pay and bonuses will be subject to stricter controls A new Financial Stability Board will be set up to work […]
G20 updates
Written By: - Date published: 4:06 am, April 3rd, 2009 - 8 comments
The Guardian has excellent video of the G20 protests. Gives you a real feeling of what things are like in the ground. So much better than our coverage. No twit talking all the time and trying to dramatise things. Most of the people there are completely peaceful, the Police seem to be looking for trouble […]
The server has moved (finally).
Written By: - Date published: 3:16 am, April 3rd, 2009 - 20 comments
The Standard has moved the server to an off-shore site. There are many reasons for this. I can get equivalent or better service offshore for about a tenth of the local price. To be precise, I paid for a year of hosting on a better system, it cost slightly more than I was paying for […]
- Te Pāti Māori MP referred to Privileges Committee
The referral relates to comments Tākuta Ferris made during last week's general debate. ...4 days ago - Te Pāti Māori MP Tākuta Ferris referred to Privileges Committee
The referral relates to comments Tākuta Ferris made during last week's general debate. ...4 days ago
- Camera Roll-out A Win For The Ocean, Now Needed For Full Fleet
Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director Dr. Russel Norman says, "Cameras on boats are our eyes at sea, helping to keep the fishing industry accountable, and giving us a clear picture of how commercial fishing impacts the ocean. ...4 days ago - With The Puzzle, David Williamson shows his continual capacity to satirise the middle-class
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Fewster, Lecturer in Performing Arts, University of South Australia Matt Byrne/State Theatre Company South Australia Fun, sex, Renoir and a reckoning might be a succinct way to introduce the new play by David Williamson, The Puzzle. As Williamson noted to ...4 days ago - Kāinga Ora set to cut about 330 jobs
The cuts come on top of 232 already announced, in a second round of restructuring. ...4 days ago
- How do women with disability and LGBTQIA+ people experience menopause?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate O’Reilly, Director International (Programs & Engagement) | Lecturer School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University pikselstock/Shutterstock After hearing about the experiences of the diverse spectrum of people across Australia, the Senate inquiry into issues relating to menopause and perimenopause ...4 days ago
- Revealed: A cost-benefit analysis for public servants returning to the office
Should public servants be allowed to work from home? This week, finance minister Nicola Willis issued new work-from-home guidance for public servants. It specified that working from home is not an entitlement and must be agreed to and monitored by the employer. In a statement, Willis said the changes would ...4 days ago - Reading into the future: publisher Maiko Lenting-Lu’s books confessional
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Maiko Lenting-Lu, product manager at Hachette NZ. Weirdest question you’ve ever been asked at work My two favourite phone calls to the office have both been about maps. The first was someone who was ...4 days ago
- Kāinga Ora set to cut about 330 jobs, RNZ understands
RNZ understands some of the job cuts come on top of 232 already announced, in a second round of restructuring. ...4 days ago
- Ministry of Education’s head Iona Holsted to leave role early
Her contract as secretary for education was due to end in December but she will finish on 11 October for family reasons. ...4 days ago
- Changes to Marine and Coastal Area Act pass first reading
A bill unwinding changes that made it easier for iwi to be granted customary marine title has passed its first reading in Parliament. ...4 days ago
- Octopuses work together with fish to hunt – and the way they share decisions is surprisingly compl...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Culum Brown, Professor, Macquarie University Karen Willshaw/iNaturalist, CC BY-NC A new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution lifts the veil on what happens when octopuses and fish hunt together. As it turns out, this cross-species relationship is more complex than ...4 days ago
- Is parliament in a state of decay?
The deputy prime minister has been quick to criticise what fellow MPs are wearing or how they speak, but what about the decorum of his own party? Parliament – it’s full of suits, ties, and clerks with purple hair. In the debating chamber, members often interrupt and rarely treat each ...4 days ago
- Female councillors question mayor’s decision to reshuffle committees
Councillors are questioning why a mayor's changes leave no women in charge of committees, despite making up half the council. ...4 days ago
- Both Greenpeace and seafood industry welcome change to fishering camera rules
The government has also delayed the remainder of the rollout by three months. ...4 days ago
- Fostering a love of stories in a child’s first years is key to lifelong reading
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elaine Reese, Professor of Psychology, University of Otago Children’s literacy rates are falling around the globe. In response, a number of governments, including New Zealand’s, are overhauling the way reading is taught in primary school. One key change is a renewed ...4 days ago
- New Zealanders’ trust in key institutions declines, Stats NZ survey shows
New Zealanders' trust in institutions including the health system, Parliament, media, police and courts has fallen since 2021, according to newly released data. ...4 days ago
- Can we find hidden graves of murder victims with soil imaging? New Australian study gives it a try
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Victoria Berezowski, Lecturer, Forensic Science, Deakin University Kyle Towns/Shutterstock To avoid being caught, murderers often attempt to hide bodies using various methods. This can include shallow or deep burials, submersion in water, encasing in concrete or even disposing of remains in ...4 days ago
- Reproductive coercion is a form of gender-based violence. It’s likely more common than we realise
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Desireé LaGrappe, PhD Candidate & Coordinator, Reducing Gender-based Violence Network | NHMRC and Fulbright grantee, La Trobe University Peopleimages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock From contraception access to safe abortion, there is growing awareness about reproductive health and rights. Around the world, ...4 days ago
- Charter schools revived as bill passes final reading
'All of our children are not the same," ACT says, as Labour calls it "the worst type of experiment". ...4 days ago
- Dear Emerald Fennell, please don’t Saltburnify Wuthering Heights
Welcome, friends, to the inaugural meeting of the Support Group for Concerned Citizens Against the Saltburning of Wuthering Heights. It has been brought to our attention that one Emerald Fennell, the writer and director of that embarrassingly over-hyped movie about the wee Irish actor from The Banshees of Inisherin fucking ...4 days ago
- Legislation re-introducing charter schools passes final reading
The legislation is part of National's coalition agreement with the ACT party. ...4 days ago
- Government trims rules for cameras on fishing boats
It has also delayed the remainder of the rollout by three months. ...4 days ago
- US Election 2024: Kamala Harris leads Donald Trump 47-40% in latest Reuters poll
The US Democratic Vice appears to be blunting her Republican rival's edge in the debate over the economy with just weeks to go in the presidential race. ...4 days ago
- Watch: Power outage to 88,000 Northland homes ‘entirely avoidable’ – report
Staff had raised concerns about the refurbishment of the tower in 2021. ...4 days ago
- National appears to abandon plans to streamline space launch permits
National campaigned on removing individual ministerial approval but Judith Collins says they're in a coalition government and satisfied with the current regime. ...4 days ago
- Christopher Luxon’s chief press secretary resigns
The departure means the prime minister's office will be without its two most senior press secretaries by Christmas. ...4 days ago
- What is going on with Taika Waititi’s Instagram?
The film director turned influencer has been promoting a weird range of products – including full body health scans, spa pools and mattresses. Amid Instagram’s amorphous scroll of pyjama pants that look like work pants and skincare that looks like a glue stick, it really looked like Taika Waititi was ...4 days ago
- The hidden crisis of preschoolers in poverty
Early childhood is an intensely vulnerable time. As families struggle with the cost of living, under-fives are bearing the impact – without many of the supports available to their older siblings. Naomii Seah reports. “We have a single dad who comes in with his daughter – it’s obvious he loves ...4 days ago
- 59 jobs to go at GNS Science
Seven roles were retained from the initial cuts proposed as part of the public sector downsizing. ...4 days ago
- Why do people breach their bail? Our research shows it’s not because they’re committing more cri...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natalie Gately, Associate Professor, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock In Australia and most countries, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Because of this, keeping someone in detention before trial comes with serious legal, practical and human-rights consequences, not just for the person ...4 days ago
- AI is fuelling a deepfake porn crisis in South Korea. What’s behind it – and how can it be fixed...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sungshin (Luna) Bae, PhD student, Gender Equality Policy Special Public Officer at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in South Korea, Monash University It’s difficult to talk about artificial intelligence without talking about deepfake porn – a harmful AI byproduct that has been used ...4 days ago
- PSA: If you’re trying to get away with murder, don’t Google ‘how to get rid of a body’
Loath as we are to assist killers, it has to be said: there is no such thing as private browsing when it comes to hiding your crime. It’s hard to get away with murder these days. Back in the good old days, you could simply escape justice by hopping on ...4 days ago
- MP ‘frustrated’ over respite care confusion
How many respite care beds are available in North Canterbury is causing confusion, with the associate health minister demanding answers from Health NZ. ...4 days ago
- Humanity needs more rare earth elements. Extinct volcanoes could be a rich new source
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Anenburg, Research Fellow in Earth Sciences, Australian National University Phawat/Shutterstock Extinct volcanoes are hard to study – we never see them erupt. Using a unique experimental technique, we were able to recreate a certain type of extinct volcano in a ...4 days ago
- The design tricks keeping your kids hooked on games and apps – and 3 things you can do about it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Zomer, Associate Research Fellow at the Centre of the Digital Child, Deakin University This article is part of a series on the great internet letdown. Read the rest of the series. Ever found yourself unable to resist checking out a ...4 days ago
- Where do we stash the equivalent of 110 Sydney harbour bridges? That’s the conundrum Australia fac...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darryn Snell, Associate professor, School of Management, RMIT University James Jones Jr, Shutterstock Oil and gas wells are dotted off Australia’s shores. They involve huge steel structures fixed firmly to the sea floor, and thousands of kilometres of pipelines. Most ...4 days ago
- Dutton’s nuclear plan would mean propping up coal for at least 12 more years – and we don’t kn...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Reeve, Deputy Program Director, Energy and Climate Change, Grattan Institute Opposition leader Peter Dutton has revealed the Coalition’s nuclear energy plan relies on many of Australia’s coal-fired power stations running for at least another 12 years – far beyond the time ...4 days ago
- Govt Blind To Risks As Science Cuts Leave Kiwis More Vulnerable To Natural Disasters
"The Government is wilfully blind to the damage its attack on science is wreaking on our ability to be prepared for future earthquakes or tsunamis," said Duane Leo, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi. ...4 days ago
- Gas industry boasts about killing proposed ban with lobbying
Gas NZ went to an international fossil fuel forum and claimed responsibility for killing off a proposed government ban on new gas connections. ...4 days ago
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